Run out of spellings

[quietplease]

DD1 is 5 years 4 months (July birthday) and in Y1. She loves reading, writing and spelling and she's done really well with this, recently progressing to free readers.

She's finished all of the spellings for Y3/Y4 (medium frequency they call them...) and now I'm not sure what to do. I asked the teacher for the next lot of spellings (as she loves doing them) but she just said to pick some words from her reading book and teach her those.

Seems a difficult task to know which ones to choose. Is she saying this because the Y3/Y4 list is the last list they have? Any other ideas how we can help? She really enjoys having a little "test" at the weekend and amazes us how quickly she learns.

quietplease

My godson is also in Y1. His spelling list is more linked to patterns, like light, might, night.

This is the way that most schools work and far more effective for the majority of children

AreYouAFreudOfTheDark yes

'Ooh Goblin, I once wrote a report about a child to a paediatrician using the word "lest". My colleague fell about laughing and said the word was no longer in common parlance.

You just proved that wrong!!'

trust me when I say that no one in my house is common, ordinary or mundane. Life would be easier if they were.

Interesting stuff, I've learnt a lot here. I must go to bed though! Thanks!

Hehe Goblin. But that makes life more interesting, yeah?!

I just feel vindicated with "lest" after all these years!

The Oxford English dictionary estimate there are around a quarter of a million words in the English language so it pays to be selective.
The most efficient way is to learn phonic patterns (grapheme representation) such as /igh/ for night light high sight slight bright....

My daughter learned to code-switch very early on.
Eccentric Oxbridge in the house, Broad Lancastrian as soon as she crossed the threshold.
Her survival skills were well-honed at 4. Didn't need the crows pecking her eyes out

www.syntheticphonics.com/Schonell%20Spelling%20Test.pdf

oh ok I sit corrected... why though? why is it important for the gifted-at-spelling children?

genuine question, not trying to be antagonistic.

Patterns, cohesion and understanding.
Rather than a savant aproach
'Look at the Infant Prodigy'

(still addicted to this - so interesting - but deffo going to bed now).

Can I spout this stuff at work without saying that the mumsnetters taught me???!!!

BTW, Lancastrian spoken here too

AreYouAFreudOfTheDark because even the most gifted child is going to struggle to learn a quarter of a million words so it makes sense to learn the ones needed first if you are going down the word list route (which I personally wouldn't) Which is why they are labelled High frequency (most used)
More efficient is to learn the ways sounds are represented

We moved South again quietplease, and never returned!
It's even all right to use 'whom' where I live now

Hi OP.
Dd first got spelling tests and I posted on here about it and also got some stick. We were required to choose our own spellings from a long list and she would be tested individually each week on our chosen words. ALl the words were way too easy for her so they sent home the next list which were also way too easy. I spoke to the teacher who said she knew dd could already spell them all so we agreed I'd set the spellings instead.
Dd and I would chose them from her reading book and/or the dictionary. We went for words she already knew a few of the letters so they werent too hard but she also had to do some learning.
Now in Year 2 they give out differentiated lists and it's a relief now not to have to think of spellings each week. What I was told on my own thread was that there is little value in spelling tests and I've found that to be true so would be happy for there to be no spelling tests at all. THe difficulty I found last year was that I was giving her words to spell that she didnt use everyday and didnt always comprehend the meaning so felt pointless.