1. Cross-Curricular Literacy at John Cabot Academy
Spelling Strategies 1
LO To learn some strategies to help with tricky spellings

2. Vowels It is important to know about vowels
The vowels are: a, e, i, o and u
Vowel sounds can be made by combinations of letters, not just by the vowels themselves
eg failed - the a sound is made is made by ai
moat - the o sound is made by oa
leak – the e sound is made by ea
All other letters in the alphabet are consonants

3. All vowel sounds are either short or long
Short vowel sounds:
a = mat, anachronism
e = egg, edge
i = inside, coincide
o = honest, allotment
u = umbrella, anachronism

4. All vowel sounds are either short or long
Long vowel sounds:
a = mason, deflated, laid, lay
e = defeated, meeting, relieved
i = inside, coincide
o = floated
u = chewing, blue

5. Spelling Strategy 1 Doubling up Consonants
When adding to the end of a word which has a short vowel before the final consonant, you need to double up the final consonant:
flap - flapping
excel - excelled
sin -sinned
hop - hopped
drum – drummer
If there are already two consonants after the short vowel, do not add any more consonants eg muck - mucking

6. Spelling Strategy 2 Adding –ing and -ed
If you add –ing or –ed to the end of a base word ending in –e, you should lose the final –e
make - making
tease - teased
freeze - freezing
move - moving

7. Spelling Strategy 3 -s, -es and –ves plurals
Most singular nouns (naming words) usually just add –s to their endings to make plurals (more than one)
dog – dogs
shed – sheds
car - cars

8. Spelling Strategy 3 -s, -es and –ves plurals
Most nouns ending in hissing, shushing or buzzing sounds add –es in the plural
ash - ashes buzz - buzzes
watch – watches sandwich - sandwiches
witch – witches bus - buses
glass – glasses inch - inches
fax – faxes fish - fishes/fish
kiss - kisses brush – brushes
Try saying “ashs” or “kisss” and you will hear why we need the bridge of the “e” between the sounds at the end of words.

9. Spelling Strategy 3 -s, -es and –ves plurals
Most words ending in –f or –fe change to –ves in the plural
scarf – scarves wife – wives
thief – thieves knife - knives
half – halves leaf - leaves
loaf – loaves wolf - wolves
elf – elves calf – calves
Try saying “thiefs” and you will hear the logic behind this spelling strategy.