LITERACY /

LEARNING & TEACHING 

SMART Spelling 

Across the school, we are continuing to develop our spelling knowledge and skills through our work with SMART Spelling. 

SMART Spelling incorporates both the systematic teaching of spelling each week and also personal words.  We teach in patterns as much as possible, so teachers choose a range of words (from simple to complex) from a suggested list in the manual. [We start by teaching the meaning of words to expand vocabulary and then break words into syllables, sounds and letter patterns (graphs, digraphs and trigraphs).] Students are then guided to choose from that list, to meet different needs.  Teachers use their strong professional knowledge to give meaningful feedback to students about their spelling in writing, teaching at the point of need.

Michelle Hutchinson; SMART Spelling.

SMART is the acronym which we use to break up our words. Each week, students focus on a particular spelling pattern and have daily practice of SMART (left) using spelling grids, games and various other resources in the Literacy block. Below is an example. They also bring these words home for some extra practise. At the end of the week, students engage in a small spelling test of their focus words and dictation sentences with the spelling focus. 

We encourage parents and carers at home to talk about the spelling focus, and work with your children to break up the sounds in words when writing to consolidate their learning.