Y1 - how do you learn spellings?

[acatcalledbob]

DD1 is in year 1 and has to learn half a dozen spellings a week, writing them correctly in a sentence in class (this week it's people, earth, brought, what, change and friend). She copies them a few times, then writes them out herself without looking. If she gets one wrong, she copies that one again a couple of times and then tries again without looking.

We do this the night before the test, then she looks at them again at breakfast time the next morning. She gets around 4 or 5 out of 6 which I'm happy with but I was wondering if anyone has any better tips for learning spellings?

We do the copy cover check approach too. We do that on the first day and then every night before bed we spend a couple of minutes max going over them before bedtime stories rarely gets less than full marks.

We use the read, cover, write, check method (which I think is common). (i.e. you read the word and the letters, cover it, write down and then check).

I've discovered that if I test him on his spellings before school he ALWAYS gets 10/10. If I don't he normally gets about 5 right. I therefore cynically think that he is merely putting the spellings in his short term memory and learning spellings is a bit of a waste of time.

I find that the best way is to talk about the way the word is spelled, identify which part of the word is difficult, and then think of a specific way to remember. For example, from your list you could discuss the fact that 'earth' has the world 'ear' at the beginning. Or you could look at the word 'people' and turn the 'o' into a picture of a stick man (with the o as his head).

I know this approach doesn't work for everyone but I think it's often useful to include visual prompts.

write them with her finger on the carpet or in sand. write them on her back. play what is missing with magnetic letters.

You need to practise the spellings as long as possible before the test. So, if you get given the words a week ahead, do what you currently do the night before a week before. Then test her again every couple of days throughout the week.

Just started a morning routine with my Yr 2 and Reception. The day they get them I print off an excel spreadsheet so they have a look, say, cover, write, check grid. I can't say they always get to the cover part if I am busy but they are getting better at doing them alone and at least filling them out. I actually get DS to write a sentence at the bottom of the page using one of the words. This is all hit and miss if I get tied up so I'm trying to leave it to them more and more.

I've got a leaflet I can email you about fun ways to help your child with spellings ( as well as reading). If you pm me with an email, I'll send it to you.

Got this from my dsd and her ds.

Break down the words into meaningful syllables and act them out.

When he spelt out window, I poked him in the side (not hard) and he said "ow"

Don't think he'll ever forget that one.