Ways to learn spellings

[Missymoomum]

I'm a little confused! My Yr2 DS has come home this weekend with spelling homework but the guidance says he won't be having the traditional spelling test way of demonstrating his learning like he had last year, instead he has the freedom of demonstrating his learning in a different way such as an acrostic poem so he can move away from the look, say, cover, write and check method. My question is though, how does he actually learn his spellings in the first place if he doesn't do look,say, cover etc? Or am i just being dim!

In other words, they're no longer doing spelling tests this year - but are focussing on a spelling/ letter string family every week, at school ?
You could always do your own spelling tests with your child.
I love good old Schonell's :
Check this out on AMZN: The Essential Spelling List (English Skills & Practice) amazon.co.uk/dp/0174244932

Very often in spelling lists there is a common theme of SOUNDS, or some other link between words, such as months of the year, for example.

See if he can find the Theme or Link, then possibly write (or type) the words again, in groups to make it easier to see the connection between them.

I think by far the best resource for helping with spelling is the Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary. It lists words according to the initial SOUND, not just the letter as in a 'normal' dictionary. It also has hints and tips on English spelling, and Nouns have their plural, and Verbs their various tenses. At less than £7 from Amazon, it will last a pupil right through to secondary school. You can see sample pages from it HERE:

Thanks to both of you for your replies. Yes the words did have a common sound - ou. We did the typing method to practice as he loves doing anything technology related and we played hangman as well and then he drew a picture and labelled it with some of the words and then wrote a sotry about the picture incorporating the rest of the words. Feguson, that book looks great and i'm going to order a copy!

Missymoomum
What u ar doing is fabulous. With the help that your ds is getting from u and the enthusiasm for learning he seems to be showing, u can be sure that he will end up a very good speller. Doing lots of word work (games, exercises) and lots of poem and story writing is the best way to learn to spell.

The linking of sounds to letters works pretty well too on the whole. Consonant spellings, ar mostly pretty reliable and there ar always far mor of them in most words. Some vowels spellings ar pretty stable too (cat, sat, mat...).

But some vowel spellings ar very unpredictable (blue shoe flew...), consonant doubling in words of mor than one syllable is a complete shambles (very merry, shoddy body) and heterographs (there/their) ar very difficult for many children for obvious reasons.

The LOOK, SAY, COVER, WRITE, CHECK method is still the best way of learning the words that won't stick. As children get older and hav to learn mainly from their own mistakes, it is the best way of dealing with words that keep causing difficulties.