How to help with...spelling

Good spelling is a fundamental part of a child's literacy development. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to learn how to spell because the way a word sounds isn't always the way it's spelt. In this instalment of Spark Island's "How to..." guides, primary school teacher Sean Callery reveals some top spelling tips.

In a nutshell

• The good news is when our children can speak and write, they can communicate. The bad news is learning to spell is tough.
• Sometimes words are spelt how they sound, sometimes not (look at 'cold' and 'could').
• Where there are rules, there are always exceptions - 'i' before 'e' except after c - unless it's either eight, height, weight, or seize: weird, isn't it?

Here's what you can do to help your child

• Ways you can help
• Spelling rules
• Different way to learn
• Top 100 most commonly used words
• Learning activities

• Try to see where he needs help. Look at the words your child spells wrongly. Does he often make mistakes in the same parts of words, or with the same sounds or letters? For example, lots of verbs end in '-ed': if your child writes 't' instead, he is using sounds to spell, so he needs to look at, as well as listen to, the word. You might spot that the mistakes are at the start or middle of words, or ones with an 'e' on the end. That tells you what to work on.
• Your child's school will probably set spellings for a weekly test. If he gets 10 out of 10 every week, he is either one of those lucky ones who can just do it, or he's not being stretched. Accept that there will be mistakes in tests, and just look for consistency and improvement. After all, two out of 10 is twice as good as one out of 10!
• Practise spellings with plastic letters (like magnetic ones for the fridge door, or from word games like Scrabble or Boggle). This allows the child to try out ideas quickly, without the pressure of having it marked 'wrong'
• When writing spellings, 'look, cover, say, write, check'. This encourages your child to 'see' and 'hear' the word, and to see for himself if he spelt it right. Don't mark these words right or wrong, but tick or cross each letter. Then you can praise what is good, and see where the difficulty with that word is. Use a circle to show where a letter is missing.
• When correcting wrongly spelt words, ask your child to write them three times. This takes longer and can help children with poor short term memory.
• Ask your child for some words he would really like to learn how to spell. However hard they seem, try to teach them. When learned, wait four weeks and try them again.
• Try not to pressurise a struggler too much - he might stop playing to avoid the risk of losing. Word games like Scrabble, Boggle, and pencil and paper ones like Hangman all encourage spelling, but they are competitive.
• Get your child a pocket spellchecker. Dictionaries don't help really poor spellers much, because you need to know the first few letters to look up the word. They are good for giving meanings, though.
• However worried you are about your child's spelling, when he is writing, encourage him to put in the words he wants to use, rather than those he knows he can spell. A 'delicious' cake is more interesting to learn about than a 'nice' one. But once a word has been learned, expect him to continue spelling it right.

• most question words start 'wh'
• i before e except after c
• add 's' for plurals except those that end in 's', 'x', 'z', 'ch' and 'sh', when you add 'es'
• nouns ending in 'y' change to 'ies'
• use 'ce' for nouns and 'se' for verbs (you advise with advice)
• when adding 'ing' or 'ed', double the last consonant after a short vowel sound (so drop becomes dropping or dropped)
• don't drop the final 'e' when you add 'ly' ('comely'), but do drop it to add 'ing' ('coming')

• draw a line under the tricky part of the word and concentrate on that bit
• find words within the word (there's a 'hen' in 'when'!)
• break the word up into smaller parts (Wed + nes + day = Wednesday)
• break the word up into sounds (th-a-nk)
• make up a silly sentence using the letters (big elephants can't always use small exits spells 'because') - these are most likely to work if the child makes up their own
• write the word with your finger in the air, or in sand
• type the word
• say the word as it is written (like 'climb')
• trace over the letters with a finger several times, saying the sounds
• take a photograph of it in your head
• find a word that rhymes with it: is the spelling the same?
• count the letters
• ask 'how are we going to learn this?' - he may choose one of these ways, or find his own

Some words are much more important than others. About 12% of all the language we use is the same 100 words. These 100 words make up about half of all reading and spelling:


A a about all an and are as at
B back be been before big but by
C call came can come could
D did do down
F first for from
H had have he him his
I I in into is it
J just
L like little look
M made make me more much must my
N new no not now
O of off old on one only or other our out over
R right
S said see she so some
T that the their them then there they this to two
U up
W want was we well went were what when where which who will with
Yyou

Learning activities
Check out our Activity and resource finder where you'll find tailored learning activities to develop your child's skills in English, maths and science.