Please talk to me about spellings in Year 1

[rainbowinthesky]

DD is doing well in Yr 1 - stage 10 ort. She has just been given her first spellings sheet for Y1 but she was able to spell them all in reception. I have written a note saying this for the teacher and asking if we could have the next ones up. I am a little why we got them in the first place.
I have tried to find Y2 spelling list on the net but can't. Anyone help with a link?

Shiney - I asked for a link to Y2 spellings. Is that really worthy of being told to get a grip....

I wouldn't worry about spelling (spelling test are controversial, and the evidence leans towards them being pretty useless). Just let her take the test (and get in the habit of test taking in a gentle way), and do your own spelling at home. You know your daughter's level, and use the books she is reading as a source for additional spelling words.

I do wonder how a teacher can administer a spelling test to a class when each individual child can pick their own words from a list of 100 . Why?

I have no idea how they will administer it. I always assumed it was her schools policy not to do spelling tests as she's never had one. They don't do individually reading- only group guided.
I am not going to set my own tests. She's done fine so far without them and without homework previously (despite 2andcounting thinking she never plays).

ALl I bloody asked for if anyone had a y2 spelling list!

I think you can buy workbooks in whsmiths with spellings in them
also borrowing books at her level from the library will help her if she's not being given appropriate books

Rather than setting my own tests if she has to do tests I'd rather she be set ones that she will have to learn rather than knowing inside out. We have always used the library.

She goes into Y2 to borrow books. Has done for the last two weeks and as I said it's the first time she's bought home ort.

How is her writing?

I ask this because this is far more important than being able to learn a list of 10 words by rote to write them out of context for 1 5 min point in time in a week.

DD is in y1 and gets spellings every week.
every week she gets 10/10
we don't even bother doing the "practice" - read,cover,write,write,write method as sent on the sheet. I read them out, make her spell them out loud and then get her to tell me a sentence with them in.
so she is a good speller, great. i am a FANTASTIC speller!

she has plenty of other stuff to be getting on with.

Her writing is very good. SHe is an early october baby too so not much younger than Y2s so her ability is not that amazing and I am certainly not claiming her to be exceptional. I just think if she has to have a spelling test now each week it is surely better to be with words she might have to learn a little or it is just a complete waste of time. I am sure her teacher will answer my query and I will be happy with the answer. I still cannot see why her heart will sink.

There is no such thing as official year 2 spellings. There are Reception High Frequency Words ( I think there are 45 of those) and Y1/2 High Frequency Words, of which there are over 100. That is what you should google.
Spelling tests are an utter waste of time imo, precisely for the reason that you can't give each child a list of words they don't know and keep adjusting it week by week - it's a logistical nightmare and a waste of time and energy, when weighed against all the other things that teachers have to plan and assess. There are smarter ways of setting children individual targets and helping them learn. IME the children who struggle just struggle because the test doesn't help them to learn and the children who find them easy are not learning anything either. Unfortunately it's often a school policy that your dd's teacher has to carry out. But I understand your point that she shouldn't be asked to learn something she already knows. I would ask what the school's policy is on spelling tests, is the whole class given the same list every week? Does she have literacy targets, what are they? Maybe bring up the subject at next parent's meeting, but spellings are a tiny proportion of the literacy learning that your DD will be doing as a whole. If it is the first time they 've been given spellings, maybe the teacher wants to give them the same words, so she can assess from that how to differentiate sets of spellings in the future.

My DD in year 1 has never had any spelling words or spelling tests... do all year 1 children get spelling tests?

rubimama - Yes, you might be right except on a separate sheet it says that we as parents choose between 4-10 words and write them in a spelling book each week so the teacher knows which ones our child has and our dc will be tested on them. We will work our way through the list.

I've never been fussed about her not having had spelling tests previously but as I said if she has to do them then I would be interested in seeing the next level up to judge for myself if more appropriate.

I would assume as you say dd has her own literacy targets and I would assume learning these spellings wont be on it.

If this is her first spelling sheet then maybe the teacher is looking to assess before giving differentiated work.

I am assuming that she has demonstrated her consolidation of these words through her consistent correct spelling [of these words] in previous written work for you to be questioning whether these words are too her level?

Rubimama -totally agree re spelling tests being a total waste of time.

Children appear to have 'learned' how to spell the given words and a number out of 10 appears to confirm this. However, when looking closely at childrens' written work most people would be amazed that even the most common high frequency words are often spelt wrong.

Yes, she's done all that. As I said she's never had a spelling test. I know she can spell them myself because she can read them all and write them all as part of her writing and has done for months. Her teachers know this too. This isnt a rant against her teachers though. I'm responding to comments and questions asked - just saying so I dont get told to get a grip again.

Is she confident getting them all right will do her self esteem the world of good. DD in Y2 generally gets all her spellings right but I think it does her confidence good. So haven't complained. Also if she hasn't been in a test situation before you might be surprised by her performance

No, I have no idea how she will perform in a test situation. I am not sure if boosting confidence for the rest of this year (not sure if she needs confidence boosting anyway) is more important than having spellings to learn that she doesnt already know inside out.

you don't know if the teacher is using this test as a baseline assessment. You don't know if the teacher doesn't have plans to differentiate (you don't know they do)

You are assuming these 'easy' words will be equally easy each week.

I would just wait for a response from the teacher.

The sheets syas they are the spellings that Year one need to learn and that they will be tested on them each week. We keep the list at home. SHe has already been assessed at some point in reception as having known them. I know this as I've been told by reception and Y1 teacher. Of course I am very likely to get a different list. All I asked for was a link to a Y2 list as I couldnt find one on google. It seems the reason I couldnt is it is done by key stage rather than year.

I am waiting for a response said earlier.

I would let her do the spellings and talk to the teacher DD's class has 3 different spelling groups but they were only introduced after they all did the same spellings for a few weeks. She found them very easy and is now in the top group and we normally have to learn 1 of them a week

Then I have finished talking to you about spellings in Year 1.

Hi, very interesting topic. I'm on maternity leave just now, but was education officer for Scottish Government (previously teacher). I wrote and contributed towards a large proportion of literacy part of the new
Scottish curriculum, and am also Scottish adviser for ORT. Any qs you have/advice needed will try to help. Am about to go out (for a change - just put ds down for night and dh babysitting!) but will look in on thread again tomorrow.
Will go into more detail when time, but rainbow, you certainly shouldn't be worried about the teacher's heart sinking - they are there to help child progress at their own rate and as a teacher i would have welcomed input from caring parents.When i had a P1 class - your reception - I liked to keep my groupings manageable and didn't have lots of individuals or small groups - just 4 main groups and did a lot of interactive class lessons. Apart from manageability, this was for social reasons and also to monitor comprehension - this is important and is not always as advanced as spelling/decoding when reading. However, within each group,not all children same or at same pace, and i often gave more able children extension texts or projects, particularly if requested by parents. I also advised how to make these activities fun - yes, children learn through play but the ones who need stretched often love learning new words etc and taking on new challenges. nah gave you some good advice.

Thanks. I'm a teacher too (secondary) and I spend a lot of time differentiating and workign from where pupils are at. I cant see how the teachers heart will sink with my query either.