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      Applying the new 'igh' spellings, including 'ie', 'y' and 'i'

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can apply three new spellings for the 'igh' phoneme: 'ie', 'y' and 'i'.

      Key learning points

      1. ‘y’ is the most common representation of the 'igh' phoneme when it appears at the end of a word.
      2. ‘i’ is a representation of the 'igh' phoneme found in the high frequency words: find, kind, mind, wild and behind.
      3. ‘ie’ is a representation of the 'igh' phoneme found in the middle and end of words.
      4. How to spell the common exception words: could, would and should.

      Keywords

      • Past tense - past tense refers to a verb form that indicates an action or state that has already happened or was completed in the past, such as 'cried'

      • Rhyme - words that have the same or similar ending sounds often used in poetry

      • Homophone - words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings

      Common misconception

      Common exceptions words which are hard to sound out e.g. 'could' , 'would' and 'should'.

      Mnemonic devices such as 'Oh (o) you (u) lucky (l) duck (d)' can support memorising these trickier spellings.

      Teacher tip

      Ensure to say words within a sentence, as this is critical to understanding meaning (and establishing the spelling) when learning homophones.

      Licence

      This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0
      except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions
      (Collection 2).

      Lesson video

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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Match each word to the number of phonemes it contains.

      Correct Answer:silent,6
      Correct Answer:tied,3
      Correct Answer:spider,5

      Q2.
      Choose three spellings that can make the long igh sound.

      Correct answer: i
      ea
      Correct answer: y
      ae
      Correct answer: ie

      Q3.
      Choose three words that rhyme with the word stay.

      Correct answer: play
      Correct answer: weigh
      make
      Correct answer: they
      strike

      Q4.
      Choose the three less common spellings of the igh sound.

      igh
      Correct answer: ie
      i-e
      Correct answer: i
      Correct answer: y

      Q5.
      Choose the igh sound spellings that match the words.

      Correct Answer:ie,fried
      Correct Answer:i,silent
      Correct Answer:y,cycle

      Q6.
      Choose the correct spelling of the word to complete this sentence. When completing the test, you should be __________ .

      silant
      sylent
      sielent
      Correct answer: silent

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Select the correct spelling to match the sentence. What __________ you like for dinner?

      Correct answer: would
      wud
      wuld
      woud

      Q2.
      Match the less common graphemes that make the igh sound to where they commonly appear in a word.

      Correct Answer:ie,often found in the middle and sometimes a the end
      Correct Answer:y,often found at the end
      Correct Answer:i,often found at the beginning or in the middle

      Q3.
      Choose the two words that rhyme with try.

      Correct answer: cry
      cried
      final
      type
      Correct answer: fry

      Q4.
      Match the root words to members of their word families.

      Correct Answer:cry,cried
      Correct Answer:fry,fried
      Correct Answer:try,tried

      Q5.
      Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. The pylot landed the plane.

      Correct Answer: pilot

      Q6.
      Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. He carefully packed each shopping ightem into the bag.

      Correct Answer: item

      To help you plan your 2 English lesson on: Applying the new 'igh' spellings, including 'ie', 'y' and 'i', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...