Spellings uncorrected in Y2 workbooks marked by teacher. Is this normal?

[wheelsonthebus]

My dc brought home their literacy workbooks at the end of term. The work is all marked, with ticks and teacher comments, but an awful lot of spellings are not corrected - 'diffrent' for different, 'there' when they're is meant, sought when 'sort' is meant, someones without the apostrophe.... When I asked my dc why the spellings were not corrected, they said the teacher said she 'didn't have time to correct all the misspellings'. Is this really normal? And isn't it a bit worrying?

Yes, it's normal and No, it's not rather worrying!
Teachers don't tend to correct every spelling for two reasons. First it stops some children from attempting more complex vocabulary if they are concerned that they can't spell it correctly, they will stick to basics such as "sad" and "happy" which they know they can spell.Second it can be very demoralising to metaphorically slave away over a piece of very expressive, descriptive writing only for it to come back covered in red or green pen with every spelling mistake highlighted. So spelling corrections tend to concentrate on the words that the child SHOULD be able to spell correctly but doesn't! Once these are automatic, the range of spellings corrected will be extended.

Yes it does seem to be the norm before y4/y5.

And it drives me batty. My DD1 is just going into year 4 and has struggled with spellings I get annoyed that her spelling is not corrected in her school work.

No, it is not particularly worrrying. From the examples you have given, you have to think whether correcting would really achieve anything. Changing sought to sort wont achieve much unless you explain the difference in meaning of the 2 words. Changing there to they're will mean very little to a child who has not yet been taught how to use apostophes in a contraction. And, as for putting the apostrophe in someone's - without teaching possessive apostrophe, (something that I believe is covered later than Y2) it could lead to apostrophes appearing before every 's', as we often see. The only correction that could usefully have been corrected was different, but again work on multi-syllabic word may be something focused on later in class with emphasis on common mis-spellings.

Mine in Year 5 was the same. I was surprised at the number of mistakes in the writing task that was not corrected. I didn't ask the teacher about it though, I'm not sure why .

Depends on the lesson's learning objectives. If the lesson is using connectives in sentences my marking will focus on whether connectives have been used correctly and correct any spellings of those connectives. I may also correct any words that we have working on in phonics sessions. But correcting every spelling is demoralising for children and usually counter-productive, as I expect the child to learn the ones I correct and there is a limit to how many a child can learn at a time. I expect the errors that I have marked to be correct in the next writing activities and will also against mark that criteria.
High quality marking is against clear criteria, that is shared with the children, and that is part of the very focused objectives for that particular session. Not just correcting all the spellings.

I don't expect every spelling mistake to be corrected but I was also concerned when I saw dd2 s literacy book. Virtually nothing was corrected, including words she should be getting right. He teacher had commented she should watch her spelling though! I do think that if a child gets glowing comments and smiley faces for a piece of work and doesnt even have to do corrections despite very poor spelling they will have no motivation to make an effort with spelling. They get the message that it is not important as they will get glowing praise praise for their ideas and poor spelling is down played. Dd1 was just the same and moved for yr3 to a much more traditional style school. She started getting low marks because poor spelling marred her work and also having to do corrections. It was a tough slog but her spelling is now getting much better.
I don't want every spelling corrected but I do think there was very little reason for dd2 to take care over spellings in he current approach and so she doesn't!

beezmum - I have to agree with you. If a wrong spelling isn't corrected, the child will assume it's the correct spelling.

Hi - exTA here:

Provided the child's attempt at a word is PHONICALLY recognisable, I personally wouldn't correct too many words. At Yr2 you are lucky if they do sufficient writing at all, and ideas and content are probably more important than spelling. Plenty of time for that in the higher years.

Ferguson - that rather confirms my point. Spelling is not emphasised so poor spelling is unsurprising. I guess I disagree that yr 2 is too soon to emphasise spelling. Maybe that is because my dd does write plenty and apparently has great ideas. I think because she does write plenty bad habits of poor spelling are becoming ingrained.

Ferguson, I find that refreshing. Allow pupils to develop a love of expression and then help them articulate it correctly, in time.

This sort of thing drives me MAD!

Is it any wonder children leave school with poor spelling/grammar because teachers worry they'll become 'demoralised'....? God you can't do or say anything these days for fear of upsetting the child.

