STEP FIVE

5. Spelling the Tricky Words

There are several ways of learning tricky spellings:

1) Look, Cover, Write and Check. Look at the word to see which bit is tricky. Ask the child to try writing the word in the air saying the letters. Cover the word over and see if the child can write it correctly. Check to make sure.

2) Say it as it sounds. Say the word so each sound is heard. For instance, the word was is said as 'wass', to rhyme with mass, the word Monday is said as 'Mon-day'.

3) Mnemonics. The initial letter of each word in a saying gives the correct spelling of a word. For instance, laugh - Laugh At Ugly Goat's Hair.

4) Using joined-up writing also improves spelling.

The Jolly Phonics Actions