Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's spelling lesson.

I'm Mr. Moss, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you.

For today's lesson, you need to bring with you your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains, as well as that something to write with would be excellent, and also having someone to talk to you would be really helpful too.

Let's get right into today's lesson then.

In today's lesson, we're gonna be looking at new ee spellings including E spelled just with an E, the letter E, ee spelled with the letter Y, ee spelled ie, and ee spelled ey.

These are the far less common and far more rare spellings of that long ee sound, that long vowel ee sound.

Here's our outcome for today.

I can know three new spellings for the ee phoneme.

Spelled E, just an E, spelled Y, spelled I-E, and spelled E-Y.

All making that ee sound.

Here are our keywords for today.

My turn, your turn.

Rare spelling.

Say it with me one more time.

Rare spelling.

Adjective.

Adjective.

A rare spelling is any spelling that doesn't appear very often, that is less common than those common spellings.

An adjective is a describing word used to describe a noun.

Here's our lesson outline.

We're gonna be looking at new ee spellings.

First of all, we're gonna be spelling some common exception words, and then we're gonna look at these four new ee spellings for today's lesson.

Let's look at some common exception words.

First of all, let's have a go at reading some words.

My turn, your turn.

Fast.

Fast.

Last.

Last.

Past.

Plant.

Now, for some of you, these won't actually be common exception words.

These words are dependent on regional accents and pronunciation.

I pronounce these words with a R sound.

Fast, last, which is why for me, they're common exception words.

Because that A makes an R sound.

Many of you will actually pronounce them fast, last, past, plant, and therefore, they're not common exception words.

That A is making a phonetically plausible sound as opposed to pronouncing them with that long R sound, which many other people will pronounce them with.

Still, important words for us to learn.

So if you're pronouncing these words fast, last, past, plant, what do you notice about these spellings? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

You may have noticed that that A spelling isn't making an A sound, okay? Or even a long A sound.

It's making an R sound.

Sounds like it should be spelled A-R.

It's a naughty letter if you pronounce it in that particular way.

So as a result, these are words that don't make phonetic sense for many of us, and we just need to learn them by sight.

Which of these spellings work? Let's have a look at A.

"The fast car zoomed down the motorway." Point to the correct one now.

Absolutely, it's this one here.

It's that A spelling making that R sound.

"She was the last person to arrive." Point to the correct spelling for me now.

Absolutely, it's this one here.

Again, that A spelling making that R sound, but we don't spell it A-R.

C, "In history, we study past events." Now this one's an interesting one.

It's absolutely this one here.

The other word might have worked and it actually is a word, okay? If you're going passed something or something passed you by.

The verb, but we're thinking something in the past here, and so it's that A-S-T spelling.

"I need to water the plant." Point to the correct one for me now.

Excellent.

It's absolutely this one here.

Again, as all of these words had in common, it's that A spelling, but not pronounced A or A, okay? Pronounced with that R.

Again, dependent on regional accent.

Excellent work.

So for those of you that do need to practise these words, here's a really good strategy.

Look, cover, write, check.

Can be used for practising any spellings, but particularly useful for practising those common exception words, okay? Really good independent strategy that allows you to be repetitive and to ingrain those spellings in your mind.

The way it works is we look, so I'm looking here at the word fast, then I cover it, and then memorise it, practise writing it out, and then I look and check.

Oh, I got this one correct.

I'd like you now to pause the video and have a go at practising these four spellings using that strategy, writing them out a number of times.

Oh, and before you do this, please be sure, as in any spelling lesson, to use your best handwriting.

Spelling is a perfect opportunity to practise your best.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Incredible work, everybody.

Did you manage to spell them correctly? Can you please have a check now? Make any corrections, notice any magical mistakes.

Brilliant work.

Onto the next part of today's lesson, the four new ee spellings.

This is ee spelled just with the letter E, ee spelled with a Y, ee spelled with an I-E, and ee spelled E-Y.

So keep an eye out for these now.

So I'm gonna read to you a short, silly story, and I want you to think about which words contain the ee sound.

You might recognise some of those ee sounds from your previous learning, perhaps ee spelled E-E, ee spelled E-A, or ee E split ER split digraph.

But perhaps there are some other words also making that ee sound in this short silly story.

"On a sunny day, a happy baby was as delighted as a queen with a honey jar.

But a funny thief dressed as a bee tried to steal it.

The baby let out a shriek and he was saved by animal friends.

They chased the funny thief away and everyone had a feast with honey, feeling happier than before." Something I really want to point out very quickly, 'cause I'm gonna read this story to you again, remember to listen for the ee sound.

Remember to stretch the word once you've heard it, and this can really help you to hear out that ee sound.

Have a look at these two words for instance, S-U-N-Y.

Oh, there's my E sound at the end of the word spelt with a Y.

But if I compare that to the next word here, D-R-E-S-D, dressed, it has an E spelling in it, but it's not making an ee sound.

So this is one of the words I'm looking for, one of my new ee spellings.

I'm gonna read to you one more time this story, and I'd like you to listen out for any E spellings, perhaps write them down as I go.

