AIBU to get upset about spelling bee for reception

[Jaynenotjane]

Local school has a spelling bee competition coming up. My gripe is it is across school including reception. Up to this point Ds has been learning phonics and does not know the letter names only the sounds and diagraphs and the like. Suddenly they are expected to spell verbally with single letters words such as 'into' 'children' to name a few. I asked Ds how to spell children he said 'ch' 'ill' 'd' ren' phonetically correct and as he has been taught to this point. I am so cross and upset that this is happening, for the September born children who were are streaks ahead I'm sure can spell these words but not for summer born. Why can't they just go and play. Why put the class through this.

That's where the incidental teaching comes in though Pico. Somehow it's got a bit forgotten.

Children should understand from the beginning that there are different ways to write the same sound in English and that they don't know all of them yet. You can then gently praise and correct by supplying the correct spelling if appropriate for that child.

There shouldn't be any need to unteach anything if you get it right the first time.

I think that the 'if appropriate for that child' bit is essential. By the end of reception some children will be in a completely different place to others in phonics.

And it is better to focus correction methodically, so perhaps on high frequency words, letter formation or capital letters and full stops. Correcting everything would be bleak.

So correcting my DD's spelling of cake in November wouldn't have made sense, she hadn't even covered the a-e grapheme and there were bigger fish to fry with things like back to front letters. But it might be corrected now.

I was thinking more in terms of confidence than current phonic knowledge.

Suspect forcing children into independent writing too soon might play a part too. Particularly when it comes to HFW and capital letters/full stops.

My brother was taught using ITA - he still throws in ITA type spellings and he is 52. His spelling is beyond awful.

Phonics has been a godsend for my dyslexic child. It got her reading, from which stems so much more learning (and fun)!

She'd have struggled with a spelling bee in Reception - wasn't really able to spell at all then. But I'd have presumed it would be differentiated. And for those children who are good spellers it sounds like an interesting opportunity.

If schools didn't do things because some children in a class couldn't access them they'd hardly do anything, surely?

Whta I'll never understand is the Hiatch/Aitch thing

I'm Irish and we pronounce H as Hiatch.

I accept most or a lot of people on the UK will use Aitch. BUT when it comes to phonics surely you can't teach a child that HOUSE is pronounced OUSE you have to teach the child it's House.
Is it not a contradiction?
Fuck sake English is a shit language

Lucy
The phonic sound is hhhhh - exactly the sound at the start of house.

The name of the letter is aitch. Or haitch, depending on regional variation.

So a child taught phonics wouldn't say 'aitch, oh, you, ess, ee' for house.
Well, later on they would, when they know the name as well as sound. But in reception they would say
'Hhhh, o (like the start of orange), u (like the start of umbrella) ssss, eh.'

English is rather a shit language though, agreed. . So many inconsistencies, compared to Irish which is a properly phonetic language.

Agree with Somerville. Haitch/Aitch is the name of the letter, which has nothing to do with phonics or reading/spelling.

So for reading children would sound out the words 'h' 'ou' 'se' and for spelling they would do the reverse. Splitting the word into it's 3 sounds and writing a spelling for each of the sound.

Which is why a spelling bee in Reception is a ridiculous idea. It's far more important for all children in reception to be able to split words into sounds and spell a sound at a time rather than list of strings of letter names. Suspect the latter will cause issues when they get to the NC yr 3 spelling list.