Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's spelling lesson.

I'm Mr. Moss.

I love spelling, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you.

For today, you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains, as well as something to write with and write on and someone or something to talk to would be great, as well.

Well, let's get on with today's spelling lesson then.

In today's spelling lesson, we're going to be spelling the "ay" sound, and this "ay" sound could be spelled in a number of different ways.

We're gonna look at it spelled with A, just an A, "ay" spelled E-I-G-H, and "ay" spelled E-Y.

The outcome will be, "I can spell words with the "ay" sound using A, E-I-G-H, or E-Y." Here are the key words for today's learning.

My turn, your turn.

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

Phoneme, grapheme, rare, word family, and root word.

Brilliant.

Let's have a discussion about what these words mean then.

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word.

And today, we are looking at the "ay" phoneme.

A grapheme is a letter or group of letters that represent a sound or phoneme.

And so we are gonna be looking at three representations for that "ay" sound today.

Rare.

Rare spellings are spellings which appear less frequently, and the three spellings for that "ay" phoneme that we are looking at today are the rarer spellings of that "ay" sound.

A word family is a group of words common in feature, pattern, or meaning, and they can help us in our spelling.

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

If you know the spelling of the root word, you often know the spelling of the new word once that prefix or suffix has been added.

So here's the outline for today's lesson.

We're gonna be spelling that "ay" phoneme with the graphemes, A, E-I-G-H, and E-Y.

In the first part of the lesson, we're gonna revise the rules.

Then we're going to look at those rare "ay" spellings, A, E-I-G-H, and E-Y.

And finally, we're gonna have a go at applying our spellings in a sentence.

So, let's get on with revising our rules for this "ay" sound.

We know that "ay" can be spelled in lots of different ways, and here are many different ways in which it can be spelled.

It can be spelled A-Y as in day, away, play, and tray.

It can be spelt A-I as in rain or rainy, raisins, wait, or train.

It can be spelled A split E, our split digraph, as in lake, snake, plate or make.

But it can also be spelled with just an A, words like stable, fable, which is a type of story, table, and April, which has a capital letter 'cause it's a proper noun.

As well as that it can be spelled E-I-G-H as in eight, eighty and eighteen.

Notice how those words, they are all part of a word family, and the word "weight," as in how much something weighs.

Then there's a homophone of weight spelled W-A-I-T.

"Wait" spelled W-A-I-T as in "wait there." But "weight" as in W-E-I-G-H-T as in how much something weighs, how heavy it is.

This "ay" sound can also be spelled E-Y, grey, they and prey, and it can even be spelled E-A, great break, and steak.

So, have a look at these words for me.

Think about where the different "ay" sounds are coming.

Pause the video, have a go at reading some, and consider where the "ay" sounds are coming in the word.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

I've noticed a few things, and we're gonna be discussing them now as we revise our different rules as to where these different "ay" sounds like to come.

So, "ay" spelled A-Y, "ay" spelled A-I, and "ay" A split E, our split diagraph, are the most common spellings of "ay".

They appear most often in our written and spoken language.

They are not so rare.

Here we can see them in action.

Pay, display, stay, play and crayon.

One of those words there seems to be a bit of an exception to me, the word crayon.

I'm noticing that my A-Y spelling often likes to come at the end of a word.

Then we have our A-I spelling.

Trails, snail, tail, rain and trained.

Now, I can see here in "trained" I've added the suffix E-D to the end of the root word "train." In each instance, my A-I spelling's come in the middle of the root word, and finally our A split E.

As with most split digraphs, this spelling likes to come last but one in the word.

So, what can you remember about where the spellings can be found in words? Have a look carefully at our A-Y, A-I and A split E spellings.

Where do those graphemes, those representations of that "ay" sound, where are they commonly found in words? Pause the video, have a read of those words.

Have a think.

Great.

So, our "ay" spelled A-Y is most often found at the end of a word, delay, play, played.

Now, interestingly, in "crayon," it is not at the end of the word.

So we could call this an exception.

It doesn't follow the regular pattern we'd expect.

And there are many exceptions across spelling in English.

If we look here at the word "played" as well, the A-Y is still coming at the end of the root word.

We just added the E-D suffix.

And here we have "crayon" as our exception.

So A-Y is often found at the end of a word.

A-I is often found in the middle of the word, that A-I representation for that "ay" sound.

Snail, waiting, train and bail.

Now, "waiting" here we can see, again, it's still found in the middle of the root word.

The root word there is "wait," and I've added my I-N-G suffix.

And finally we have our A split E.

This is found as with most split digraphs last but one, because it will have a letter, a consonant separating that digraph.

