This article is for supporting children who have spelling issues in the classroom. However, if a child truly does struggle, this should be part of a multi-pronged approach.
There are two aspects to supporting spelling in the classroom. Firstly, how spelling is taught, and secondly, how it is supported when learners are writing. Often learners who struggle with spelling have plenty of ideas for writing, so it's important to remove barriers to learning by providing spelling aids to support.
Supporting students with spelling difficulties in the classroom requires a combination of engaging activities, scaffolded writing tasks, and the strategic use of multisensory techniques. By incorporating games, visual aids, and assistive technology, teachers can make spelling practice both effective and enjoyable.
You can also check out some other articles related to spelling difficulties: Tracking Progress, Overlearning, Spelling in the Classroom and Morphology.
Classroom tips
Conduct Regular Assessments:
Provide word banks that are easy for the child to see. These should be on the table, so that the learner doesn't have to move around or look behind them to find a spelling. Ensure they are pitched appropriately, with the right level of words for the child. They could be subject specific words or common words that the learner will use regularly.
Feedback
Make sure your marking and feedback is not too focused on spelling for students who find this difficult.
Writing Mats (for younger children)
Provide writing mats for the child which have words on either side of an A4 lanscape piece of paper that are tailored for a specific piece of writing.
Alphabet Display (for younger children)
Provide the alphabet on display or small strips, to see with your school's chosen letter formation, preferably on the table.
Classroom Activities (Ages 7-10)
Using Tactile Materials to Learn Spellings
Give students playdough and have them form letters and spell out words. This activity is not only fun but also helps students visualise and physically create each letter, which strengthens their memory of the spelling. This normally works better for younger children (I.e. years 3 & 4). You don't have any Playdough, you can always use other tactile surfaces like sand or fabric or play around with magnetic letters or use Wiki Stix to create spellings.
Common Exception Words
Common exception words are essential for building students’ confidence and fluency in spelling, as they often don’t follow standard phonetic rules. Teaching these words helps students recognise them quickly in reading and use them accurately in writing. You could do this by creating word walls where students can see and reference the words regularly, using flashcards to practise recall, or playing interactive games like bingo or snap to make the learning process engaging. These activities ensure that students repeatedly encounter and engage with the words, improving both recognition and retention.
Colour-Coded Spelling
Encourage students to use different coloured pens to write out their spelling words. They can use one colour for consonants and another for vowels, or different colours for different spelling patterns. This visual differentiation helps them see the structure of the words more clearly. This is a great technique for phonic or spelling patterns that can be spelled in different ways, for example ea and ee or tion and cian.
Monitor Progress
By identifying gaps in spelling, teachers can re-teach specific concepts at a slower pace, ensuring that students have a solid foundation before moving on to more complex material. Regular progress tracking also allows for timely intervention and prevents students from falling further behind.
We have a page dedicated to this, view here for more details.
Creating Visual Aids
Encourage students to create their own visual aids, such as flashcards or posters, that focus on tricky spelling words or common patterns. In particular, similar word groupings or 'Common Exception Words' can be particularly useful.
Spelling Games for Ages 11 and above)
This section will show tips to try at home for older learners. To begin with it'll show how to use assistive technology, as well as, activities to try!
Classroom Tips
Create Word Lists for Personalised Practice
Encourage students to create personalised spelling lists based on their most common spelling errors. Review these lists regularly to help them focus on their specific challenges. Monitor progress to see how they have improved. You could get them to use an app like Quizlet to help.
Teach Spelling Rules and Patterns
Older learners benefit from understanding common spelling rules, patterns, and exceptions. Teach rules such as suffixes, prefixes, silent letters, and root words, as well as commonly confused word pairs like “their” and “there.”
Use Spelling Games and Apps
Engage students with spelling through interactive games and apps designed for older learners, apps like Sirlinkalot use mnemonics and animations to reinforce spelling rules which can be useful.
Implement Spaced Repetition
Spaced repetition is an effective way to retain knowledge over time. Use it in spelling practice by revisiting challenging words at increasing intervals. This technique ensures that spelling is reinforced and retained long-term. See here for more details.
Consider Extra Support
If they're really struggling, instead of trying to do all of this in the classroom, consider putting in place some extra support.
Recommended tools
Grammarly and Spell-Checking Tools
Grammarly and other spell-checking tools provide real-time corrections and suggestions. These tools not only help correct spelling mistakes but also teach the student the correct spellings, making them a valuable resource for both learning and writing. This is particularly helpful for older learners.
Recommended tools
Speech-to-text
Assistive technology tools like text-to-speech and speech-to-text can be highly beneficial for older spellers, especially those with dyslexia or other challenges. We have written about this in another article, click here for more information.