Spelling Tricky Words (common exception words)
Tricky words (common exception words) need to be sounded out as much as possible to read and spell using known grapheme/phoneme correspondence. However, they all have some ‘tricky’, irregular part which needs to be learned off by heart.
The words to, too and two all sound the same and are therefore homophones, but they are spelt differently and have different meanings. How can learners work out the spelling for each word? There are several ways to ensure the correct spelling is used each time. The regular part of each of the words is the letter ‘t’ for the sound /t/. Therefore individuals should not be asking how they spell the whole word, as they will already know the first letter. What they may be asking is how to spell the phoneme /oo/ in each word. Strategies to learn to spell the /oo/ in these words include:
to – This is a short word which only needs two letters, meaning ‘going in the direction of somewhere’. Use sentences and actions to explain the meaning ‘Go to the shops’, ‘Go to the door’ etc. This word can be learned together with the word ‘do’ as the letter ‘o’ is making the same sound in each of these two letter words. Learners could remember a sentence ‘Do go to the ……’ and let them finish the sentence how they will remember best. They will soon realise that the words ‘do’ and ‘to’ end with the single letter ‘o’ when writing this sentence and can compare it to the different sound the ‘o’ makes in the word ‘go’.
too – This means excessively or also. A strategy can be used such as in the Nessy video below, when the monster eats too many cookies and each cookie represents the letter ‘o’ to help the learner remember the spelling and meaning of this word. For the meaning of also, a learner can remember that as it means ‘also’ so it ‘also needs another letter o’. Remind the learner that they can sound out all of this word phonetically /t/ /oo/.
two – meaning the number 2. The letter ‘w’ is included in this word, but cannot be heard. Children may like to make a picture or collage of ‘two wobbly oranges’ and write the initial letters of the words to write the word ‘two’ or they can make up their own mnemonic. Multisensory learning helps stengthen the neural pathways so the student can memorise these irregular spellings easier. However, if the child also learns the connection with the words twice, twins, twelve, twenty which are all to do with the number 2 (but unlike these words, the ‘w’ in the word two is no longer heard,) then this will add to the strategies used to remember the spelling for the word two. This is explained more in the second video below.
I find the origin of words is really interesting and this knowledge can help individuals make connections in order to spell trickier words. Older learners may also enjoy investigating words using http://www.etymonline.com.
SEND STATION COURSE
| SEND STATION http://www.sendstation.co.uk NEW! Speech and Language Difficulties – An Introduction |
| Monday, 7th February, 7:00pm This session provides delegates with the basics to understand the category of need: Speech, Language and Communication Needs. It is designed as an introduction to describe how speech, language and communication develops and shares the differences between terminology such as delay and disorder. This session is packed with top tips and strategies to support a child with both. Tickets £9.50 book on : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/slcn-the-basics-tickets-234878617267 |
Other courses from SEND Station
| Monday 7th February NEW! Speech and Language Difficulties – An Introduction 07:00pm NEW! Autism and Play 07:00pm Tuesday 8th February Reciprocal Reading – Developing comprehension 09:30am ADHD – A Practical Introduction 01.30pm Wednesday 9th February Memory Matters 09:30am The Engagement Curriculum – Personalised planning 07:00pm Thursday 10th February Alphabet Arc – Supporting phonics 09:30am NEW! Autism and Visuals 09:30am Autism and Girls 2 07:00pm Tuesday 15th February Autism and PDA 09:30am NEW! Dyslexia Awareness 07:00pm Wednesday 16th February Global Developmental Delay – An introduction 09:30am Graphic Facilitation – Using dual coding 07:00pm Thursday 17th February Supporting Literacy – Practical strategies for the classroom 09:30am NEW! Auditory Processing Disorder 09.30am Monday 21st February Speech Sounds 09:30am Global Developmental Delay – An introduction 01:30pm Tuesday 22nd February Autism and Emotional Regulation 09:30am Autism and Musical Communication 07:00pm Wednesday 23rd February Autism and Anxiety 09:30am Autism and Girls 07:00pm Thursday 24th February NEW! Autism and Play 09:30am Precision Teaching- Sight Words to Fluency 07:00pm Monday 28th February ADHD – A Practical Introduction 07:00pm MARCH Tuesday 1st March Autism and Girls 09:30am The Engagement Curriculum – Personalised planning 03:30pm Autism and PDA 07:00pm Wednesday 2nd March Autism and Girls 2 09:30am Alphabet Arc – Supporting phonics 07:00pm NEW! Autism and Visuals 07:00pm Thursday 3rd March SENDStational Spelling™ – including cued spelling – 07:00pm Friday 4th March NEW! Speech and Language Difficulties – An Introduction – 07:00pm Monday 7th March Speech Sounds 01:30pm Precision Teaching – Sight Words to Fluency 07:00pm Tuesday 8th March Autism and Emotional Regulation 09:30am NEW! Developmental Language Delay – 07:00pm Wednesday 9th March Autism for Beginners 09:30am Memory Matters 07:00pm Thursday 10th March ADHD – A Practical Introduction 07:00pm Monday 14th March NEW! Developmental Language Delay – 1:30pm Tuesday 15th March Precision Teaching (LSAs) 09:30am Precision Teaching (LSAs) 01:30pm Speech Sounds 07:00pm Wednesday 16th March SENDStational Spelling™ – including cued spelling 09:30am Autism and Anxiety 07:00pm Thursday 17th March Graphic Facilitation – Using dual coding 09:30am Autism and Emotional Regulation 07:00pm Monday 21st March NEW! Auditory Processing Disorder 07:00pm Tuesday 22nd March Independent Learning 07:00pm Wednesday 23rd March Global Developmental Delay – An introduction 09:30am Autism and PDA 07:00pm Thursday 24th March Reciprocal Reading – Developing comprehension 07:00pm Tuesday 29th March NEW! Autism and Play 07:00pm Supporting Literacy – Practical strategies for the classroom 07:00pm Wednesday 30th March Autism and PDA 09:30am Autism and Girls 2 07:00pm Thursday 31st March NEW! Autism – Using Visuals 07:00pm The Engagement Curriculum – Personalised planning 07:00pm APRIL Monday 4th April NEW! Developmental Language Disorder 7:00pm Tuesday 5th April Autism and Anxiety 07:00pm Wednesday 6th April Autism and Emotional Regulation 09:30am Autism and Girls 07:00pm Friday 8th April Speech Sounds 09.30am NEW! Developmental Language Delay – 1:30pm Tuesday 12th April Precision Teaching – Sight Words to fluency 07:00pm Wednesday 13th April Alphabet Arc – Supporting phonics 07:00pm Thursday 14th April Supporting Literacy – Practical strategies for the classroom 09:30am GO TO SENDSTATION.CO.UK FOR MORE DETAILS |
PHONICS QUEEN TRAINING
Regular, quality phonics training is offered by experienced teacher Natasha Tuite aka ‘The Phonics Queen’. Keep informed of new training dates by joining the Phonics Queen facebook group and check out previous CPD by going to her youtube channel, where it is free to subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/PhonicsQueen.
February will be racing through to March before we know it and I am trying to keep on top of everything this month! You have an early edition of my blog this week as there is some useful training on speech and language on Monday I thought you may be interested in! Hopefully you will find some useful information here to help children you support. Have a great week everyone! PJ 🙂
Believe you can and you’re halfway there!
Theodore Roosevelt
Help your child learn to read, write and spell 