This week, my school organised a Spelling Bee for our students. I was the teacher in charge of this competition, so to milk it for all it's worth, I came out with these comments so that motivated students could use these tips to improve their spelling. I think regardless of age, spelling is one area in which people are curious about, so I'm sure some of you will benefit from this. :)
General Comments for Year 1s
Teachers were impressed with the awesome performance of the participants as it indicated how they had paid attention in class. Words like ‘harmony’, ‘activity’, ‘holidays’, ‘organise’ and ‘reflect’ were well attempted by the majority of the students. Way to go, Year 1s!
Many participants struggled to spell ‘disappointment*’. ‘Dis’ acts as a prefix here, so remember that there is only one ‘s’. Also remember that there are two “p’s”.
Another difficult word was ‘restaurant’. Let’s use the word-within-a-word trick to remember the spelling.
* This restAURAnt has a nice aura.
Incidentally, do you know what ‘aura’ means? It is a feeling or character that a person or place seems to have.
We look forward to another magnificent showing during the quarter finals.
General Comments for Year 2s
Teachers were immensely pleased with the wonderful showing of Year 2 students. All participants successfully spelt ‘navigate’, despite not having encountered it before in their Units of Work. There were many other words that attained 75% or 88% accuracy: ‘approachable’, ‘calendar’, ‘congratulate’, ‘ignore’, ‘interrupt’, and ‘memorable’. Well done, Year 2s!
‘Embarrass’ proved to be a tough word that stumped the participants. Remember that there are two “r’s” and two “s’s”.
‘Government’ is made up of ‘govern’ and the suffix ‘-ment’. Don’t forget the ‘n’! The same applies to ‘environment’.
We are also very proud that all participants knew how to spell ‘argue’. However, we drop the ‘e’ when spelling ‘argument’!
Let’s use the word-within-a-word trick to remember the spelling.
* Can you see the gum in ‘argument’?
We look forward to another magnificent showing during the quarter finals.
General Comments for Year 3s
Teachers were heartened that all participants spelt these words accurately: ‘launch’ and ‘routine’. There were many other words that attained 80% accuracy: ‘accessories’, ‘initiative’, ‘participation’, and ‘recommended’. Give yourself a pat on the shoulder, Year 3s!
‘Advertisement’ was a tricky word for most participants. There is no need to drop the ‘e’ because the suffix ‘-ment’ does not begin with a vowel.
On the other hand, we must drop the ‘e’ for ‘desirable’ because the suffix ‘-able’ begins with a vowel.
‘Accessories’ may be challenging because some of you misspelt it as ‘accesseries’. Unfortunately, for words ending in –ss, we have to memorise whether they will take the ‘-er’ suffix or the ‘or’ suffix.
We look forward to another magnificent showing during the quarter finals.
General Comments for Year 4s
As the oldest members of NorthLight School, these participants were given the most difficult words to spell - and performed creditably. Words like ‘challenging’, ‘mature’ and ‘educational’ attained an accuracy rate of 88%. They also managed a 75% accuracy rate for ‘motivated’. Keep up the good work, Year 4s!
‘Explanation’ was a tricky word that caught many of the participants off guard. Yes, we include an ‘i’ in ‘explain’ but drop it for ‘explanation’.
A reason could be that ‘explain’ was originally spelt as ‘explane’. Over the years, ‘explane’ lost its final ‘e’, so to reflect the pronunciation in the spelling, an ‘i’ was added. Since the vowel sound in ‘explanation’ is different from that in ‘explain’, we don’t put an ‘i’ in ‘explanation’.
Remember to use the Look Say Cover Writer Check strategy to learn how to spell ‘a-ca-de-mic’.
We look forward to another magnificent showing during the quarter finals.
