Year 1 spellings

[harktheheraldangelsspell]

I've actually namechanged for this as I am so worried about sounding like an arse.

Dd is in year 1 and the teacher recently sent home a list of all the KS1 key words for our reference, accompanied by a list of words which were supposed to be appropriate for our child to be working on reading/spelling and practising using in sentences.

I was interested to see which ones my dd could do, and discovered that she could actually spell almost all of the KS1 words. Not all of them, but the ones she made mistakes on she very readily learned when I corrected her. The list she has been given of words appropriate to her level is so simple (almost all 2 and 3 letter words) that even she laughed a bit when she saw it.

Does it matter? Are they supposed to be differentiating the work and challenging the children, or does it make no difference at this early stage?

I really don't want to go in and ask the teacher because in RL I can't namechange and she will mark me down forever as a pushy arse.

abcdoes.typepad.com/abc-does-a-blog/2010/11/a-short-rant-about-spelling-sentences-from-southend.html

But isn't that rant to do with the way spellings are taught, rather than the fact that any are taught at all? I am just wondering whether my dd is working at the right level. To be truthful I don't think she is being challenged but what I don't know is whether that matters at the age of 5.

No it's about the futility of learning spelling lists.

He says, 'yes, teach spellings' though. Our school doesn't do tests or spelling lists. I'm just wondering about the level of work they are asking of her.

I remember being in infant school in prehistoric times and having to write a diary of what I'd done at the weekend, plus stories which we were told had to have 'a beginning, a middle and an end'.

They don't have to do anything like that yet even though I know my dd would enjoy it. She sometimes writes stories of her own volition but very infrequently. I would like there to be a place for it in school but perhaps I am just very old and out of date?

Sounds like my DS did the same spellings in Y1. We were told if our DC found them too easy to encourage them to write a sentence including each word - something you could consider doing.

It's also worth noting that a child who can correctly spell a word in a spelling list cannot always spell it "in real life".

The way I checked was by asking her to write some words on their own and some in little sentences - she made some good suggestions, such as 'which witch won?', which she spelled correctly. But none of those words were on the list of appropriate ones to be working on.

So it feels as though I could ask her to do lots of stuff she finds very easy, or I could ignore the teacher's suggestions and get her to do more challenging things. Either way it feels unsatisfactory doesn't it?

Or should I just chill out and assume that she will progress at her own pace regardless of whether the school is giving her challenging work?

I don't have the answer either but have the same issue with ds.
He is being given words he had learned to spell by Christmas last year in reception and his reception teacher knew this so there seems to have been no communication with this year's teacher who just hands out the same lists to the whole class.

I don't know what to do either as I have a few concerns like this but also don't want to drive the teacher mad.

The point is they don't just learn to spell throught the words they send home. Your teachers will be teaching your children to spell in all sorts of ways.

So, just relax. If they don't need to spend so long studying their weekly spellings you'll have more time to do whatever else you like with them.

I don't do tests or spelling lists either but I teach my class how to spell every day

DD2's YR2 phonic group - incidentally top group - are reviewing key words at the moment in spellings. Really don't see much point as at her reception parents evening the teacher said she could read and spell all of the reception words...oh, and all of the KS1 words aswell. Waste of time.

I don't think there's much point going in and asking for harder spellings. It may be worth a general chat though if you feel your dd is not challenged in her class.

My dd was sent home at the start of term with spellings split into weekly chunks to be learned between Sept and Christmas. She knew all of them so I "filed" that piece of paper and was grateful that I didn't have to do anything about them! However, on the other hand, I am confident that the work she does in class is appropriate to her level. I help out in the class once a week, so I see a bit more of what goes on. They are split into attainment groups and given differentiated work. This week they were creating their own storybooks of the nativity - and encouraged to write it in a logical order, with a beginning, middle and end and a lovely picture on the front!

In short, I don't think easy spellings are a problem, but non differentiated class work might be.

Oh, I'd love to actually know what goes on, runoutofideas. I'm sure they are doing lots of interesting things but I get no information at all from my dd so I haven't the faintest idea what they spend their days doing.

I may not have been very clear about my concerns - I think mrz has misunderstood me. I am not worried that they don't send home spelling lists or tests. I am pleased about that. I had assumed that they were doing differentiated work in the classroom and am sure that it is all being done in a more imaginative way than lists of spellings.

What has made me stop to wonder is that on the rare occasion that they send home a list of words to focus on, it seems to be such an inappropriate level of work. It has just made me begin to wonder whether she is being challenged in other ways in the classroom. I am not hankering after lists of difficult words to spell.