Helping your child with Spelling - International Parents' Meeting

On Thursday 28th February twelve International Parents met to discuss ways that parents can help their children with spelling.
Here are some ideas:

Spelling tips for parents

To be able to spell well, a child needs to:

·      Be able to break a word into its separate sounds

·      Know which letters represent the sounds

·      Recall tricky words

·      Know when to use the appropriate word (e.g. ‘meat’ or ‘meet’)

·      Look for links between words according to meaning (e.g. ‘warrior’ and ‘war’)

Things parents can do to help:

·      Support school spelling.  Use the look, say (make sure they are pronouncing the word correctly), cover, write, check approach.

·      Talk to your child (about everything!).

·      Provide opportunities to write in English and your home language, e.g. stories, letters, emails, shopping lists.

·      Trace words and word shapes.

·      Help your child to sort words e.g. words with 5 letters, words that start with ‘th’.

·      Use magnetic letters.

·      Create word lists around your home.

·      Use movement when learning words e.g. clap the letters, or take a step for each letter.

·      Let your child teach you the word.

·      Find rhyming words.

·      Find the wrong word.

·      Play spelling games in the car or when you are out, e.g. I spy.

·      Play board games e.g. Scrabble, Memory.