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Speed Spell

15/6/2018

1 Comment

 
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These days, it would appear that success in spelling is simply about engaging with the words in as many ways as possible. Granted, you can learn the rule or the pattern, but there are so many anomalies in the English language that it often appears a hindrance, rather than an advantage, to know the 'rule'.

Here are some simple prompts to supplement the teaching of spelling:
Read - Arguably the best way to discover a plethora of new words, is to read!
Games - I think games get a bad rep as cop-outs, but well-thought out, somewhat supervised, games are a great way to spend a lesson! Grab the nearest Scrabble, Up-words (anyone have that when they were little?), Hangman, Countdown, anything else word based!
Puzzles - Again, I think it's the same as the games, there's an attitude about things such as word searches and crosswords. They're often seen as fillers, and therefore throw away tasks that shouldn't be completed seriously. But actually consider the processes you go through in completing them! They're pretty complex for a child learning about words, and absolutely the sorts of skills we should be encouraging!

Due to the amount of resources attached, this post continues below. Click 'Read More' to access free resources and read on!
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Get creative - Get colours and different media involved. Make it memorable and on display. Paint the words, write with a water pistol, stick down letters cut from a magazine. ANYTHING!

Sending spellings home
- The criticism of sending a lovely list home, for an equally lovely test to be had the following week, is that the children fall into 3ish camps:
  1. They have an extremely supportive family who help them practise. They ace the test.
  2. They have an extremely supportive family who help them practise. They ace the test, but never apply the words correctly ever again.
  3. They don't bother learning them, and by the time you've made them feel bad about it, you're on to the next list where the cycle starts again!
​​Either way, for some of them it works and it's a recognisable thing to engage with for families.

Speed Spell - My issue has always been the secular nature by which they learn them. It makes good sense that they learn them in sets according to rules or patterns, but similar to the problem above, they never use them afterwards. They get memorised, on a good day, and forgotten. I wanted to find something that would achieve three aims:
  • Encourage the children to engage with a set of words,
  • Somewhat train the brain to retain information,
  • Is easily implemented and can run itself.
And I believe the creations below achieve those three aims. Designed with the Key Word lists from the National Curriculum (let's try and kill more birds with fewer stones here people!), the Speed Spell videos play a set of words that the children write down as quickly as possible (there's approximately 7 seconds between each word). A sentence is given on screen for context. Because the words never change, the score they receive is always based on the same criteria: getting the words correct. Motivation comes from the idea that the score gets higher (and suitable rewards allocated - completely your choice) for putting in the effort to practise them!

I'm shocked to be able to say that they way my class have engaged with this is beyond my comprehension, and they're improving on this weekly!

Give it a go, and let me know!

Included:
One video per year group, for you to play to your class.
One answer sheet for the children to fill in as the video plays.
One word list to give to the children to prepare in whatever way they see fit (and they can be used to find the scores!)


All documents are made of 2 sheets so that you can print them 2 to a page, thus saving half the paper! 
year_1_-_speed_spell__answers_.pdf
File Size: 237 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_1_-_speed_spell.pdf
File Size: 85 kb
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year_2_-_speed_spell__answers_.pdf
File Size: 237 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_2_-_speed_spell.pdf
File Size: 227 kb
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year_3_-_speed_spell__answers_.pdf
File Size: 232 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_3_-_speed_spell.pdf
File Size: 222 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_4_-_speed_spell__answers_.pdf
File Size: 233 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_4_-_speed_spell.pdf
File Size: 222 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_5_-_speed_spell__answers_.pdf
File Size: 233 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_5_-_speed_spell.pdf
File Size: 222 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_6_-_speed_spell__answers_.pdf
File Size: 232 kb
File Type: pdf
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year_6_-_speed_spell.pdf
File Size: 222 kb
File Type: pdf
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1 Comment
Katie
25/8/2018 01:17:47 pm

This idea is fab - would you mind if I shared with our staff (crediting you, of course)? Is there somewhere that the other half of each list is on a recording? Whilst half the list if wonderful and more than enough for the majority of children, I'm sure, I could anticipate staff asking!

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