The note
How schools teach it now
Schools teach spelling through patterns and rules, plus the statutory Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 word lists (necessary, accommodate, rhythm). Year 5–6 covers -cious/-tious, -able/-ible, -ant/-ent and silent letters. 'i before e except after c' is only taught for the 'ee' sound (receive, ceiling), with exceptions like seize.
5-minute kitchen-table activity
Pick three tricky words from the Year 5/6 list, such as necessary, definite and embarrass. Your child writes each on a sticky note and underlines the 'hard bit'. Turn the notes over, read a word aloud, and they write it from memory. Check together and stick any misses on the fridge for next time.
Worked example
Find the section with a spelling mistake, or choose N for no mistake. A: We were definately / B: going to the beach / C: until it started / D: to rain heavily.
- Read the whole sentence once for its meaning.
- Then look slowly at each word, one section at a time.
- 'definately' is wrong. A handy hook: definitely has 'finite' hiding inside it (de-finite-ly).
Answer: A (it should be 'definitely')
Common mistakes to watch for
- Reading for meaning and gliding straight past the misspelt word.
- Choosing N too quickly; most of these sentences really do contain a mistake.
- Marking a correct but unfamiliar word as wrong just because it looks odd.
Encouragement
- Try saying
- “Let's find the tricky bit of this word together.”
- Rather than
- “That's an easy word, you should know it.”