Spelling!Drives me mad..

[polarfox]

My two (10 and 8) hardly get any homework from school- 1 reading book a week and 10 words spelling, thats it! So we learn the spelling, and they get 10/10 every week- great..

And now comes the bit I dont understand.. they write me a note, or send a letter to grandad, or play hangman.. and all the words they have learned in the past..are all wrong!!

Is it that they think that you only spell correctly at spelling tests/ do they have zero long term memory/ do all kids do that? or what? It irritates me no end- WHATS THE POINT???

They aren't using them polar..they should be using them in school and reading them in books.

U have a point!! The lists seem always thrown together- no theme/pattern; maybe teachers just make list up at 3.29pm friday..

what appletrees said

Yes, learning spelling lists are pointless. Being able to spell correctly in a test is no guarantee that they have been really learnt.

There is no point - apart from to keep parents off their back.

That type of school do they attend, polar? Mine are the same age, and get literacy/creative writing homework once a week, so they do have the chance to use SOME of their words.

Also, the older one's teacher has them lookng up definitions, rather than memorising letter order. She then gives the definition, to which the pupils write down the relevant word. If that makes sense?

Spelling tests rarely have any real educational value. Children learn them for a test ad promptly forget them. Most research shows they have no long term effect on a child's ability to spell.

Yes Indigo- am sure thats the point too..

OMG Barkisiswilling- what type of school do yours go to? Our school does not believe in much work, obviously- what a shock poor kids will have at sec school I dread to think..

HT thinks they should do al their learning at school (I am not sure on that one!!) and home is whre they relax/play..

It s a small Catholic state school, so despite no knowledge of spellings/timetables etc they can answer any RE question on Mastermind!!

If you are concerned about their spelling, there's any number of spelling programmes (books or online) that you can buy and do with them every day.

Thanks Hulababy, one wonders why we go through the weekly spellings then?

I think I will not be putting in the effort in future.. it'll aggrevate me less when they write something wrongly ..

HT is right about that! But they shouldn't be doing random words -- they should be doing words, writing down definitions and then making up sentences with the words, writing stories with the words. Surely everyone knows that.

Funnily enough, it is an RC state school in S. London.

They get homework every other day - maths, English, science and at half-term they do a mini-project.

Their teachers encourage the use of Mathletics and Education City, too. You might want to check those sites out.

Will do Barkis- it's not as if they don't have enough free time (!!)

I was having a conversation with DD (yr5) in the kitchen earlier about spellings, basically she is a bit miffed this week as her spelling list included "Of", "Great" and "Place", BTW top group words, compared to DD2's in YR2 who has had "Unfortunately", "Suddenly" and "Usually" among hers, also top group.

I can understand why she was feeling a bit but then I pointed out that the PURPOSE of their spelling lists was very different, and IMO quite valid; YR5 have been working on homophones, and YR2 on good connectives and adverbs to hopefully enrich their written work in class. So Polarfox I can completely see your dilemma when it seems that the list has been plucked out of thin air, but maybe there is an ulterior motive behind them. Regarding them forgetting, I guess that repetition is key and encouraging them to use the words in their school writing.