10/10 in spelling tests but spelling is poor

[Coffeep]

My DS is in year 2. He gets 10/10 in most spelling tests but his spelling is general very poor when he has to do any written work.
He does practice for his spelling tests.
Any idea how i can get him to improve his spelling when doing written work?

Does he write using joined up writing yet?

Joined up writing really helps with the flow of spelling, so words that are practised and learnt in cursive tend to stick in the memory better than when stopping between each letter to think of the next.

This is very standard. Spelling tests are fairly pointless - they're just stored in sort term memory and forgotten by the following week. I would focus on words he commonly spells wrong and uses alot. I wouldn't worry too much though it comes with time.

Don't worry, quite common 😊

How does he spell? Does he sound the words out or does he just memorise the order of the letters?

I think this is the stage where they are still breaking down some words phonically, so will spell them phonically.

I wouldn't worry about spelling, the fact that he wants to use a word and is not afraid to have a go despite now knowing how he's spelling it is really encouraging. The main thing is that he is putting pen to paper and has an encouraging parent.

The spelling mistakes are so cute though. DS1's first sentence was 'I sor a pig' I was so chuffed with him!

I gave up using all spelling tests - except the statutory ones, of course - and assessed children's spelling from their written work. Not just in English lessons, either. That's the spelling that counts, after all. I recommended teachers I was working with to try that approach and it works. It sounds radical but it's just common sense. If they're being tested, children can think spelling only matters if it's a test!

At home, I'd say go for the commonest words and just spend a few minutes a day on them. If misspellings like thay and wos follow a child into KS2, they can get very embedded and hard to shift.

What does the teacher say?

Has anybody actually explained to him that he is supposed to memorise them and learn them off by heart - and not forget them again immediately after the test?

I wouldn't worry. They really shouldn;t be bothering with spelling tests at this age - as PP says it is entirely pointless, there is loads of research on this.

Often they don;t spell correctly when writing because they are not thinking about it - they are focused on what they are trying to say.

I would completely ignore and just focus on getting him to read, write and enjoy language as much as possible.