Lesson video

Hi there, and welcome to today's spelling lesson.

I'm Mr. Moss.

I love spellings and I'm really looking forward to teaching.

With you today you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains.

As well as that, something to write with and write on would be great, and having someone to talk to you or something to talk to you would also be brilliant.

Let's get into today's lesson then.

In today's lesson, we're going to practise and apply spelling words with the suffixes er and est.

The outcome will be, "I can use a range of strategies "to practise spelling words using the suffixes er and est." Here are the key words for today's learning.

My turn, your turn.

Make sure I can hear you saying them back to me.

Suffix, root word, adjective.

Brilliant.

So let's have a chat about these then.

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning.

A root word is the base word from which other words are formed often by adding prefixes or suffixes.

And an adjective describes a noun.

So today we are going to be taking some root words and we're going to be adding the suffixes er or est to those root words, to create adjectives.

Let's have a look at the outline.

We're gonna revise the rules of what happens when we add our er or est suffix.

We're then going to do some strategies to practise.

And finally, we're going to apply our spellings within a sentence.

Let's get on with revising the rules of adding the er and the est suffix.

So a suffix is a letter or group of letters that we add to the end of a word to create a new word.

So here I have the root word slow and I have the ly suffix.

It creates, when added together, the word slowly.

Interestingly, this suffix has changed my root word from being an adjective to being an adverb.

And that can sometimes happen when we add suffixes, it can change the word class.

Here we can see my root word, my main jigsaw piece, is help, and I've added another jigsaw piece to it, less, to create the word helpless, a word with a new meaning.

And here we have another suffix, ful, not spelled F-U-L-L, but just spelled F-U-L.

I add this to the root word hope and I get the new word hopeful, to be full of hope.

There are lots of different types of suffixes, and here we just have three, ly, less, and ful.

Remember, today we're concentrating on er and est.

And there are different rules as to how the root word changes when we add different suffixes.

So, so far we have generated two rules when adding our suffix er and est to create adjectives.

Sometimes we can just add er and est to the root word and the root word will not change.

If the root word ends in an e, we have to remove the e before adding our er or our est.

We don't want to have two e's there.

So here are some examples.

On the left-hand side, you can see just adding er or est cold, old, and quiet.

Cold becomes colder, the comparative adjective, and coldest, the superlative.

Older becomes older, oldest.

Quiet becomes quieter, quietest.

In these instances, we've just had to add the suffixes er or est.

Now on our right-hand side here we need to remove the e from the root word.

Nice, safe, and large all end in that e.

So I remove the e and add er to create nicer, my comparative adjective.

I remove the e and add est to create my superlative nicest, the most nice.

Same for safer and safest and larger and largest.

So the two rules we've generated so far, just adding er or est, or removing the e from the root word and adding er or est.

The suffixes er and est help us to compare things.

If we look at these root words, tall, and then add er, I can create taller.

I am tall, but she is taller, it's comparing me and her.

Or our superlative, tallest.

But he is the tallest.

That's the most tall out of those three things.

We call that the superlative adjective.

So here I have a tree.

This tree's pretty tall.

This tree's taller though than that tree.

And out of all three trees, this is our superlative, this is the tallest, the most tall.

Adjectives containing an est suffix are called the superlative, and I always think about this as having that suffix super in.

It's the most of that thing because they're the most of something.

So here we're talking about height.

We have our adjective tall.

We create a comparative adjective, taller, and last superlative adjective, tallest.

So er and est help us to compare different things.

For many words, we can just add the er or the est suffix without changing that root word.

Quick becomes quicker, small becomes smaller, loud becomes loudest, calm becomes calmest.

So when we add our er and our est suffix, one thing it does do though is it adds an extra syllable to the new word.

Quick just has one syllable.

Quicker, two syllables.

Small, one syllable.

Smaller, two syllables.

Calm, one syllable.

Calmest, two syllables.