"On a sunny day, a happy baby was as delighted as a queen with a honey jar.

But a funny thief dressed as a bee tried to steal it.

The baby let out a shriek," so cried out loud, "and he was saved by animal friends.

They chased the funny thief away and everyone had a feast with honey, feeling even happier than before." So there are some words with new spellings of the ee sound.

Some you might also recognise from your previous learning.

We are going to look at these more closely.

So let's pick out these words that have the ee sound in them.

We have sunny, happy, baby, queen.

My turn, your turn.

Honey, funny, thief, bee, steal, baby, shriek, he, funny, thief, feast, honey again, feeling, even.

So all of those words contain that ee sound.

Some of them contain our new spellings for that ee sound, and some of them contain the more common and less rare spellings that you may have seen more regularly in your reading.

So what are the new ee spellings we're looking at? The ee spellings we already know are ee spelled E-E, ee spelled E-A, and ee spelled E-R split digraph.

I'd like you to have a look at these words that I put in this table right now.

Can you spot which spellings make the ee sound? Pause the video, tell the person next to you which spellings are making the ee sound in these other words.

Incredible work, everybody.

I could hear some excellent conversations going on around there, around our spelling.

Yes, the E word here in he, just the E spelling, is making that ee sound.

Not making an eh, it's not heh, it's he.

It's making that long ee sound.

In the next column, yes, it's the Y spelling for our ee sound.

Sunny, happy, baby, funny.

And here we have I-E in shriek, which means to cry out loud.

Ah! And thief, someone who might steal something.

The I-E spelling makes the ee sound.

And finally, honey, we have the E-Y spelling that's making our E sound.

Sometimes these spellings don't make the ee sound, it's dependent on the word that they're written.

So just to remember that E just with an E spelling can make an ee sound.

The Y can also make an ee sound.

I-E can make an ee sound and EY can make an ee sound.

So these are our rare spellings.

Remember that key word? Rare.

These appear far less often than our E-E, E-A, and our E split E spellings, and they're ones that you really have to keep an eye out for and just learn.

So which column should these words go into? We're gonna read the words below and then I want you to sort them into the correct columns.

You can point and say which column they would go into.

Let's read the words first of all.

My turn, your turn.

Egypt.

Egypt is a country.

Notice how it has a capital E, because it's a proper noun.

It's an actual place.

Key, like a key you might use to unlock a door.

Piece.

This is not peace as in calm, no fighting.

This is piece as in, "I ate a piece of pie." Evil, we, money, belief.

Belief is something that you hold dear to you, something that you believe in.

I'd like you to pause the video and sort these now into the correct columns.

Off you go.

Incredible work.

Let's see how you got on then.

Absolutely, Egypt has that E at the beginning of the word.

Remember that capital letter because it's a proper noun.

Evil also has the E at the beginning of the word, and then we have the word we, very similar to he or be or she, that E at the end of it, high frequency word.

We then have I-E words, piece and belief, again in the middle of the word.

And then we have our E-Y spelling.

Might be noticing a pattern here.

Our E-Y looks like perhaps it likes to come at the end of the word, key and money alongside honey.

Incredible work, everyone.

So we're gonna look now at these four new spellings for this long vowel E sound.

And we're gonna start thinking, do you notice any patterns or anything interesting? Why don't you pause the video now, have a look at each column.

Have a look at where each of the graphemes are that make this long E sound.

Do you notice anything already? Pause the video.

Incredible.

I'm already beginning to notice some patterns.

I'm wondering if you are too.

Let's get to it.

I want you to also think about, do the spellings go at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the word, or does it change? Let's look first here at our E spelling.

I can see it both at the end and at the beginning of the words.

The Y spelling seems to go at the end of a word.

It also likes to go at the end of adjectives.

Now remember, it's one of our key words.

Adjectives are words that we can use to describe different nouns.

So we have sunny, happy, and funny.

Baby is not an adjective.

Baby there is a noun, but the other words sunny, happy, and funny are adjectives.

So perhaps we can say our Y spelling ends of the word if we're noting a pattern, quite commonly goes with adjectives.

Let's look then at our I-E spellings of this E sound, shriek, thief, piece, and belief.

I can see that the I-E spelling is often found before the last consonant and in the middle of the word.

Here are some other examples.

Thief, chief, brief, belief, and grief.

Hmm.

I spotted a bit of a pattern there.

I can see that I-E often coming before that last consonant and that last consonant is often an F.

So if you're spelling a word and you hear that E and then an F spelling, it might be the I-E spelling.

Let's finally look at the E-Y.

The E-Y spelling seems to go at the end of a word.

We have the words honey, key, money, and donkey.

So where can the E spellings generally be found in the word? What do you remember from what we've just looked at? The E spelled just with an E is generally at the beginning or the end of a word.

The Y generally at the end, and quite often in adjectives, the I-E often in the middle of the word, but before that final consonant.

Remember, it likes an F, and our E-Y generally at the end of a word.

There are of course some exceptions to these, as with all of our spelling rules, but we're just trying to make generalisations and to spot patterns to help us in our spellings.

