'Ough' spellings

We are looking at words containing the letter string 'ough'. 'Ough' is one of the trickiest spellings in English as it can be used for so many different sounds! For example:

• making the 'or' sound as in thought and bought
• making the 'uff' sound as in rough, tough and enough
• making the 'ow' sound as in plough or bough
• making the 'oh' sound as in though and although
• making the 'ew' sound as in through

I before E

We are looking at the spelling rule of 'i before e, except after c' and the various exceptions to this rule. We will examine how the sound of the letters indicates which way they should be spelt. For example:

·         If the sound is a long 'ee' after a 'c' then it is spelt 'ei', eg. Deceive, perceive.

·         If the letters are making an 'ay' sound then they are spelt 'ei', eg. Neighbour, weigh.

As with any spelling rule there are always exceptions, such as: Science, protein, caffeine, either and neither. We will also be talking about these words and thinking about strategies to help us spell them!

Words with a /shul/ sound

We are looking at words which end in the /shul/ sound this week. We are learning the rule that if the sound in the word before the /shul/ is a vowel, then we spell /shul/ -cial; if the sound is a consonant then we spell it -tial. Example words are below:

• Official
• Beneficial
• Potential
• Confidential

Again, there are a few exceptions to the rule: initial, financial, commercial and provincial.