Phonics spelling schemes

[Hellelujah]

Hello, just trying to catch up on stuff over the holidays.

Can anyone recommend any school phonics spelling schemes suitable for KS2?

Any quality phonics programme will teach spelling alongside reading

Yes, but I'm looking for a school spelling scheme, rather than a school reading scheme - for kids in KS2 who can already read.

ie I needs something that goes from Y3 - Y6

They need exactly the same skills for spelling (it is a reversible process) but need to be taught them explicitly so they understand this ... if you have a phonics scheme you can use this to teach spelling very effectively in KS2 ...phonics should not end in Y2.

We use the same programme from nursery to Y6 but obviously the focus in KS2 is more on spelling

It's a junior school, so most kids start able to read, so we dont have a school phonics scheme.

So this is what I'm trying to introduce, but I need something aimed at KS2 not KS1 otherwise it'll be very hard to introduce.

The HT thinks phonics ends in the infants. And given that match funding was only available in KS1 (although I think that then changed) and the phonics test is in Y1, this is the message she's received from the govt.

There must be a good spelling scheme aimed at KS2 out there.

Look at Get Spelling

Matched Funding has been available for KS2 for some time www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/pedagogy/a00191791/match-funding-for-systematic-synthetic-phonics-products-and-training

Thanks

Support for Spelling is free

They need exactly the same skills for spelling (it is a reversible process)

In English, reading and spelling are not reversible. Being able to read 'head, friend, said' does not teach children how to spell the short /e/ sound in other words - only in those words.

For reading, children can use context to help them decode letters with variable sounds when stuck, such as ea, ie, ai (head, plead, field, friend, pie, said, laid).

For spelling, they simply to have to memorise the tricky letters for each word (speak, shriek, soup, scoop, move...), ask someone for help or look them up in a dictionary. They can learn the main patterns (bed, bend, send...), but the 4,000+ words which disobey them in some way they have to learn word by word.

That's why all phonic spelling programmes are of limited use.

Masha Bell

Sorry masha but isn't there context when writing a sentence?

Masha - I think you're right that phonics doesn't tell you which is the right way to spell a word.

Eg should you spell it bear, bare, or bair. They're all pronounced the same but only one of them will be the correct spelling.

The question is, which is the easiest way to teach spelling?

The 3 main approaches seem to be:

1. teach them in most frequently used order. I think this is how Americans still do it, but is now out of fashion here? I do think there is some merit in this approach. I guess Masha this is what you advocate?

2. teach a spelling pattern at a time. Eg 'ea' speak, deaf, bread, great.
   I think this is the worst way to teach spelling, but some schemes use this.

3. teach a sound at a time. Eg 'ear' bear, care, flair
   I think there is also merit in thus approach. I guess mrz this is what you advocate?

I think you need to do a mix of 1 and 3. But not really sure how you do any of it in a classroom.

Mrz and masha - if you have children at school who's spelling age was well behind their chronological age, so they really needed extra help, what would you recommend?

No Phoenix we teach all the alternatives at the same time and children identify which is the most common/frequently used but obviously work on homophones teaching the difference.

We use phonics to teach spelling - just tested my class and all have spelling ages higher than chronological age.

We use the same phonics programme as an intervention throughout the school - only delivered as a small group rather than whole class (in addition to normal lesson not instead of)

Phoenix
I think u are right about children learning to spell in many different ways. Learning to spell English 'correctly', i.e. in the way enshrined in dictionaries, is a matter of simple memorisation, and different learners accomplish this in different ways. There is no fool-proof way that works for all.

With young children who find learning to spell really difficult, I would go very easy on 'correct' spelling until they are much older and accept phonetic spellings, correcting just 2 -3 hight frequency words at a time and encourage them to practise those by the old LOOK, SAY, COVER, WRITE, CHECK method.

Repeatedly writing or typing the 'correct' version helps to establish a physical memory for it. More gifted spellers manage to do so by just imprinting the RIGHT LOOK of words on their minds with reading, but for most children its hard labour, and for some especially so.

If it was up to me, I would save children this pain and end the need for it by correcting most of the silly spellings enshrined in dictionaries (frend, sed, lern, enny, menny, gon, throo, baut, caut...). It is pretty obvious why learning to spell English is so time-consuming, but giving children a hard time seems part of Anglosaxon culture and likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Hi -

This Phonics Dictionary is being used by some parents, and has features that could be quite useful at KS2 :

www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Phonics-Spelling-Dictionary-Reading/dp/019273413X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373490750&sr=8-1&keywords=Phonics+dictionary#reader_019273413X

Hi again Hellelujah -

If you are still following this 'thread' and further to my earlier mention of the the Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary:

I have now purchased this book from Amazon, and it really is very good - better than I anticipated in some ways.

You can see sample pages on the Amazon site, and words are listed in order of the initial SOUND, and not necessarily the initial LETTER.

Thus, the book starts with 's' sounds, but after words that actually start with the letter 's', come words like: celebrate, celery, central, centre; cinema, circle, city; cycle, cylinder; scene, science, scissors; ie, words that SOUND as if they should start with 's' but don't!

Still on the 's' sound come words with the sound in the MIDDLE or END of the word, thus: class, lesson; bounce, dance; chase, horse; castle, fasten, etc.

On the pages of 'f' sounds as well as words that start with the letter 'f', come the 'ph' words: phone, photo, phrase, physical. Then come words with the 'f' sound in the middle or end: cliff, coffee, cuff, fluffy; cough, enough, laugh, rough.

I appreciate you are wanting to help KS2 pupils, but I think the way information is presented in this book might well focus their attention on how words are spelled. It also gives plurals, and different tenses for verbs: forgive, forgives, forgiving, forgave, forgiven.

It might sound as though I am enthusing like an OUP salesman, but I assure you I have no agenda other than, as a retired TA, to still support pupils and teachers via MN whenever I am able.

Although this is only one book, and not a 'scheme', I think it is well presented and accessible, and that you could easily construct your work plans around it.

I'll repeat the link here, and wish you good luck with using it!

www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Phonics-Spelling-Dictionary-Reading/dp/019273413X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373490750&sr=8-1&keywords=Phonics+dictionary#reader_019273413X

This one is up to date and we will be using it in our school...

www.primaryclass.co.uk/pages/spelling.html

Hope that helps,

P