Curriculum
Essential Spelling: Subject Knowledge for Primary Schools, Part 2
Swap the Friday spelling test for word investigations and word histories that help children remember spellings when they write.
- 39 minutes
- 8 modules
- 0.5 CPD hours
- Certificate
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14 days free, then £70 a year or £7 a month.
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What you'll learn
- Plan spelling lessons around word investigations that start with a question
- Use word histories to help children remember unusual spellings
- Teach common spelling rules and check for gaps from earlier years
- Match strategies such as mnemonics to how each child remembers words
- Explain why weekly spelling tests do little to help children learn spellings
About this course
10 out of 10 on Friday, and the same words spelt wrong in Monday's writing. Weekly tests check short-term memory, and for some children they mostly check how well they cope with panic.
This course, from a former primary headteacher and English specialist, shows you what to do instead. Start a spelling sequence with a question and let children investigate the pattern for themselves. Tell them where words come from, such as why a cow in a field becomes beef on a plate. Teach the rules most English words really do follow, and use the National Curriculum spelling appendix to spot gaps from earlier years.
You'll also get to know the spellers in your class, so the child who needs a mnemonic ("big elephants can't always understand small elephants") gets one, instead of another round of Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.
- For early career teachers, middle leaders and 3 other roles. Primary and secondary.
8 modules
Open in order
- 4 min
Introduction
- 7 min
Know the histories of words
- 7 min
Follow the rules, part 2
- 6 min
Follow the rules, part 1
- 5 min
Plan time for children to investigate
- 5 min
Ditch weekly spelling tests
- 5 min
Get to know your spellers
- 4 min
Wrap up