to practise and apply knowledge of silent letters, including test

Key Stage 2

English

Grammar Practice

English spelling

Silent letters

﻿Hello everybody. Welcome to today's lesson. My name is Mrs. Richards. And today we are going to practise and apply our knowledge of silent letters. We also have our test. So let's get started. We are going to start today's lesson by recapping our knowledge of silent letters. Then we're going to learn a spelling practise strategy. And at the end, we have a spelling test. In this lesson you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, and definitely your brain. So pause the video here and get any resources that you might need. Okay, let's get started with our recap. Here's our key vocabulary. Silent letters. Well done for joining in. Phonics. Diagraph. Well done. Can you remember the definition of each of these terms? What are silent letters? Yes! They're the letters within a word which cannot be predicted by its pronunciation. They are the letters that we can't hear when we're saying the word loud. Phonics is about sound-letter correspondences. And a diagraph is when two letters represent one sound. Okay, let's get started with our first activity. On the board are five words. Each containing a silent letter. Your job is to match the word with the silent letter that it has within it. So, doubt, what's the silent letter? What letter would you match it to on the board? Sword. Gnarled. Wrong and knight. Pause the video here and do the matching. Okay, should we see how you have done? There was one trick. Did you notice that there were five words, but only four letters. Let's have a look. So there was a silent "W" in wrong and in sword. In wrong, you have the "W" and the "R" next to each other at the beginning of the word. And in sword, we have that silent W next to an S. It comes after the S. And it can either go at the beginning of the word or in the middle of the word. Doubt had a silent B Knight had a silent K. What's the meaning of knight hear? Do you remember? It's not night like darkness, it's knight, like the armoured soldier on horseback. And we had a silent G in gnarled. Do you remember the meaning of gnarled? Gnarled meant twisted. So we could describe the gnarled branches on a tree. The interesting thing about these silent letters is that, they weren't always silent. Knight, for example, we used to pronounce in old English, that K sound at the beginning of these words. Knight, knee, knock. So they sounded like this "Knight." And they were spelled with a C. The spelling has stayed the same, but the sound has changed as our language has progressed over time. So these silent letters aren't random. They exist for a reason. It's just that we struggle now to make sense of why they're there. Okay, we have another set of words on the board. Calm, column, a tall pillar, chalk, receipt. And whirl. Can you match the word to the silent letter? Off you go. Okay, let's see how you got on. Again, there was a bit of a trick. I have five words, but only four silent letters. Yes! There is a silent L in calm and chalk That one's a little bit trickier. Because that silent L affects the pronunciation of the vowel, the letter A before it. So the A in calm sounds different to the A in chalk. In whirl we have a silent H. In column we had a silent N. Remember, that N likes the end of the word and it comes after the letter M The same in autumn or solemn. Receipt was a silent P. There's also a silent P in cupboard and raspberry. Let's apply our spellings in sentences. I'm going to read you the sentence and you need to choose the correct spelling to fit in each gap. Ready? You can pick raspberries in autumn. You can pick raspberries in autumn. Have a look at the dark blue box. Can you point to the correct spelling of raspberries? Have a look at the light blue box. Can you point to the correct spelling of autumn? Pause the video if you need more time. Okay, should we have a look? You can pick raspberries and autumn. Raspberries spelt R-A-S-P berries. And autumn, autumn has a silent N. So at the end of the word, we can see the letters M-N. Okay, should we try another? Here's our sentence. We learned better when we feel calm, not in chaos. We learn better when we feel calm, not in chaos Which is the correct spelling of calm? Look at the green words. Which is the correct spelling of chaos? Look at the blue words. Point to the correct spelling now on your screen. Pause if you need more time. Well done. Let's have a look. We learn better when when we feel calm, C-A-L-M, not in chaos. Chaos is spelled CH-AOS. That's a very odd vowel combination in chaos. An A followed by an O. You don't often see that. And it can look odd. Look carefully at the word now, C-H-A-0-S. Well done. Should we try another? Salmon swim through the whirling river. Salmon swim through the whirling river. Can you point to the correct spelling of salmon in grey and the correct spelling of whirling in blue? Pause the video if you need more time. Okay, let's have a look. Salmon swam through the whirling river. Salmon's spelt S-A-L-M-O-N with a silent L. And whirling, we've been practising the word "Whirl." Here, you have the word whirl with the suffix ING on the end. Whirling has a silent H. W-H-I-R-L-I-N-G Well down. Good try. Okay, let's learn a spelling practise strategy together. Our strategy today is called, "Say it, as it looks." We're going to mispronounce the word, emphasising the tricky letters, especially when these are making an unusual sound in the word. In this case, they're not making a sound in the word. So we're going to pronounce them. Are you ready to try? Here's an example. Cupboard, when we writing, we're going to say in our head, "Cupboard." I still do this now and it's a great trick. Cupboard. When I'm writing, I say "Cup-Board". Nobody has to hear that I'm saying it this way. It's