Yr 1 spellings

[Foreverweeding]

Can anyone advise please? Dc had first spellings given last week as follows:
The, and, was, my, went

Dc only got one correct (dc is only just starting to read with confidence and is August baby with delayed speech due to earlier hearing loss)

This week, spellings are:

Said, of, there, when, some

My concern is that if dc struggled with "went", then won't "said" and "there" be too much? I don't want dc put under too much stress too early, and dc already panicked at last week's test.

I feel as DCs reading is just starting to take off, then spellings may take some time yet, beyond the easy cvc words.

Dc does Reading Eggs at home and enjoys it and is doing well, together with daily reading of school reading books and those from home.

Can any teachers give me some advice please. I will though speak to DCs teacher, although he isn't always very communicative.

Many thanks for reading!

Posts like this keep reinforcing my distaste for the irregularities of English spelling. They make children's lives far more stressful than need be or should be.

The word your dc is getting are from the 100 most used English words. Sadly, quite a few of them have irregular spellings.

49 are not tricky to spell:
a, and, as, at, had, has, that, an, back, can,
in, is, it, if, did, him, his, with, big, little, this, will,

get, them, then, well, went,

not, on, from, so, go, no, or, for,
but, much, must, up, just,
came, made, make, I, like,
our, out, about, over.

51 are tricky in various ways:
^he, of, the, to, was, first, her, off, they, new,
all, be, been, here, see, are, have, one, said, we, you, by, my, call, before, come, could, do, down, into, look, me, more, now, only, other, right, she, some, their, there, two, when, want, were, what, where, which, who, your, old.^

As soon as children start to do any independent writing, they need to use them. So learning them quite early on is quite a good thing, but many children find them hard to cope with.

I hope the above helps u to understand why your dc is getting those spellings to learn, but please carry on doing all u can not let your dc get stressed about them.

Masha Bell

...the words (not word).

Thank you. It just feels like dc is failing and it's only year 1.

I feel I'm already doing a lot to support DCs learning at home, but in fun ways. I'm pretty sure that dc is going to get only one or two right most weeks at least for a while to come, and will probably immediately forget the majority. Dc is playing a constant game of catch up with the rest of the class, many of whom are almost a year older.

Feel so sad for him.

Dr Seuss is good for learning irregular but common English words.

Oh Lordy, here's Masha with another list...

How do you find the time and inclination? And yes, the English language is crap and non-sensical and it amazes me that ANYONE learns how to read or write it but unless you propse to write your own dictionary there's not a lot you can do about it.

op, dont stress, my 3 all struggled in KS1, all summer babies ... they have all caught up now with interventions from the school and the normal amount of input from DH and I, read LOTS is my advice

Poor little chap. English spelling is what it is - and, as Iamnot said, not much we can do about it. However, I think it is the teacher's approach that is causing the stress, and that is quite unnecessary. And that could more easily be changed. Don't really know what to suggest but I would be going in and having words.

Thanks all, yes I think I need a chat. What I don't want is my dc being put off learning, just when the reading is starting to take off.

The school is very strict and has extremely high expectations, and tbh a lot of the kids are finding the whole "no play" thing very hard, and if anyone is too noisy everyone loses the small amount of time they have to choose an activity (this is normally approx. 20 mins a day). Put this together with the great push on achieving, and this leaves a lot of stressed kids and parents.

I have a few issues with the school tbh (if you hadn't noticed)

My Y1 boy doesn't get given spellings.

I think the way to approach it would be to create lots of sentences with the words in. They are close to meaningless without context (especially the homophones or near-homophones). One would hope that if he writes them several times each in a meaningful context each time, he'd be able to associate the spelling with the meaning, rather than the sound.

How I wished the school didn't have spelling tests. We were just getting to a point when he wasn't totally hating school, and now we are back on that slippery slope. He also gets so tired.

They are supposed to read every day (which we do, happily) and do spellings every day (look, say, cover, write, check). They are also given three sounds a week e.g. oa, ai etc. for which they have to write six words containing each sound, so that is obviously 18 words, as well as writing a sentence containing each spelling word. He is absolutely hating it and he's only five.

He said tonight before bed, "I hate school. I can't do the work, it's too hard". Every night whilst I read him a bedtime story he asks not to go into school the next day.

Why does it have to be so tough on them when so young? (A comment rather than a question)!

DS is getting 10 or 11 to learn a week and they do a test on Fridays
They practise every morning when they go in to the classroom and then they have a book to take home. We practise every afternoon/night with DS. No pressure just picking out random ones and quizzing him, usually whilst I'm cooking dinner.
He's quite competitive so having a test actually works for him well.
I think it helps that he's a strong reader. Building confidence in reading will ultimately help build confidence with spelling. Work towards little goals, starting with getting one or two right. I found a combination of praise and bribery seems to focus the enthusiasm.