Can you match the rare spelling of the E sound to where they're most commonly found in a word? Pause the video and do this for me now.

Amazing work, everyone.

I can see children pointing across from the spelling to where it goes in the word.

Let's check and see how you got on.

Our E spelling for that E sound likes to go at the beginning or the end.

Okay, think about Egypt or we or she or be, those high frequency words.

Our Y spelling for that E sound likes to go at the end.

Remember, it likes adjectives.

Our I-E spelling, I'm sure you're all shouting at me.

Yep, in the middle before the final consonant.

And our E-Y spelling at the end.

Brilliant.

We are going to now have a go at spelling four words that contain our new ee spellings.

Remember, stretch the word, sound it out, write it, look and check.

The first word is, my turn, your turn.

Money.

Money.

The next word is grief.

Grief.

If you're grieving, if you're showing signs of grief, it means you're incredibly sad.

Three, happy, and four, evil.

Evil.

So I'm gonna say these words one more time each and I'd like you to have a go at stretching them, sounding them out, counting the sounds, writing it and looking and checking.

But also don't forget to consider the rules that we've just generated and come up with as to where each of these rare ee spellings likes to come in a word.

Money, grief, happy, evil.

Pause the video.

Have a go at writing these four words down now.

Off you go.

Amazing work, everybody.

I've seen some brilliant application of the spellings that we're looking at in this lesson.

I've seen children make some magical mistakes as well.

Remember, that's key.

It's part of our learning process.

And I've also seen some wonderful handwriting.

Keep up your hard work.

Let's look at number one then.

Money.

Money.

Now, this is a tricky spelling actually, isn't it? Because of that actual spelling at the start of it, that U, U, it sounds like it should be a U, doesn't it? But I know it's not.

I know it's actually sort of one of those high frequency, common exception words.

We really want to concentrate on where that ee sound is coming, don't we? Money.

Hmm.

We know it's at the end.

And we know both our E-Y and our Y do like to come at the end.

However, money is a noun, isn't it? It's a thing, it's an item.

And we said our Y spelling of that ee sound is generally reserved for adjectives.

So it's gonna be this spelling here, it's our E-Y, which is quite commonly found with nouns.

If you think about donkey, monkey, key, honey as well.

All nouns.

So it's our M-O-N-E-Y.

Not money, but money.

So it's a difficult one.

Really need to pay attention.

Number two, grief.

If someone's showing signs of grief, something very sad has happened to them, okay? So we can see the person crying here showing grief.

Grief, grief.

G-R-E-F.

Brilliant.

Well, they've all got that F at the end, so I know that's correct.

Let's think about which of our spellings like to come in the middle.

And let's also really think about which of them like to have an F as the final consonant.

I think it's gotta be this one here, hasn't it? Our I-E spelling.

Very rare, but it likes to come in the middle.

I mean it loves to go before the final consonant.

And that final consonant often is an F.

Think about thief, chief.

Other examples.

Number three, happy.

Happy.

Well, the E sound is coming at the end, isn't it? Brilliant.

We've all got our double consonants here before it.

Happy is an adjective.

Which of these spellings did we say loved particularly to be of adjectives? Absolutely is this one here.

It's not gonna be E-Y and it's not gonna be E-E at the end.

It's our Y, it's our adjective.

Happy.

H-A-P-P-Y.

And number four, evil.

Hmm.

Evil.

Now, I do know that our E-A spelling can go anywhere in a word.

So it could be that one.

I don't think it's gonna be our double E.

And now that's to go in the middle or at the end.

Evil.

E-A just doesn't look right to me at the beginning.

I think it has to be this one here.

And sometimes that's a really good strategy to use, to write out the words using the different ee spellings that we've been looking at and see which one you think looks right, which one you recognise perhaps when you're reading and from your writing.

Incredible work, everyone.

Give yourselves a pat on the back.

Amazing.

If you've made any magical mistakes there or you need to make any corrections, make them now, and think, "What do I need to do differently next time?" Off you go.

You have been superstars today.

Today, we've looked at those rare spellings of the E sound.

Remember, rare means they don't appear as often as our common spellings.

We've looked at just spelling that ee sound with an E, which is often at the beginning or the end in words such as evil, he, or we.

Quite often in those high frequency words, he, we, be, she, me.

Y is often at the end of a word, happy, baby, sunny.

And we said often, but not always, it does like to go with adjectives, those describing words.

I-E is often found in the middle of a word before that final consonant.

And we said it particularly likes that final consonants to be an F.

Not all the time, but often.

So words like thief and chief and also the word piece.

And we looked finally at our E-Y.

E-Y is often found at the end of a word, money, honey, donkey.

And we noticed as well, didn't we, that these were all nouns, they were all things.

We also thought about that word money, quite a difficult one because of the E-Y spelling at the end, but also because of that O.

You don't pronounce it O, O.

It makes an O, O sound.

These spellings are more rare than the other ee spellings that you've looked at, E-E, E-A, and E split E.

But they're important ones for you to learn.

Excellent work today, everyone.

I look forward to seeing you in the next spelling lesson.