Spelling in year 3

[blueberryupsidedown]

Sorry another thread about spelling. DS in ear has 20 words to learn over 5 days, and they have a test every Friday.

Now, I'm just not sure I agree on the principal of spelling tests at that age, I don't think it benefits them as much as learning new words, understand and create stories, etc. But I'm just curious to see what you all think about this. Teacher says it's to help her identify who is not doing well at spelling and help them but I think she already knows who is good and who is not so good at spelling. I don't see the point of the test. I can't quite formulate in my head why it's not a good idea (English not my first language). Any opinion/guidance welcome! Thank you.

(This week they had a range of words to understand the prefix -un, words such as unfriendly, unpleasant, unpopular, unfair. Last week was all about maths words, such as measure, kilogram, capacity, millilitre, gram, scale, etc.)

Year 3 not ear 3!!

I can't really understand the teacher's logic. If the children have 5 days to learn the words, then most of those who have made sufficient effort will get them right in the test. Therefore it will only identify the really bad spellers who have not managed this. It certainly won't identify the bad, but slightly less bad, spellers who will be able to get all the words correct in the test but not in their own writing or not a week after the test has taken place.