Bartley C of E Junior School

In year 4, we aim to ensure all children know how to spell the common exception words from Year 3 and 4.  For those children who have not secured all of the Year 1 and 2 common exception words, these will form part of their focus during the year. The common exception word lists for Year 1 & 2 and for Year 3 & 4 are available by clicking the links below.  Your child may bring a list home with a selection of words from these lists to learn each week, if this is needed.  

Year 1 & 2 Common exception Word Checklist

Year 3 & 4 Common exception Word Checklist

To help children learn their spellings, there are a number of strategies that can be used.  Have a look at these spelling strategies posters, below, for ideas.

Additionally, where children are taking part in a Little Wandle phonics group, click the link below to access additional resources to support word reading and spelling. Here, you will find videos to aid with pronunciation and lists of the different sounds taught in each phase. 

Little Wandle Parents' Area

Year 4 Spelling Coverage by Half Term

Autumn 1

We have explored the following:

• the /er/ sound and and the different ways it can be spelt, using the graphemes: ir, ur, ear and or.   You can find more opportunities to practise finding words containing these graphemes, here and here;
• the /air/ sound and the different ways it can be spelt, using the graphemes: ere, eir, are, ar and aire.  You can find more opportunities to practise finding the words containing these graphemes, here;
• the -ed and -ing suffixes and the rules for adding them to a root word.  A game that can be used at home to practise this can be found here;
• the -er and -est suffixes and the rules for adding them to a root word.  An activity that can be used at home to practise this can be found here.

Autumn 2

During this half term, we continued our work on suffixes, focusing on:

• the -ness, -ment, -ful and -less suffixes and their meanings;
• the -ly suffix;
• the /shun/ sound and the different ways it can be spelt, using the graphemes: tion, sion, ssion and cian. 

Spring 1

This half term, we focused on the following:

• the rules for the un-, dis-, mis-, in-, and auto- prefixes and their meanings;
• the rules for the re-, super-, inter-, sub-, and anti- prefixes and their meanings;
• prefixes and suffixes in words on the statutory spelling list for Year 3 and 4 e.g. accidentally, actually, business, century, occasionally, probably, bicycle, disappear, disbelieve, rebuild, reposition; 
• the /or/ sound and the different ways it can be spelt, using the graphemes: aw, au, aur, oor, a, oar, and ore;
• the /ay/ sound and the different ways it can be spelt, using the graphemes: ay, a-e, ey, ei, eigh, a, aigh and ea;
• the different spellings and meanings of homophones.

Spring 2

This half term, we moved on to:

• using apostrophes for possession;
• words ending with -sure and -ture;
• adding the vowel suffix -ous;
• the rules when adding the -ing suffix to words with long and short vowel sounds;
• the soft g sound spelt as ge and dge. 

Summer 1

New learning for this half term included:

• words ending with the /g/ sound spelt –gue;
• words ending with the /k/ sound spelt –que;
• words with the /ʃ/ sound spelt ch;
• words with the /k/ sound spelt ch;
• words with the /s/ sound spelt sc.

Summer 2

In our final half term, we will be revisiting some of the trickier spelling rules already covered as well as the following:

• the etymology of words (the history of words) and how this might help us spell other words;
• unstressed vowels (the /schwa/ sound) in words on the statutory spelling list for Year 3 and 4 e.g. chocolate, favourite, different, interest, January, library, medicine, pressure, teacher;
• silent letters in words on the statutory spelling list for Year 3 and 4 e.g. answer, caught, guard, island, knowledge, straight;
• multi-syllabic words including prefixes and suffixes in words on the statutory spelling list for Year 3 and 4 e.g. accidentally, business, exercise, famous, promise, unsurprising.

Alongside these spelling words, the children will also be required to learn the statutory spelling words for Year 3 and 4 pupils. We will be looking at these throughout the year (see link on the left of this page).  Please note that, where appropriate, many of these will be covered where they fit the rules explored each half term.