Primary Spelling and Phonics Development
A practical guide for parents of primary-aged children
Every child develops phonics and spelling abilities at a different pace. This guide will give you simple ideas to support your child with their learning.
Written by Francine Keown
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Earliest Learners
You may hear the term Phonemic Awareness being used, especially in relation to our youngest learners. Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, recognise and experiment with the sounds in spoken language through listening to words, sentences and conversations.
Ideas for home
- Narrate your day: Describe everyday activities to build vocabulary and connect words with real-life experiences.
- Play with sounds: Sing songs, explore rhymes and repeat familiar phrases together.
- Read together: Sharing books from an early age helps develop language, listening skills and a love of reading.
EYFS to Key Stage One – Introduction to Phonics
Generally, this is when children are introduced to a structured phonics framework.
Ideas for home
- Reading Routine: Read aloud together, invite your child to join in with familiar phrases and ask simple questions about the story.
- Go on a sound walk: Pause in the park or on a walk and ask your child what they can hear. Audiobooks can also develop listening skills.
- Play rhyming games: Take turns making rhyming words, starting with “cat”, “mat” and “bat”. For a challenge, ask your child to identify the odd one out in lists of words.
- Tap the letter: Write individual letters on Post-it notes. Say a sound and ask your child to tap the letter that represents it.
- Clap the syllables: Break words into syllables by clapping as you say them. For example, “sunshine” has two syllables: “sun” and “shine”. This skill will be useful for breaking words into chunks, aiding spelling in the future.
Phonics - What should I, as a parent, familiarise myself with?
Children are often provided with technical terms for their learning of phonics and spelling, so it may be useful to become familiar with the basics to join in their post-lesson conversations.
Basic Phonics Glossary
Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound. For example, the word dog is made of three phonemes /d/, /o/, /g/.
Grapheme: this is what the sound looks like when written.
Digraph: a two-letter grapheme that makes one sound. For example, “ch” in the word chop.
Trigraph: a three-letter grapheme that makes one sound. For example, “igh” in sight.
Blending: blending means pushing individual sounds together to read a word.
Segmenting is the opposite of blending and means splitting a word up into its individual sounds. This is often used to assist with spelling.
Key Stage One Phonics and Spelling
Phonics are taught daily, in a specific order. Your child is likely learning one new sound per day and working through each phonics phase.
Ideas for home
- Make reading interactive: Choose books with repeated phrases so your child can join in. Ask questions such as “What might happen next?” or “Why do you like this character?”
- Listen to your child read: Sit alongside them to make reading a shared activity. Encourage them to follow the words with their finger if it helps them concentrate.
- Try a Blending Car: Place a toy car beneath a word such as ship. Say each sound separately /sh/, /i/, /p/ then drive the car across the word as you blend the sounds. Let your child have a turn.
- Play I Spy: Start with initial sounds, then introduce more complex sounds. For example, “I spy with my little eye something beginning with /sh/.”
- Go on a sound hunt: Hide magnetic letters around the house for your child to find and identify. Ask them to think of words containing each sound, or spot familiar letters and sounds on signs when out and about.
- Use sound mats or flashcards: Display familiar sounds for reference or practise recognising those your child has already learned.
- Try segmenting: Say a word such as frog and help your child break it into /f/, /r/, /o/, /g/ before writing it.
- Make labels: Encourage your child to label familiar objects around the house, giving them a meaningful reason to practise spelling.
- Messy letters: Use glitter, flour, sand or shaving foam as a base for your child to write letters in using their finger. Most schemes begin with s, a, t, p, i and n.
Transitioning from Phonics to Spelling
Phonics plays an important role in spelling, but it is widely acknowledged that phonetic skills alone aren’t the only factor required to become a successful speller. You may notice your child’s tutor or teacher beginning to send home spelling lists from approximately Year Two onwards.
Reading as widely and regularly as possible remains a top priority. One of the many reasons for this recommendation is to strengthen Orthographic Processing, which is the brain’s ability to recognise letter patterns and letter sequences for spelling purposes.
Ideas for home: Multisensory Spelling
Try different activities to discover which approaches your child enjoys and remembers best.
- Playdough words: Shape each word using playdough, clay or pipe cleaners.
- Post-it scramble: Arrange individual letters on Post-it notes, or use magnetic letters or Scrabble tiles to build each word.
- Boing! Jump or bounce a ball once for each letter as you spell a word aloud.
- Cotton-bud tracing: Trace words using paint, or write them in a tray of sand or shaving foam.
- Back spelling: Trace a word on your child’s back and ask them to guess it. Swap roles afterwards.
Key Stage Two Spelling
As children progress through Key Stage Two, spelling patterns, rules and accurate written application generally become more prominent.
Ideas for home
- Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check: Ask your child to look at a word, say it, cover it, write it from memory and check the result. Revisit tricky words regularly and encourage your child to use them in sentences.
- Explore spelling rules: Some children enjoy learning rules, such as “i before e except after c”, and investigating exceptions.
- Create mnemonics: A memorable phrase can help with tricky spellings. For example, “rhythm has your two hips moving”.
- Follow a problem-solving process: When stuck on a word, encourage your child to ask:
- Do I know a spelling rule or mnemonic that might help?
- Can I write the word down and check whether it looks right?
- Can I check a dictionary or ask an adult for help?
- Play Table Tennis Spelling: Take turns saying one letter at a time to spell a word aloud.
- Explore spelling technology: Supervised digital activities can provide variety. Options include Spelling Training, Flippity and other age-appropriate spelling games.
Spelling Menu | |
On the Case Write your spelling words in lower case, then upper case | Pyramid Words Add one letter at a time to make a pyramid for each word. |
Special Letters Use fancy lettering/fun markers/glitter pens/oil pastels | Rainbow Words Use a different colour for each letter of your word. |
Swap Hands Which hand do you usually write with? Swap to the other one to write out your list of spellings. | Silly Sentences Use all your spelling words in some silly sentences, linked to each other. |
Scrappy Words Use scraps of paper/old magazines/newspapers to cut and stick your spellings. | Backwards Words Challenge yourself to write your words backwards, forwards, then backwards again. |
Alphabetical Write out the words in alphabetical order. | Flash Cards Illustrate your own flash cards to trigger your spelling memory. |
Tutors for phonics and spelling
Every child’s experience of learning phonics and spelling is different. Our tutors use their expertise to pinpoint their level and build up their knowledge, fluency and confidence from there in a fun, supportive way.
- Primary tutors: expert help with writing and literacy for children aged 6-11
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Written by Francine Keown
We help families find exceptional tutors for every stage of their child's education; from primary and school entrance exams tuition through to GCSEs, A Levels, the IB and university admissions. Our unique model is built around full-time employed tutors and a highly personalised matching process, offering a level of quality, continuity and individual care that is rare in tutoring.
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Primary Spelling and Phonics Development
A practical guide for parents of primary-aged children
Every child develops phonics and spelling abilities at a different pace. This guide will give you simple ideas to support your child with their learning.
Written by Francine Keown