So adding er or est, that suffix, adds a syllable to the word.

Be careful as well, particularly with our est spelling because it sounds like I say loudist, ist, calmist, ist.

It sounds like that, but it's an est spelling.

So what will the spelling of these words be when we add our er suffix? I've got old, small, quiet.

I want you to think about, are the root words going to change here? I want you to have a go at spelling older, smaller, quieter.

Pause the video and have a go at spelling then now.

Great.

Well, absolutely, they're not going to change, are they? We're gonna have older, smaller, quieter.

Just gonna add er here.

Looking at the spelling of that root word helps us.

They don't end in an e.

I just need to add er here.

So our rule is just add er.

What about when we add est to these root words? I have loud, cold, and calm.

Pauses the video.

How am I gonna spell loudest, coldest, calmest? Off you go.

Great, so again, est, est, est, just adding there, okay, our suffix.

Looking at our root words here, none of them end in e, so I can just add est.

Our rule here then, just add that est suffix to create our superlative adjectives.

Now, when the root word though ends in an e, we know that that e needs to be, whoosh, removed before we add our er and our est suffix.

Let's look at this in action.

Large, chop off the e, add er.

Nice, chop off the e, nicer, add er.

Cute, chop off the e, add est for our superlative, cutest.

And pale, chop off the e, add est for palest when comparing some colours.

So here our rule is remove the e and add either er or est.

So how will these words that end in e change when we come to add either our er or our est suffix? I've got safe, large, pale, nice.

Have a go for me.

How are you gonna spell safer, larger paler, sorry, palest, nicest? Off you go.

Pause the video.

So how will the words safer, larger, paler, and nicest be spelled? Pause the video.

Try and spell those now.

Great, so they all end in e, don't they? So we know we have to remove the e before adding either our comparative or superlative suffixes, er or est.

So safe becomes safer, large becomes larger, pale becomes palest, and nice becomes nicest.

So if we look at the spelling of our root word here, it's gonna inform us how our new adjective is going to be spelled.

Because it ends in an e, we have to remove the e before adding either our er or our est.

And that's our rule, remove the e, then add er or est.

So with those rules in mind that we just looked at, either just adding er or est or removing the e from the root word and adding er or est, let's see which of the words here are spelled correctly to complete our sentences.

I'll read them to you first.

"He felt safer when he wore his helmet." "The final firework was the loudest one so far." "Jun's hands were colder than mine," that comparative.

"I am the tallest in my class," that's superlative.

So pause the video and select the correct spellings now.

Consider the rules we've just looked at.

Great, team.

So, He felt safer." The root word safe is S-A-F-E, safe, ending in an e.

What do we do? Whoosh, remove the e, then add er, safer.

"The final firework was the loudest." Loud, just need to add est to my root word there.

"Jun's hands were colder." Cold, C-O-L-D, just have to add er to create our comparative adjective there.

And tallest again, T-A ends in double consonant L-L, we just have to add est.

So for our practise task now, you're gonna have a go at spelling some words for me.

I'm gonna say the words to you.

I'd like you to remember to sound out each word, think about the spelling of the root word and the rules that we've been looking at, and then to read your words out and to check.

So just listen to me say the words first of all.

The first word is colder.

Colder.

My hands are colder than yours.

It's comparative.

The next word is loudest.

Number two is loudest.

That was the loudest one yet.

The next word is cutest.

Number three is cutest.

That is the cutest cat I have ever seen.

And finally, paler.

That is a paler shade than that one.

Paler.

So I'll say those words one more time.

Colder, loudest, cutest, paler.

Pause the video and have a go at writing those words now.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

Let's see how you've done then.

So the first word was colder.

Colder.

My root word is cold.

I just here have to add er.

Doesn't end in an e.

C-O-L-D-E-R, colder.

The next word was loudest.

Again, loud, L-O-U-D, loud.

Here it doesn't end in an e, I just have to add my est to create my superlative, loudest.

