. Today’s words have the o sound spelt with the letter a.
Let’s play My turn/Your turn to say all of these words.
was want
what watch
wash wand
wasp wallet
wander squat
squash quality
quantity quarrel
a is the most common spelling for the o sound after w, wh and qu.
Here’s a rhyme. Ahem…
Spell o with an a after w as in wash
Spell o with an a after qu as in squash.
There are lots of different ways to spell the j sound?
Check the j sound box! Say the sounds, after three: one, two, three…
j
j
g
ge
dge
Here are some words which begin with the j sound spelt with the letter j. Let’s play My turn/Your turn to say all of these words.
jar
jam
join
jacket
The j sound is often spelt with the letter g before e, i or y.
Let's play My turn/Your turn to say all of the words containing soft and gentle g.
gentle
gem
giant
giraffe
energy
The j sound can be spelt with the letters ge at the end of words.
Play My turn/Your turn to say all of the words containing soft and gentle ge.
charge
large
fringe
barge
The j sound is spelt with the letters dge at the end of a word after the a, e, i, o, u or oo sounds. These are short vowel sounds.
Play My turn/Your turn to say all of the words containing soft and gentle dge.
badge
ledge
bridge
splodge
fudge
Sizzling sunspots, it’s time to look at the suffix -ing, ing, again... Today we’re going to learn the rule about adding -ing to words ending in e. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy learning more about -ing.
Here are some words ending in e:
battle rule
tackle bake
slide choke
Let’s play My Turn / Your Turn
battle rule
tackle bake
slide choke
So, how do we add -ing to words that end in e?
Well, we must drop the e before adding -ing.
Turn to your adult and say:
Drop the e before adding -ing.
Go!
Let’s watch what happens to our words when we follow the rule:
battle battling
rule ruling
tackle tackling
bake baking
slide sliding
choke choking
Here are some more verbs ending in e
Let’s drop the e before adding -ing.
root word | drop the e before adding -ing |
make | making |
rattle | rattling |
chuckle | chuckling |
shade | shading |
take | taking |
Before I take the shuttle back to the Spelling planet, I have a little tip to share.
There are a few verbs that end in -ie such as
lie die tie
We can add -ing to these verbs but we have to swap the -ie for a -y first. This is what I mean…
lie lying
die dying
tie tying
Watch out for these words when you are reading and writing. There are not many but try to remember the rule for verbs that end in -ie:
Swap the -ie for a y before adding -ing.
I wonder if you can remember what a suffix is?
The answer is that it's a group of letters you can add to a root word.
We can add the suffix -ing to lots of verbs without making any changes to the root word.
Let’s look at some words where we don’t need to make any changes before we add -ing.
playing creeping
sighing glowing
annoying
Let’s say all these words ending in the suffix -ing together.
playing creeping
sighing glowing
annoying
There are other verbs that do need to be changed a little bit before we add -ing. Shall we find out about them?
If a verb ends in a short vowel sound (a, e, i, o or u) + a consonant, we have to double the consonant before adding -ing.
Turn to your adult and say:
Double the consonant before adding -ing.
Go!
Let’s watch what happens to our words when we follow the rule:
slip slipping
get getting
pop popping
chat chatting
Here are some more verbs ending in a short vowel + a consonant.
Let’s double the consonant before adding -ing.
root word | double the consonant before adding -ing |
sip | sipping |
put | putting |
grab | grabbing |
step | stepping |
jog | jogging |
Let’s look at the igh sound box.
Say all the sounds in the sound box.
igh
igh
i-e
i
y
Let’s check out some words with the igh sound spelt y.
Let’s play My turn/Your turn to say these words.
shy sky
dry cry
fly reply
terrify horrify
multiply butterfly
Most words that end in the igh sound are spelt with a y. I have made up a handy rhyme about igh spelt y.
Here’s my rhyme. Ahem…
If the end of a word sounds like igh,
It is almost always spelt with a y.
Now your turn. One, two, three… Go!
This week the children will be looking at red words which contain a sound with an odd spelling. We can think of them as Red words because we need to stop and think about the odd part of the word before we write it.
where
could
there
want
was
would
what
money
people
busy
half
Unit 6: The n sound spelt kn and gn
This week you will be learning all about the silent letter k. Lots of the words have a silent letter k in them. Here they are:
knit knock
knight knees
know knew
kneel knot
knife
Let’s look at the n sound box.
Say all the sounds in the sound box.
n
nn
kn
Let’s check out more words with the n sound spelt kn.
Let’s play My turn/Your turn to say these words.
knew know
knot knight
knit kneel
knee knock
knead knuckle
Here is a handy spelling tip for these words. Try saying them to yourself as if you are an ancient Earthling! That will help you to remember to spell the n sound with kn.
knew know
knot knight
knit kneel
knee knock
knead knuckle
Ah, a homophone alert!
knew / new
know / no
knot / not
knight / night
I love these words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. I wonder how you will remember them?
