spelling tests

[BuildYourOwnSnowman]

DD has just finished reception and has really enjoyed the spelling tests she did in the last half term. She has asked if we can continue over the holidays which is fine as long as she wants to but I am not sure what words to include. I would like to help her but only need a maximum of 25 words as we will do 5 a week for as long as she wants to.

She is very phonetic in her spelling so I would like to cover some 'common' words that she will misspell as a result but words of 3/4 letters.

Any suggestions?

[addictedtosugar]

You could try the Reception "Tricky words" which come up in various forms if you google.

[WombatStewForTea]

Personally, I'd be looking at the first 100 high frequency words
www.highfrequencywords.org/first-100-high-frequency-word-list-precursive.html

[BuildYourOwnSnowman]

thank you for replies

i did google but there a lot of words!

she can spell most of the 100 high frequency but there are a few on there I can put on the list

i suppose my main concern with her spelling is that she uses 'igh' for every word with that sound - which word selection would help her understand that she can use other letters for the same sound?

DS has always been a really good speller and I find the phonetic spelling difficult!! I want to indulge her desire to learn but I don't want to confuse her!

[toomuchicecream]

I'd be looking at the common exception words for year 1 in the new English curriculum. If you google for the curriculum, they are in an appendix at the end of the year 1 English section (I think - dig around and you'll find them in there somewhere).

[BuildYourOwnSnowman]

thanks - i'll have a look

[toomuchicecream]

The reason she uses igh is likely to be that she hasn't been taught alternative spellings yet. i-e (split digraph) and ie are both in phase 5 phonics. Obviously schools vary, but in my experience it's very usual to finish Reception on phase 3 or 4 and then start phase 5 in year 1. If that's the case for her, I really wouldn't be worrying about it as once she's taught it (which she will be next term) it will all start to slot into place for her.

[BuildYourOwnSnowman]

ok that makes sense - I think she has covered i_e as she can read it but is on blue book band so may not have seen it so often. She isn't even 5 yet so I'm not too worried!

I have picked a selection from the year 1 list and see how she gets on. she may lose her enthusiasm soon anyway.

Thank you for all your help. I thought it would be easier with no 2 but she is learning to read in a completely different way to no 1!!

[Ferguson]

There is a book that could help you, as it shows all the alternative spellings for every sound, and is easy for a child to use on their own, or with adult involvement:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.

[BuildYourOwnSnowman]

thanks!

[maizieD]

Please don't bother with the Hiigh Frequency Words unless they are made up of graphemes she knows . Just use words which contain the letter/sound correspondences she has already learned. If you want to extend her a bit you could use multisyllable words. Just secure what she has already learned.

[BuildYourOwnSnowman]

She has covered the 100 frequency as tricky words and seems to remember most of them.

Problem is I'm not really sure what she has learnt!

[Mashabell]

'Igh' is not the main spelling for that sound.
At the end of short words it is mainly 'y': by, cry, dry, fly, fry, my, shy, sky, sly, spy, try, why,
but there are also 'bye/buy, die/dye, lie, pie, tie, rye, I/eye/ay,
high, sigh, thigh.

Inside words the main spelling is i-e (mine, fine, line, dine, pine....).
Only a few are spelt with igh: bright, fight, flight, light, might, night/knight, right/write/(rite), sight, slight/(sleight), tight.

[Mashabell]

Knowing how to spell the 100 most HF words is a very good start.
Half of them have regular spellings (a, and, at, had, has....).

The following (in order of frequency) are trickier:
I, he, of, the, to, was, first, her, off, they, new,
all, be, been, here, see, are, have, one, said, we, you, by, my, call, before, come, could, do, down, into, look, me, more, now, only, other, right, she, some, their, there, two, when, want, were, what, where, which, who, your, old.

[BuildYourOwnSnowman]

Thanks - I will start with a selection of words that say 'igh' to give her more of an idea. She's very keen but also young for the year so I don't want to overload her!

[Mashabell]

If u can capitalise on her interest, that's brilliant. It's so much easier to do that with one child than a class of 30.

But u are absolutely right to be wary of overloading her.