Top Tips in the Book

Although the primary way of learning spellings is through using phonics, there are tricky words that need a little more help. The tips in the book provide a range of ideas - mnemonics, silly stories, spotting the tricky part, trying physical ways to repeat each word...

The tips for words in this book are as follows: 

Talk about the words. There is a surprise ‘r’ in ‘surprise’!

Does it help segmenting into syllables?

'sur-prise'

Can you successfully write down all of the ordering words from first to twentieth? Check these and note which ones need more practising than others. What makes some trickier?

“A guide needs U and I!”

“U and I build.”

Can you see how these phrases help? Remember that ‘you’ is really spelt ‘you’ not ‘U’.

Can you write all of the months in order with the correct spellings? Time yourself and beat your time. Talk about any mistakes that you have made. Does every word have a capital letter at the start sitting on the line?

Try saying ‘Jan-u-ary’ and ‘Feb-ru-ary’ if they catch you out.

Look out for words inside words. Can you spot ‘lie’ in ‘believe’?

What word can you spot inside our favourite word ‘favourite’?

‘Calendar’ is a great word to spell. In our earth calendar, two months start with ‘a’ - April and August! This will help you to remember that there are only two ‘a’s - ‘calendar’.

Watch out for ‘centre’ as it ends in ‘re’ like ‘metre’!

Even if you try one of the fun activities from the website, please remember to write down your spellings as part of your time practising.

It is so important to keep trusting in the phonics that you have learnt. Use what you know. For example, the /ay/ sound is often written with the ‘ai’ grapheme when in the middle of words like ‘straight’ and ‘ay’ at the end of words like ‘May’.

Sometimes pair up words. Learn ‘woman’ and ‘women’ to help you to know the different meaning as well as the spellings.

Need more help?

There are further ways to help you with your spellings. For more ideas for children who are building the phonetic code, click here. Alternatively, try out a variety of activities, alongside the phonics mats to increase repetition over time and long-term retention. Please do not hesitate to discuss your child's progress with their teacher or our SENDCo.