Spelling


Spelling activities invlove students spelling, blending and segmenting words. Students are also explicitly taught the 6 syllable types and morphology (pre-fixes, suffixes) and the spelling rules that govern them.

Spelling activities are not: Alphabetically order, finding words in word sleuths, writing out sentences. These types of activities are grammar or writing activities. Word meanings and orally putting words in context is a vocabulary lesson. A spelling lesson should not be any longer than 30 minutes.

 

Morphology looks at the internal structure of the words and their make up.  For example, the word ‘shopping’ has the base word ‘shop’ and the end of the word (suffix) being ‘ing’.  By becoming familiar with various base words, prefixes and suffixes, students start to see patterns and are confident to make more accurate spelling attempts in their writing. 

 

Etymology is the study of word origins and how they have changed throughout history.  Often when students understand the origin of a word, they begin to see patterns emerge that assist them in spelling.  For example ‘spect’ is latin, meaning ‘to see’ and appears in words such as ‘inspect’ or ‘spectator’.  Having a strong understanding of word origin enables students to finely tune their spelling and understanding of more complex words in the English language. 

 

Through both explicit teaching and exploration of the English language, students are able to learn to spell and understand a wide range of rich vocabulary to support them as readers and writers.