Yr 3 high frequency words.

[pumpkinbutter]

DD1 is in yr3, yesterday we got the weekly spellings - 5 words given and then there will be 5 random words from the yr 3 high frequency word list. We haven't been given the HFW list so DD is totally freaked out already as she knows that she will struggle. She is dyspraxic and struggles with the unknown. Where might I find the list so we have some idea what we are facing? I have found a few online but none seem to be the same!

Are you in England or Wales?
There isn't a Y3 HFW list for England but there is one for Wales.

swansea-edunet.gov.uk/en/schools/Llanrhidian/PageDocuments/Year3highfrequencywords.doc

Hi

We are in England - he is an NQT and things have been very random this term already. We can't seem to get a straight answer from him about where these words are to be found. DD struggles particularly with spelling and stressful situations so this is a recipe for disaster for her.

There are spelling lists for Y3 in the new curriculum (but they aren't high frequency words).

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239784/English_Appendix_1_-_Spelling.pdf

Thanks - our spellings aren't from those lists but will print it out for DD incase those are the ones he means.

What might be more useful is to find out the best way for your DD to learn spellings and to approach new words with more confidence.

What do you do at the moment?

Can you explain to her that these tests are a way for her/her teacher to highlight things she doesn't know and needs to work on rather than worrying about trying to get it all correct. We only learn by making mistakes, if you get 100pc right what have you learned?

Maizie - we are still trying to work out the best way for her, we have tried learning by rote and she forgets them under pressure, the spelling issue stems mainly from her dyspraxia and her inability to retain the information. She has 1 hour twice a week one to one where they are focussing on reinforcing phonic rules and selling rules (as well as the dreaded timetables!)

At home we have them stuck up on doors/windows/anywhere in eyeline. She can read them but can't visualise how it looks/is spelt when the word is removed. The 1 to 1 is helping as basic spelling is much better that is was before as we carried it on over the summer.

She doesn't need to visualise them just hear the sounds within the word and learn which alternative spelling represents the sounds (if there are any)
Start bu breaking the words into syllables. Look at each syllable, is there anything that is "tricky" ? relate any tricky parts to known words

To take it back a bit further, what is her phonic knowledge like? If you said a sound, e.g. /k/, would she be able to write down any (or all) of the ways it is spelled i.e 'c'. 'k'. or 'ck'?

Spelling is really just breaking words into their smallest sounds and writing a spelling for each sound in the order in which it comes in the word. Most children find this much easier than trying to recall the letters (and their order) in a word.

As in blue, shoe, flew, through, to, you, too, Maizie?

Or all, crawl, maul, leave, sleeve, believe, speak, seek, shriek
or stole, coal, bowl and four, more, for, your, door.

Get real!

Oh I haven't seen Mashabell on a thread like this for ages

Sorry, CBA to argue with her..

She knows sweet FA about how synthetic phonics teaching works and steadfastly ignores the spelling data in this report:

Report to schools: Longitudinal study of Literacy Development from 2003 - 2009, following 1607 pupils throughout Key Stage 1.
www.sounds-write.co.u/docs/sounds_write_research_report_2009.pdf

Maizie - her phonic knowledge was appalling but is quite amazing after a year with a new teacher who is a phonics wizard! We did a little test like the one you suggested using I sound she gave me I, igh, i_e, ie, ay (like aye aye mummy!) ui, ye, y, ei (she said not normal but there are some tricky words that don't use i before e) So I guessing she is quite secure in her phonic knowledge.

Her issue is she knows how it sound, knows what the letter combinations sound like but she has a block putting it all together to make a word. the brain knows what should happen but the brain/hand link is missing so it gets lost on the way down to the pen!

So then, lots of practice at breaking down words into their individual sounds and writing a spelling for each sound.

Start with very short words with straightforward sound spellings and build up to longer ones as she gets more practised. Count the number of sounds in the word, holding up a finger for each sound; repeat the sounds touching each finger in turn (some programmes suggest actually finger writing each sound spelling on the appropriate finger) . Write a line for each sound and write one sound per line, saying the sound as she writes it. Then check by decoding and blending the written word to see if she's got all the right 'sounds' in. (Obviously if she has a line left she's missed a sound out.) If she gets the word right, rewrite it a few times, always saying the sounds as she writes them. This helps to develop the muscle memory of how the word 'feels' to write; this is an important aspect of spelling and one that gets forgotten (or teachers don't know about )

I'd keep this very simple to start with until she's got the idea. Clearly she has those flaming school spellings to attempt to learn; just do them the same way and don't worry too much if she doesn't do very well when tested at school; it's more important to get the foundations secure. It's brilliant that she remembers 'tricky' sound spellings. I feel you probably have a good base to work from.

(Of course, it is possible that her phonics whiz teacher is already doing this with her...but phonics for spelling does sometimes get less attention than phonics for reading)

Thank you so much - I never though of writing then out like that so she can see then broken up.

We'll start small and build them up.

Knowing all the ways a sound can be spelt, as your dd does, does not tell a child which one is right for a particular word. That comes with lots of practice, as Maizie says, and the 'muscle memory' helps. - Some children are able to imprint the 'right look' of words on their memory from meeting them in reading, but most have to work at it.

But the spellings for some sounds are more stable than others and worth learning to the point of overlearning. This includes most consonants (b, d, h ....).

The consonants that have exceptions, like g, m or r (ghastly, guard, dumb, autumn, wrong, rhubarb) don't have as many of them as vowel spellings.

For the vowels, only the spellings for /a/, /ar/ and /oi/ (fat, cat, spat...far, star, start...boil, oil; boy, toy) have very few exceptions.

pumpkinbutter I think I might be being a bit insulting here, but the way you worded your last message made me wonder if I had fully explained that it is your DD who does all the work! (do forgive me if I've misinterpreted and you knew that all along...)

Your role is to come up with some words and to help her break them into their component sounds if she's having a problem hearing them all. Which you do by saying the word very slowly so that the sounds just 'pop out', so to speak

marsha

All the alternative sound spellings which worry you so much are covered very carefully and systematically in any good SP/LP programme. So children learn excellent spelling skills as shown in the data in the report (above) I have linked you to; many, many times.

Maizie - yup, I realised DD needs to do it, my post was rushed and a bit ambiguous.