only happening in my head, but it's a really useful spelling strategy. I do the same for this word, "Chaos." Chaos has a silent H, so in my head, I always say, "Ch-aos." Try saying these words aloud now. Pause the video and give it a go. How did you get on? Cup-board, Ch-aoS. Why is this a useful strategy? It forced us to interact with the word. It highlights the tricky letters and it helps us to remember the correct spelling. Okay, your turn. The instructions are on the board as are your spelling words. Can you have a go at mispronouncing these words? Saying that silent letter aloud. Of you go. Well done! I know it can sometimes feel silly. But remember, we just going to say this in our head when we're writing. And it's a really, really useful strategy. I wonder how you got on with these. How did you navigate rhythm? I wonder how you said this. Did you say, RH-Y-THM, rhythm? Or did you R-H-YTHM? What might you say in your head for the word rhythm? How about government? This is an easier one. I always say to myself, "Govern-meant" Then I could hear the N. Answer, did you say in your head An-swer? I know the "An-swer" to this question. Okay. If you feel like you need more practise time here, then pause the video and take as much time as you need. Remember the more practise the better, and little and often. All this practise helps to commit these spellings to our longterm memory. And that's what supports accurate spelling when we're writing. So, take as much practise time as you need. When you're ready, let's start our spelling test. Here's some strategies to help you. Number one, pause, take a deep breath. You take as much time as you need. Try writing the word more than once. Think about which spelling looks right. If you're unsure, try writing the word more than once and now sound out the different spellings. Which spelling sounds right? If you're ready to get started, you need a blank piece of paper and a pencil, and you need to write the numbers one to 10, down the margin or down the side of your page. Make sure that you can't see your spelling words anywhere. Pause the video now and get ready. Okay, here come our spelling words. I'll say the word twice and I'll put it into a sentence for you. Number one, rhythm. Rhythm. The musician had good rhythm. Pause the video if you need more time. Number two, chaos. Chaos. The school was in chaos!. Pause if you need more time. Number three, ache. Ache. My legs ache, after running. Pause here. Number four, government. Government. The government debates laws in parliament. You're doing really well. Number five, autumn. Autumn. Autumn is a beautiful season. Pause if you need more time. Number six, raspberry. Raspberry. Raspberries are one of my favourite fruits. Pause if you need more time. Number seven, cupboard. Cupboard. The cupboard is full of junk. Pause if you need more time. Number eight, half. Half. Cut the shape in half. Pause if you need more time. Number nine, calm. Calm. Try to stay calm. Pause if you need more time. Number 10. Answer. Answer. I didn't know the answer. Pause here if you need more time. Okay, take some time now, pause the video and look back at your spellings. Do a double check. Does each spelling look right? If you sound it out, does the spelling sound right? Have you remembered the silent letters in each one? Use your spelling strategy to help you. If you're ready, we're now going to get to the answers. Number one, rhythm. R-H-Y-T-H-M. It doesn't matter if you made an error, but now's your time to self-correct. So, make sure that you correct any errors. Copy the word out accurately. Number two, chaos. C-H-A-O-S. Self-correct. Pause The video. Number three, ache. A-C-H-E. Self-correct. Pause the video. Number four, government. G-O-V-E-R-N-M-E-N-T Self-correct. Pause the video. Number Five, autumn. A-U-T-U-M-N Self-correct. Pause the video. You're doing really well. Number six, raspberry. R-A-S-P-B-E-R-R-Y Self-correct. Pause the video. Remember, don't worry about your hours. Now's your time to write this word correctly. Errors just tell us that we need more practise. Learning comes from making mistakes. Number seven, cupboard, C-U-P-B-0-A-R-D. Self-correct. Pause the video. Number eight, half. H-A-L-F. Self-correct. Pause the video. Number nine calm. C-A-L-M. Self-correct. Pause the video. Number 10, answer. A-N-S-W-E-R. Self-correct. Pause the video. Okay, take as much time as you need here to check those spellings. Make sure that by the end of this test you have every word written correctly. Okay, let's reflect. Three things to be proud of. Number one, be proud of how much you have practised. Did you practise every day for 10 minutes? Number two, be proud of the number of practise strategies that you used. Did you try mispronouncing any words? Is that useful? Number three, be proud of how you are now paying close attention to words in your reading and writing. I wonder if you've seen any of us spelling words around you this week? Number four, in misspelt words, look at how many letters you spelt correctly as well as the letters which were wrong. And sometimes your children say, "I can't spell this word." And it's often not true. You can often spell the first letter or the last letters or some letters in the middle. There's no such thing as a good or bad speller. We're all improving all the time. It just takes practise. So remember, learning comes from mistakes. You might not be able to spell this word yet, but keep practising . Well done! For a brilliant session. It's been wonderful to teach you See you soon, Bye.

to practise and apply knowledge of silent letters, including test

to practise and apply knowledge of silent letters, including test

Slide deck

Lesson details

Key learning points

Licence

Video

Lesson appears in

UnitEnglish / Grammar Practice

English

UnitEnglish spelling / Silent letters

English spelling