Then we had cutest.

Cutest.

Now be careful with this one, with any est one.

It might sound like ist, but we know it's our est spelling.

Cutest.

So cutest is root word cute, ends in an e, chop off the e, add est.

So it's our correct spelling here.

And finally we had paler, as in comparing two colours.

One might be paler than the other.

So paler.

Pale, P-A-L-E, is my root word there.

I need to remove the e before adding my er, paler.

So remember those rules.

Sometimes we just have to add er or est.

If our root word ends in an e, we remove the e and then add er or est.

And be careful.

It might sound like ist, but it's est spelling.

What successes did you have? Did you make any magic mistakes? Pause the video, share those successes and mistakes and make any corrections now.

Off you go.

Onto our next learning cycle then, which is strategies to practise.

Let's begin by reading the following word.

My turn, your turn.

Special.

Look carefully at this word, special.

Hmm, is there something strange about the way this is spelled compared to how it sounds? Pause the video and have a think, see if you notice anything.

Great.

Well, I've noticed that my cial spelling here makes a shul sound, special, so I have to be really careful there.

It's not spelled how you'd expect it to be given how it sounds.

So that cial makes a shul.

It's a curriculum word, so it's gonna appear a lot in our reading and writing.

It's really important that we know this spelling.

Special, cial, shul, special.

Take a snapshot of that spelling right now.

(shutters) Stick it in your memory.

With that in mind, how do I spell special? Pause the video and select the correct spelling from these three.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

So special is that cial spelling of that shul sound.

Special.

This is our correct one, B.

The others might make phonetic sense, but it's that cial spelling.

So spelling rules that we've looked at today are really helpful when learning to spell words, but there's no replacement for good old practise.

When we practise, we remember the words more easily and we get used to seeing them and how they're spelled, and it helps us to become more confident when using them.

There are loads of different spelling strategies that we can use, and today we're gonna use the big letters strategy.

Big letters.

So, the big letters strategy can help us in several ways.

First, visualisation.

We have to look really carefully at the spelling and pay close attention to any tricky parts.

Then we copy the word out by starting really small and then getting larger.

And we repeat copy, so that repetitive nature means that it's really sticking into our memory and we get to get larger each time.

And finally, it's working on our handwriting, which is making those links between our hand and our brain and working on that motor memory.

So visualisation, repeat copying, handwriting.

The way that the strategy works is, is we copy the word in small, we then repeat copy larger, and then we get larger and then we get larger.

We keep going, we get bigger and bigger.

Actually, almost sort of contains our comparative and superlatives.

We get larger until we write our largest.

So look at this for me.

What order does this strategy go in? I've got write biggest, look, write small, write bigger.

What's the first step we're always going to do? And then put these into the correct order, one, two, three, four.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

The first step when we're looking at any spellings is always to look.

We look carefully and think what's interesting or tricky or what we notice about the spelling.

Then we copy, don't we, but small.

Then we write bigger, our comparative adjective there, bigger.

And then we write biggest, our superlative adjective there.

So we look, copy and write small, write bigger, and then write our biggest.

We should always look carefully at spellings before we practise them, whichever practise we're using.

So you're gonna choose three words to practise using the big letter strategy.

And I'd like you to choose three words that you found most difficult in this lesson so far.

The words that I've picked are special, paler, and quiet.

This is a chance for you to be really independent and choose three words that you found difficult.

I've chosen special as our curriculum word, and then the words paler and quiet as well 'cause I find quiet a very strange spelling 'cause it can be easily confused with quite.

So I'm gonna have a go at using this big letter strategy with the word special.

So I look carefully at the word special.

I then cover it up.

I've thought about what's interesting about it, that cial spelling for the shul.

I then write it small.

I then check, oh, I got that spelling right.

Great.

I then cover it again and I write it bigger.

Brilliant.

And then I keep going.

I write it bigger and bigger until I reach my biggest, my superlative.