They are supposed to read every day (which we do, happily) and do spellings every day (look, say, cover, write, check). They are also given three sounds a week e.g. oa, ai etc. for which they have to write six words containing each sound, so that is obviously 18 words, as well as writing a sentence containing each spelling word. He is absolutely hating it and he's only five.

Do you mean he has to do all that at home? In addition to working all day at school with only 20 minutes choosing time? It doesn't really have to be like that. What sort of school is it?

Cecily, there is no play for them. That stops in reception. The classroom just has desks and chairs. It is an average primary, not private.

Really think it's far too much and the kids are finding it very hard, especially mine who will be 5 all the way through year 1.

I've been looking to move him but it's almost impossible as our LEA have said the next available slot for moving school will be next April and all nearby schools are full anyway. Our other option is to homeschool him. We have other serious issues with the school, but that would be for another thread. We seriously don't know what to do. All we know is he is fast being put off education, which is so sad.

It does sound really sad. All that pressure is really unnecessary and, unless there is some underlying difficulty, the children will get there in the end. Have you seen other schools where you think DS would be happier? Can you go on any waiting lists? Surely there must be the possibility of some movement with people moving out of the area.

Are there any other decent schools in the area. I'm a teacher with a 3.5 year old. If she was experiencing that in year 1, I'd move her...to be fair even if she could cope I'd move her. I'm all for high expectations, I work in a school which has very high expectations and sets ambitious targets for ourselves and children but I don't believe that you have to overload children to achieve those targets.

:( if its turning him off of school, it'll turn him off if learning. That's so sad.

Foreverweeding, that's terrible. My year 1 son would never cope with all that. He is fine with the reading sent home (thankfully) but the little homework he gets is often a struggle. He would be a very unhappy little boy if he had all that your son has to deal with. I'm sorry I don't have any advice for you. I hope it can be sorted so you son can enjoy school.

U can thank Mr Gove for this. And English spelling.

Only around 1/3 of English speakers ever learn to spell confidently. (Most MNers are among them. Weak spellers don't join forums like this.)
Around 1/5 of Anglophone adults are so illiterate that they can barely read even simple, very short texts. They never read to their children.

Over the past few decades governments of all Anglophone countries have become more and more desperate to improve literacy standards, mainly because the functionally illiterate incur heavy public expenditure. Making English spelling more learner-friendly never crosses their minds. They remain convinced that the answer lies in making teachers and children work harder. The teachers get put under pressure by Ofsted and the league tables. They in turn give children a harder time. But because learning to spell English correctly remains exceptionally difficult, as difficult as it has been for the past 300 years, overall standards don't change a jot.

I realise that this is of little comfort to u. I just want u to understand where the pressures on teachers, your children and u come from.

The difference between the consistency of Finnish spelling and the inconsistecies of the English system are the reason why Finnish kids can start school at 7, have lots of time to play and still do much better than the rest of the world.

Thanks everyone, and yes Mashabell - you are quite correct. It is really depressing for everyone and I can only imagine the pressure on teachers.

Apparently our school does SATS breakfast clubs in the lead up to SATS tests I think to tempt them with breakfast and force feed them with yet more work. I know of several children who then entered high school clinically depressed and experiencing a lot of problems continuing in high school education.

We are looking to move him, but the on line forms mean the current Head is informed of your wish to move, and you may not be offered a place elsewhere for months. That is why we were considering homeschooling him. It's all very difficult to know what is the right thing to do.

Thanks though, you've all been really kind and helpful!

I guess you could blame Mr Gove, but you can hardly blame English spelling - it is the same spelling as in the olden days when I was in the what is now Y1 and school was a lot of fun, with perhaps some work, but certainly no homework. And, in the fullness of time, even the poorest spellers can spell the high frequency words, though some may struggle with the homophones and near homophones amongst them.

I have to say, OP, that while not a particular fan of the idea of home-schooling, I would be very tempted to go down that road if I were in your position - at least until a vacancy in a preferred school comes up, anyway.

Cecily
you can hardly blame English spelling - it is the same spelling as in the olden days
English spelling is indeed as rotten now as it was 300 years ago. And that's the problem.

The compilers of the first spelling lists, which then became dictionaries, were mainly teachers to the kids of the wealthy. They never envisaged a time when everbody would be expected to learn to read and write. Creating an impenetrable system that took a long time to learn created a greater need for their services and gave them status.

There was no paying of benefits to the illiterate who could find no work, like now. There were also far more jobs that required no literacy of any kind. So having a spelling system that ensured high levels of illiteracy was not a big problem, nor a huge drain on the public purse.

