Year 2 Spelling
Table of Contents
In Year 2, students will start digging deeper into phonic terminology, methods, and rules. For example, they might focus on one particular pattern or sound within a word and see if there are any other words with the same pattern/sound:
Friendly Happily Faithfully Lovely
The similarity in these words is the sound “ly” makes at the end of words. For students to understand this, they must have daily exposure to phonics.
Spelling as part of the national curriculum:
Remembering what students have done in the past year is essential before introducing new words. Therefore, teachers go over Year 1 material so students can apply it in their new class.
The statutory requirements vary. You should refer to the National Curriculum for more detailed information.
What Year 2 focuses on:
There are so many areas of spelling and phonics teachers will focus on to help Year 2 students become confident spellers.
What is learnt:
Segments
Students will learn how to segment words, so they can spell them correctly. If you’d like to see the complete list of sounds students are expected to learn, please refer to the National Curriculum.
Homophones
These are pairs of words that sound the same but are spelt differently. For more information on homophones, check out our blog.
Common exception words
Also known as tricky words. These words are those whose spelling doesn’t follow its phonetic sound. For example: pass, climb, improve…
For more information on common exception words, click here.
Contractions
Contractions are missing letters that are shown by an apostrophe. “They’re” means “they are”. “It’s” means “it is.”
Apostrophe
In Year 2, students will learn the singular possessive apostrophe. The reason we use apostrophes is to either show missing letters (contractions) like for example “I am” becomes “I’m”, or showing possession, for example: “Emile’s shoes”
For more on apostrophes, click here.
Suffixes
Suffixes are morphemes – which are a group of letters that can mean something on their own – that are added at the end of words. Those words are known as root or root words. Whereas, prefixes are morphemes that are added at the start of a word.
Common suffixes include: -ing, -er, -y, -ly, -ness, -es, -ed… etc.
How spelling is taught
Phonics is a way that students learn spelling, they do this by learning all forty-four different sounds the English language has, they’re known as phonemes. Teachers will start by going over previously learnt words from the Year 1 spelling curriculum, meanwhile introducing new words.
Students will be given weekly spelling lists to learn at home, although they are also included in the classroom for maximum retention. Because of student’s young age, they are set 8-10 words a week to learn, this is to ensure they are learning but not overwhelmed.
Some new spellings include:
Badge, energy, race, table, camel, metal, pencil, fossil, cry, copied, patting, enjoyment, etc…
For the complete, national curriculum list. Please click here.
Activities
Correct the spelling
You can use your interactive whiteboard, or the worksheets provided for this activity. Simply show your students words that they know, however they are spelt incorrectly. It is up to the students to decide on the correct spelling.
You could ask them if they can spot the spelling mistake, and if they do, to point it out. Then, ask your students to swap their work with another classmate. They can then mark each other’s work.
PDF version includes answers.
Worksheets with Emile
Worksheets are a classic way of helping students spell better. Following the “look, say, cover, spell, and check” method, students can fully learn the required words given by the government on the National Curriculum. Download your free worksheets below!
Interactive Spelling games
A good way to engage your students with spelling is by using interactive games. Learning with Emile has been designed by teachers for teachers and students. Learning with Emile has tons of resources, especially for spelling and phonics.
If you haven’t tried Learning with Emile, why not request your free demo today!
Spelling Menu
This great idea is credited to Windy Nook Primary School. The goal of this exercise is to get students to explore their words for the week in different ways. Through the use of repetition, students will not only remember how the word is spelt, but they will have also understood why it is spelt that way.
Make use of Lego’s
Using Lego’s are a fantastic way to get your students excited to learn their spelling. There are so many activities that you and your class can take part in, here are a few ideas:
- Write one letter per small Lego and get your students to create words from them.
- You can also write words on bigger pieces of Lego and ask your students to form simple sentences.
- Mix up letters and words and get your students to create more complicated sentences.
More Spelling and Phonics Blogs