OP - it is very worrying. I would want every spelling corrected and the child write out the correct spelling so the child LEARNS to spell fgs

I think you are kidding yourself if you think spelling should be addressed later or that it necessarily will be. The decision to pretty much ignore the issue of spelling in year 2 by many schools like my dds will have consequences, at least in creating unnecessary extra work in years 3-6 as has happened with my dd1. You need to be honest that what you are saying is that spelling isn't important compared with creativity full stop, not just not important in year 2. I think primary schooling is about giving children basic skills and so while I am happy that my dds are encouraged to be creative in theirwriting this should not be at the cost of learning to spell. Anyway it is a false choice. When my dd writes 2 sides of appallingly spelt but beautifully creative work, is it really demoralising that there are some corrections of high frequency words to do at the end to it? Her teacher clearly thinks so but I do not. My dd1 in her more traditional school gets praise for her creativity AND a pile of corrections. She gets the messagge she should get from this: great writing, careless spelling, which is the truth.
Anyway its pretty clear that many schools also don't think spelling is important in years 3-6 either.

In Y2, dd1 would have most spellings corrected in her school books - those she did work in at school - but not in her homework book.

I think with the younger classes it often is to just get them writing at the start, the corrections come later.

I think as long as a few spellings are corrected, that is fine. Correcting all of them can be demoralising for the child.

The focus of the assessment may not have been spelling.

I correct those spellings the child should know (they have been taught) and make a note of others so we can explore than as a class to introduce the correct spelling.

Dancergirl, how long would a child remain motivated to write interesting and ambitious pieces of work if 'every spelling [is] corrected and the child [has to]write out the correct spelling'? Most children would quickly learn to stick to safe, unambitious words and produce short, dull texts. Result?

Why do you assume they would do that labelle? I think we often have a very negative view of how children will react. They could equally be motivated to learn to spell better. Spelling is hugely important and we're doing children a dis-service to let them believe it's not that important as long as the content is good. Teach them correct spellings from day 1.

Years of experience dancergirl.

But not to teach in the correct way because you're scared of how a child will react is wrong. Years ago when I was at school, you never heard of children becoming demoralised. And we all learnt to spell correctly. Yes it was a pain writing out spelling corrections especially if you had a few of them to do, but you just did it.

How do you think an 11+ English paper would look covered in spelling mistakes? Terrible, that's what however good the content is. Or a CV.

That isn't what people are saying Dancergirl. Teachers will identify errors and teach the correct way ... what they won't do is correct every error in every piece of writing a child produces independently.

I imagine I was at school year before you (yes I'm that old) and there were certainly children who stuck to the safe options rather than risk the red pen! I also passed my 11+ despite being an atrocious speller

It's a long time since I've caused this much controversy!

MN parents invariably overlook the fact that they run caring, supportive homes for their children, where learning, progress and ambition are discussed and valued.

I have worked in schools where many parents won't (sometimes CAN'T) support their children in any reading / writing activity, thus EVERYTHING educational comes from school, and only from school. Such children, at Yr2 or Yr3, can only manage to write a line or two, and even then in school a teacher or TA might have to sit over them to get any results.

It is upsetting and embarrassing when information is sent home with a child, which a parent does not act upon; when you ask why not, a child can reply: Mummy can't read very well.

For such children perfect spelling is not the first priority.

Hear, hear Ferguson.

(I'm a primary school teacher)

Dancergirl - school is so different now to when we were at school (I'm late 30s). The expectations are different (far higher generally) as are the outcomes.

My DD is just 6 (July birthday). She has just finished year 1 and I am astounded at the quality of her writing. Her teacher showed me a piece of completely independent writing she had done in which she had used connectives (and was quite rightly proud of it too having told me that "I sometimes find it difficult to choose the right connective" at Easter), used !, ? and " " correctly and started a sentence with "unforchunitly".

Should we have ignored the good/correct use of punctuation? The quality of the story? The meeting of the criteria is general because some of the words weren't spelt correctly? No, because that would be ridiculous.

Yes, they used to focus on the spellings when we were younger, but at the expense of pretty much everything else!

I know for a fact that I wouldn't have written a paragraph like that during the same week I turned 6 and I have a first class degree!

Many of the spellings are left uncorrected for the reasons other people have stated, but when you consider that many of the children are attempting words/pieces of writing that are of a higher standard that we used/wrote at the same age, I think we can probably cut them and the teachers some slack!

It's not about not 'upsetting' the child, it's about creating a working environment and 'space' for them to explore their ideas without sweating the small stuff.

folkgirl I take your point, really I do BUT there is a huge difference in spelling 'unfortunately' incorrectly and the incorrect use of there/they're and lack of apostrophe.

I wouldn't expect v tricky spellings to be corrected if the child isn't going to retain it at that level...but a Year 2 child not to be corrected about something as basic as the use of they're...? Really? My dd has just finished reception and she is starting to understand which there/they're/their should be used.

Re your dd's story: you are taking a very black and white view. It sounds like a fantastic piece of work and well punctuated. But it would still be a fantastic piece of work even if spellings were corrected. And who knows, maybe a bright child as she clearly is might use the correct spelling next time she uses that word if it had been corrected?

Oh, and my dd's Year 4 teacher couldn't spell the word 'serene' recently and admitted it to the class. Very worrying.