Your students proudly declare to you that they have practised incredibly hard for the Spelling Bee last weekend. Their eyes full of fiery determination, they ask if you can give them more words to hone the use of the fingerspelling and Look Say Cover Write Check strategies. You beam approvingly but groan inwardly. Yet another thing to settle on your To-Do list. Some days, you swear the heavy cognitive load in your brain will erupt and explode.

Don’t worry. Empathetic to your needs, I will release all the words that have been utilised thus far in the Spelling Bee. Today’s edition covers the Year 1 words.

“But I don’t want to learn baby words!” your earnest Y2/3/4 students protest, their furrowed brows aggressively stabbing at your consciousness. Fierce.

Well, for one, just because these words are used for the Y1 students doesn’t mean that they can achieve 100% accuracy with all words. For another, they can use this list as a springboard to think of other similar ‘problematic’ words. The composition of the words may be different but the spelling rules remain the same, unyielding and consistent much like “massive boulders / Lush with moss” (Japanese national anthem)

Happy Learning!