And this is called the big letter strategy.

I want you to stop now.

You could use these three words or pick three words that you found most difficult.

Pause the video, have a go.

Take three words, use the big letter strategy.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

So I'm hoping that you have a page that looks like this.

This was me using the big letter strategy for special, paler, and quietest.

Did you manage to spell the words correctly? Do you need to make any corrections? Share as well your favourite string of words that you've written using this strategy with the people around you.

Did you have fun? I hope you did.

I love spelling practise.

Pause the video, make any corrections now.

Onto our final learning cycle then where we're going to apply spellings within a sentence.

So we are going to write a sentence now containing some of our focus spellings.

When we write the whole sentence, we need to do several things at once, so let's make sure we're prepared for this in a nice calm space and perhaps even have a brain break before trying this.

We're gonna need to remember the whole sentence.

We're gonna gonna have to sound out each word.

We're gonna have to think about the spelling rules.

So think about those rules we've looked at for adding er and the suffix est today.

And we also need to look out for those common exception and curriculum words.

Think about that curriculum word that we've looked at today, special.

And as well as that, we obviously need to remember our sentence punctuation, capital letters, and full stops.

I'd like you to listen to me say the sentence first of all.

"I feel calmest sitting under the special tree "that is taller and wiser than you or me." "I feel calmest sitting under the special tree "that is taller and wiser than you or me." So we're gonna use some strategies to help us remember the sentence.

The first one is tapping it out.

"I feel calmest sitting under the special tree "that is taller and wiser than you or me." Pause the video and tap that out now.

Great.

I find that really helps us to hit all the syllables in the words.

Whispering it.

"I feel calmest under the special tree "that is taller and wiser than you or me." Pause the video and whisper that now to yourself or someone around you.

Brilliant.

I could barely you.

And finally shouting out, "I feel calmest under the special tree "that is taller and wiser than you or me." Shout that out now.

I need to hear you.

Pause the video.

Brilliant.

I can really hear you there.

So we're gonna have a go at writing the sentence now.

Remember to sound out each word, think about our rules, look out for those common exception and curriculum words, and remember your sentence punctuation, capital letters and full stops.

I'm gonna say the sentence one more time.

"I feel calmness sitting under the special tree "that is taller and wiser than you or me." Pause the video and have a go at writing that sentence now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job, team.

Some brilliant application of the rules we generated for adding our superlative and comparative adjectives there.

And also great consideration for our curriculum words as well.

So "I," capital letter, "feel calmest." Our root word calm there just has that est added to it.

"Sitting under." Now maybe I didn't say sitting before, but don't worry if you've added it, don't worry if you haven't.

"Sitting under that special tree." So special here is that word, isn't it? If you wrote the or that I don't mind.

Special, watch out.

Special is that shul sound.

It's that cial spelling.

It's our curriculum word.

"That is taller." Tall, T-A-L-L is our root word.

We just have to add er to make that comparative.

"And wiser." Our root word wise ends in an e.

It's an i split e.

Chop off the e, add er to make the word wiser.

"Than you or me." Full stop, of course.

Let's read through the sentence one more time.

"I feel calmest sitting under that special tree "that is taller and wiser than you or me." Wow, what a long sentence.

I'm sure you did really well there.

Great job.

So what did you learn? What successes did you have? Do you have any magical mistakes to correct? Do you have any rules to really give consideration to? Do you need to make any corrections? Share your learning and make any corrections now.

Pause the video.

Brilliant spelling today, everyone.

Today we've been looking at adding suffixes er and est to the end of root words.

Remember that a suffix is a group of letters we add to the end of word to create a new word.

Adding er or est creates adjectives to compare things.

Often we can just add that er or est to the root word and it won't change, but if that root word ends in an e, remember we have to remove the e before adding our er or our est to create our superlative adjectives.

Keep up the great spelling, keep up the great practise, and I'll see you again soon.