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Primary education

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Stressing about Year 1 spelling tests

52 replies

flufflycloud · 02/10/2022 07:26

DC is in year 1, and is summer born if that has any relevance!

They have started to do spelling tests every week. They have 8 words to learn ranging from 2/3 letter words, up to 6 letters like "fright". I can see the words are linked to the sounds they are learning like "igh" and "oa"

In DC first test they got 2 out of the 8 correct which I said was great, well done etc.

We had practiced each day, but only looked at about 5 words because of the amount of time it would have took to practice and get all 8, I tried to focus on less words but with more quality.

We have a brand new 8 words this week, and again I don't see how we'll be able to practice all 8 well enough.
I am trying the little and often approach and also trying to keep it light as I don't want to make it a chore or something we both dread.

Will it just improve over time??? Am I worrying too soon?

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Dinosaursdontgrowontrees · 10/05/2023 23:02

My ds really struggled with spellings in year 1. He was regularly getting 1 or 2 out of 10 and he was getting really upset about it. We (with support from his teacher) just learnt 5 out of the 10 each week which seemed more manageable and his confidence improved.
He is now in year 2 and something has clicked for him. He is now regularly getting 10/10 and seems to find spelling much easier, his confidence has bloomed too!

funtycucker · 11/05/2023 17:45

I'd say 10 spellings is quite normal for Y1. My DC gets 10 spellings each week , English homework which usually involves constructing sentences with that week's spellings and whatever they have been working on such as conjunctions, a maths homework and 2 reading books. The little and often approach as suggested by others for learning the spellings works for us. Someday we may practice writing them down, others I might say the words for them to spell out loud to me as we walk home from school. I wouldn't worry too much though about getting them all right, or making a big deal out them as that could make them feel more panicky about them.

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