Years three and four are the crucial years to start a more formal approach for spelling.
At this stage, caregivers are ‘partners in learning’ and share developmental learning processes.
The Next Steps To Spelling
The following learning steps are covered in Reading & Spelling Made Simple Book One, within Steps 3 and 4.
Consolidate short vowel sounds.
Consolidate beginning consonant blends.
Consolidate consonant digraphs, e.g. ch, sh, th.
Consolidate consonant blends at ends of words.
Pay special attention to nasal sounds -ng, -nk.
Steer children towards observing how written English language works, including the first simple ‘rules’ (explanations) of English.
Continue to develop the Word Family concept.
Encourage children to use the Buddy Book as a self-teaching reference. Every pattern has a picture, key word, pattern and 3-4 matching words.
Children should be able to read and write the 300 Basic Sight Words by the end of Year Four. The Sight Word Cards are multi-purpose. One set will last a caregiver for all of their children. Use these cards for ‘Zip-Zap Reading’ (70% of all words), and use the sentences on the backs of the cards for dictation.
Caregivers can do this at home and also use the ‘extras’ on the backs of the cards, which can include word families, contractions (I’ll), say/write in syllables (un…der), and silent letters.