Year1 Spellings...WTF?

[muddleduck]

"Decompose"

???

erm
well that's not on the key stage one list of 100 high frequency words, I can promise you

I didn't dare ask him to use it in a sentence.

what else was on the list?

My DS2 got

liability
probablity
feasability

last week in Y2!

And he had to put them in a sentance :)

Then I heard him playing teacher with his teddies. 'If you're not good I'm going to send home extra hard spellings' LOL

Suffixes and prefixes, phase 6.

Please explain...

Is this really something usual for year1?

No idea what else was on the list. They did them in class and this was the only one he remembered.

Was he able to learn and spell it?

I'm a year 2 teacher and I think if this word was on the main list and not a one off challenge word iykwim, then it's very very hard.

He says he got 6/10 on the test and that this was the hardest word. He got it right but has no idea what it means.

He is in a mixed y1/2 class and they mix up with the other classes for phonics. There seems to be streaming. He seems to be working with the y2s. I worry that his basics aren't secure enough to be doing this.

I would hazard a guess that they were topic words and the class are looking at "materials and change" in science?

I think lovecheese has it with the prefixes. They have been doing these.
Don't get the idea of teaching them to spell words when they don't know the meanings.

Wow!!! Sorry to cut across topic but are the kids expected to get 10/10 every week. My DD always seems to slip up on one. She always remember the one she got wrong and how to spell it so I'm not too worried. :)

No idea. I didn't even know they had spelling testsuntil he mentioned it today.

My DD has been bringing home spellings like - ball,off,then ,when,dig.
She is in year 2!
She could spell those in reception. Mentioned it at parents evening and her class teacher is going to pass it on to her literacy teacher. Bet I will be popular but honestly!

Ooh fancy :o it's quite easily decodable/spellable innit?

have just asked dd who's in yr 1 and she spelt it straight away. i am quite impressed actually .

Teacher obviously thinks your child is capable of these words.

The point of spellings is not to get 10/10 in a spelling test. It is about children learning simple and complex sound patterns and applying them in the writing they are doing.

No child in Y1 will be using the word 'decompose' in their everyday writing. It is a completely pointless exercise to send words like this home.

My yr1 doesn't get spellings. In his school they start spellings in yr2.

we had "cent" last week. Took some explaining. Not sure he'll be using that often.

What my boy finds a bit confusing is they don't stick with a particular pattern each week.

We've hit on the best way to help him to learn them, although I won't win any parenting awards for this one. He loves playing with his dad's ipod. So we change the password to start the ipod to a different spelling word every day....works a treat!

Fantastic idea mitochondria!!!! :)

stoatsrevenge: I definitely have noticed an improvement with my daughters spelling since moving back from Australia and I think one of the big problems she had over there was just learning the magic 100 words all the time and never asked to learn any sound patterns. She's getting the idea now and it's great to see.