As students get closer to finishing KS1, they must prepare for what KS2 has to offer them. In Year 4, students continue to work on their spelling as well as keeping on top of their phonetic language. Students should be excited, as they come close to their last two years in primary school before they move on to high school.
Year 4 Spelling: Worksheets and Activities.
Table of Contents
Year 4 Spelling on the National Curriculum
The National Curriculum is a guide that outlines how children should be learning. The spelling lists are statutory, which means teachers must teach them, and test students regularly. Although, sometimes teachers add words that they see are appropriate. Year 4 students share the same statutory requirements as Year 3 students do. Therefore, sometimes you might see resources labelled as Year 3 & 4.
Exactly like in Year 3, students will have spelling lists to learn, whether it is at home or in the classroom.
What do Year 4 Focus on?
Year 4 is essentially going over everything students have learnt in the past few years. Additionally, students will continue where they left off in Year 3. Focusing on the following:
More homophones
Homophones are tricky words that sound the same but have completely different meanings and are sometimes spelt differently as well. For more on homophones, click here.
High frequency words
High frequency words are those that appear the most in our language, such as: “and”, “as”, the”. Most of the words hold their own meaning, however, they do contribute towards the meaning of a sentence.
Using words that are usually misspelt.
On the National Curriculum’s spelling lists, they have also included words that children often misspell. This is for students to learn challenging words which will expand their vocabulary. Check out the NC appendix here.
More suffixes
Beginning with vowel letters to words that are more than one syllable.
More prefixes
As we know, prefixes go at the beginning of words. Students will focus on prefixes such as re-, ill– and sub– to create negative meanings.
Revisit, illogical and submarine.
Common exception words
Common exception words, otherwise known as “tricky words“, are words that do not follow the phonetic rules.
How Year 4 Spelling is taught:
Much like the other years in school, students will be given a list of 10-20 words to learn. Teachers use many methods to teach spelling, these might include activities that allow students to practise their handwriting. Year 4 students will also learn new spellings through word searches, sentence structure and writing, fill-the-gap sheets, and other types of worksheets.
Teachers will usually link spelling with other aspects of the English curriculum, this way students are constantly practising their words and becoming more confident in spelling.
Activities
Quickest to find the word in the dictionary
It is no lie, that sometimes learning how to use the dictionary can be a bit slow. However, you can get your classroom excited by using games as a method to teach.
Explain to your class that the following game is to test how they use the dictionary, and that the only competition they have is themselves.
Then say a word you would like them to find in the dictionary. Students must then find the word and spell it out to you.
This could be the perfect activity for entering the classroom. Students could line up by the door and spell out the words you have asked them to find in the dictionary. If they get it wrong, they can just try again!
Emile Year 4 worksheets
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.
These worksheets are for Year 4 and Year 3 and 4, following the appendix on the National Curriculum. Download them for free below!
High Frequency worksheets.
As we know, high frequency words are those that we use regularly in the English language. Here is a worksheet for your classroom to practise their high frequency spellings.
Interactive 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!
Use Play-dough to illustrate spelling words.
- Use letter cutouts to cut out letters to make words.
- Use stamps, and stamp words into the rolled-out Play-dough.
- Create rainbow words (cut out letters in different colours)
- Create word mats and ask students to recreate the word with Play-dough in any way they want (stamping, cutouts, etc…)
More Spelling Blogs