Unit 5: Adding the suffix -ly
Did you know it is very easy to make an adverb by adding the suffix -ly to an adjective?
near + ly = nearly slow + ly = slowly
quick + ly = quickly quiet + ly = quietly
We don’t usually have to swap, double or drop any letters when we add the suffix -ly
root word | keep root word the same and add -ly |
slow | slowly |
quiet | quietly |
glad | gladly |
sad | sadly |
Let’s play My turn/Your turn to say the root, suffix and then the new word.
slow + ly
slowly
quiet + ly
quietly
glad + ly
gladly
sad + ly
sadly
Jumping Jupiter, I nearly forgot! I have a Weird Word Warning for you.
Here it is...
When an adjective ends in y, we have to swap the y for an i before adding -ly. Like this:
happy happily
speedy speedily
easy easily
Unit 4: Adding the suffix –y
First, can you remember what a suffix is?
Suffix – letters that are added to the end of a root word.
sulk + ing sulking sulk + ed sulked sulk + y sulky
-ing, -ed and -y are all suffixes.
This week we are going to look at adding the suffix -y again.
Time for some rhyming root words:
whine shine
breeze cheese
laze craze
Let’s play My turn/Your turn to say them to your adult. Ready? Go!
whine shine
breeze cheese
laze craze
Well done. Did you notice that they all end in e?
If we add the suffix –y to these words, we can say:
My brother’s whiny because his boots aren’t shiny!
Your turn!
or
The weather is breezy but this scarf looks cheesy!
Your turn!
or
I’m feeling lazy and it’s driving mum crazy!
Your turn!
When we add the suffix -y we might need to change the root word.
Let’s take a look...
Here are the root words again:
whine shine
breeze cheese
laze craze
Let’s watch what happens to these words when we add the suffix -y:
whine whiny
shine shiny
breeze breezy
cheese cheesy
laze lazy
craze crazy
What happened to the e when we added the suffix -y? Turn to your partner.
Yes. For these words, we had to drop the e before adding -y:
shine shine + y shiny
breeze breeze + y breezy
Turn to your adultand say:
Drop the e before adding -y.
Go!
Here are some more words ending in e.
Let’s drop the e before adding -y.
root word | drop the e before adding -y |
wheeze | wheezy |
bone | bony |
spike | spiky |
slime | slimy |
Unit 3: Adding the suffix –y
My word is suffix. You might already know this word but here’s a reminder of what a suffix is. Let’s visit the Explanation Station!
Suffix – letters that are added to the end of a root word.
rain + ing raining rain + ed rained rain + y rainy
-ing, -ed and -y are all suffixes.
Very useful. Thank you, Explanation Station.
Today we are going to look at adding the suffix -y.
Now I have some rhyming root words to show you:
fog bog
run fun
Let’s play My turn/Your turn – repeat them after me. Ready? Go!
fog bog
run fun
Well done.
Did you notice that all the words ended in a short vowel sound + a consonant? Tell your partner what the final consonants are in each word.
[Pause video]
Check if you had the correct answer: g g n n.
Give yourselves a ‘thumbs up’ if you got them all right.
If we add the suffix –y to these words, we can say:
Today it’s foggy and the ground is boggy.
Your turn!
This butter is runny and it looks a bit funny.
Your turn!
When we add the suffix -y we might need to change the root word.
Let’s take a look...
Let’s watch what happens to words when we add the suffix -y:
fog foggy
bog boggy
run runny
fun funny
What happened to the final consonant when we added the suffix -y? Turn to your partner.
[Pause video]
For these words, we had to double the consonant before adding -y:
chatt + y
chatty
runn + y
runny
Turn to your partner and say:
Double the consonant before adding -y.
Go!
Here are some more words ending in a short vowel sound + a consonant.
Let’s double the consonant before adding -y.
root word | double the consonant before adding -y |
spot | spotty |
sun | sunny |
chat | chatty |
flop | floppy |
Did you know that in French, the letter c made the s sound.
We still use the French c to make the s sound in lots of our English words today. We call it soft ‘c’.
Let’s look at the s sound box.
Say the sounds to your adult
s
s
ss
se
c
Now let’s look at words with the s sound spelt c.
city
cell
exercise
mice
icy
cycle
fancy
Hmm. How do we know when c is soft as in mice and when it is hard as in cut?
Well, we have to work hard to learn these words but it is helpful to know that when c comes just before i, y or e it usually makes the s sound
city
cell
exercise
mice
icy
cycle
notice
police
Ah, a homophone alert is on its way.
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.
Here's a sentence I made up with the homophones sell and cell.
When the robber tried to sell the stolen bike, he was caught and put in a prison cell.
Do you notice that I use several words with the or sound spelt a before l and ll?
Practise saying these words with your adult.
call
fall
hall
wall
small
also
almost
always
already
Jumping Jupiter! I think a Weird Word Warning is on its way. Look out! Here it comes...
Say these words with your adult where the or sound is spelt with the letter a before l.
talk
walk
chalk
stalk
Did you notice that the letter l is silent? We don’t say:
talk
walk
chalk
stalk