Overall spelling standards have never been better than they are now. In the UK, employers were complaining about them in 1929 (to the Newbold commission.) There is merely a greater desire to get more children of relatively low ability to learn to read and write at least passably well too, but this is impossible without changes to the spelling system.

People like u, Cecily, have always managed to cope with it, but it's always been too difficult for the lower half of the ability range. And even for those who cope eventually, having a spelling system that takes around 10 years to master, compared with just 1 year with the Finnish one, is a bit insane.

It's not just spelling though, is it? If somebody writes well in general and has the odd orthographical error so be it. But if spelling, grammar, punctuation and meaning are all absent simultaneously, which so often is the case, then there is a good reason to be concerned, well, several good reasons to be more precise.

When I was at primary school (in the early 70s - gulp), the structure of the day was much less full. I remember reading, writing, spellings and maths in the mornings, with the afternoons free for art, singing, PE/country dancing. I remember I hated how structured and strict it was, but having said that I don't recall anyone going up to the junior high from our class who didn't read and write fluently and have basic maths skills.

We had absolutely no homework until high school and there was no contact with parents other than on parents' evening. Parents in those days just left the school to it and trusted them.

The teachers have to fit so much into the school day, although I realise that literacy and numeracy is attempted to be woven into the curriculum.

I don't know what the answer is to be honest. My eldest really struggled with his reading and writing in primary. He is now in his last year at school and he reads and writes fluently and often pulls up the TAs on their spelling! He basically got there in his own time.

I do believe that children are generally more receptive to learning these skills when they are physically and emotionally ready. Some learn earlier, and some later. Some learn quickly and some slower. This obviously creates problems for teachers, and for schools who want to hit targets, and more importantly for the children who feel they are "behind" or "stupid" if they are struggling to get going, or to keep up.

We have three children, and they're all amazing. The only problems I've ever had with them has involved education and schools. I just wish it all was just more enjoyable.

Hi foreverweeding:

I think elliegoulding is offering a lot of wisdom there - it genuinely will be alright in the end.

Your spelling looks to be generated from the list of the first 100 high frequency words (for example: www.highfrequencywords.org/first-100-high-frequency-word-list-precursive.html - so these are words that are most frequently said in English. Some are phonetically simple to sound out like:

put - puh - uh - tuh - PUT

or

get - guh - eh - tuh - GET

others actually aren't so obvious and do need to be practiced/ learned - words like:

he - which doesn't obviously sound out as - huh - EEE - but in fact is pronounced as such.

DD1 really struggled at this point and the only advice I can give you is to try and been as relaxed as possible about this - have faith that they will get in the hang of it. Be supportive and encouraging and keep telling yourself they'll get there in the end. I'm afraid you really have to see this as a marathon and you're there to be supporting your little runner through this race with encouragement, snacks, etc...

I found the alphablock CBEEBIES website (which has old shows) really helpful at this stage: www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks/ - I'm not sure if this is still on CBeebies (my girls have outgrown CBeebies these days).

Oxford Owl has all sorts of support/ ideas/ links to games/ e-books to support early reading skills and learning English Phonetic system here: www.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading

Their 'Phonics' made easy website pages may be of help: www.oxfordowl.co.uk/home/reading-owl/expert-help/phonics-made-easy

Finally - if your school is using 'Jolly Phonics' (just ask the teacher if you don't know) or something similar - there may be workbooks you can use at home to help reinforce concepts being taught at school and give more practice. (We certainly found that for DD1 when I didn't know about this she really struggled; DD2 had these, because I knew about them by then, and she seemed to get it much more quickly.)

HTH

Thanks Pastby, our school has some really old ORT as a reading scheme (yuk), but we don't rely on these and have a lot of books at home which he reads. His reading is really taking off now, it's just the spelling and writing.

I have no wish to push him as he's only 5, but the pushing is being done at school so it's hard to be relaxed about things when you get a bag full of stuff sent home to wade through when he gets home, and this is impacting on his happiness at home.

I do realise what you're saying though, and it's up to me to create a balance at home, and not allow him to worry (if that's possible). Thanks!

I think it must be hard to create a balance if you put in the work at home for a test and he still gets 1/5. It must be very dispiriting for him and upsetting for you. He will be worrying he can't do it (how could it be otherwise, regardless of how upbeat you try to be) while you will be worrying that the school think that you are not bothering at home. The words seem to be coming home pretty randomly, when they could be grouped a bit more according to their sounds, eg

be, me, we, he, she, the
where, there
some, come
to, do

and so on. It may also be helpful to look at the words he got wrong in the test to see what kind of mistakes he actually made in order to take things forward from there.