Pancake.

We have a K there separating our A and our E.

"Late," we have a T separating our A and our E.

And "rake." We have a K again and "name" and M again.

So I'd like you to have a look, please, at the words below.

And remember that sometimes it's the rule applied within the root word.

Think carefully about any prefixes or suffixes that have been added.

So we have "ay" spelled A-Y, "ay" spelled A-I, and A split E.

And our words below are playing, "mailed," like sending something in the post.

"I mailed that to you." "Tale," like a story, and "trays." So match the word now to the spelling pattern it uses.

Pause the video, off you go.

Brilliant.

So let's have a look at this word "playing." I've added my suffix I-N-G there.

The A-Y is coming at the end of my root word, "play." So it's following this rule here.

"Mailed" as in "I mailed something to someone," sending something in the post.

"Mail" is my root word there.

So the A-I spelling is coming in the middle of the root word.

Oh, sorry, and I've added the I-N-G suffix there to "playing." "Mailed," A-I in the middle, and we've added our E-D suffix.

And here we have "tale," that's our A split E.

Our split digraph there is split by the consonant L.

And finally we have "trays." Yep, that's our A-Y.

And you'll notice here it has an S, so it's not at the end.

That's because we've added that S suffix, which has made it plural.

Remember, the spellings can come where they're found within the rule, within the root word.

So, finding root words can help us to make sure we have the right rule.

We know that suffixes may change the spelling of a root word.

Finding the root word can help us to figure out that rule, remember.

So, I can see here, within take, bake and named, within "take," the root word there ends in an E.

So I have to remove the E before adding my I-N-G to make the word "taking." It's making that "ay" sound.

That's 'cause that root word was our A split E.

It's the same with "bake." Here, I've removed the E before then adding my E-D suffix to then make it past tense.

And "name" has become "named" there.

Notice how we've removed the E and then added our E-D suffix.

So remembering the root word or finding the root word can help us to figure out the rule.

How has the root word changed in each of these instances? Well, we can see here that we've removed the E from "take" to add our I-N-G.

We've removed the E to add E-D in "baked," and we've removed the E from "name" to make "named." The rule has stayed the same.

The "ay" is still the last but one sound in each of these.

Take, bake and name.

But we've just then added our suffix.

So, finding the root word to figure out the rule.

Have a look here for me.

What's our root word here? The root word is "train." And then we then know it's our A-I, it's coming in the middle of that root word.

And so it's going to remain that way no matter the suffix that we then add with trains, trained, training and trainer.

The root word is "train." The "ay" sound is in the middle of the word and is represented by the grapheme A-I.

Here, have a look for me.

Can you find the root word in each of these words for me? And which rule is it going to follow? Is that root word going to change, or does it change when we add the suffixes? Pause the video.

Which spelling rule is it using here? Fantastic.

Well, absolutely.

We can see here that our root word is mm.

The "ay" sound is mm of the word.

The grapheme is mm.

Hmm.

Could you have a go at completing these for me? I'm hoping you found the root word already.

What is the root word? Where is the "ay" sound in the word, and what grapheme is representing that "ay" sound? Pause the video and have a go at completing those sentences for me now.

Brilliant.

So the root word is "play." The "ay" sound is at the end of the word, and the grapheme, the written representation for that sound is A-Y.

And you'll notice that it's A-Y in the root word in each of these words no matter the suffix we've added, whether it's plays, played, playing or player.

So let's revise our rules one more time.

A-Y.

Often found at the end of a word.

A-I, often found in the middle of the word.

And A split E, our split digraph, is often found the last but one.

Here are some words.

Playing and stayed.

Notice how the A-Y is not at the end of the word here, but it is at the end of the root word before we've added our suffix.

The same with our A-I here.

In "fail," it is in the middle of the word.

In "trainers" it's in the middle of the root word "train" before we've added our E-R-S suffix.

And finally A split E.

Absolutely.

"Shake," and then we've added our R, and "name," M is the consonant there between our split digraph.

So we're gonna have a go now at writing some words.

I'd like you to listen to me carefully, and I also want you to see if you can figure out the root word because I might be adding some suffixes to these words, so it might not be following our rules as they were.

Remember to consider, where is that "ay" sound coming in the root word? 'Cause you then know the rules.

Is it in the middle? Is it at the end? Is it last but one? So, listening carefully, the first word is "named." "I named my pet" Named.

The next word is "trains." "I had to take two trains to get to work." The word after that is "player." "She is a fantastic football player." And finally "shaking." "Please stop shaking that." So, think about the root words, remember.

Named, trains, player, shaking.

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

Off you go.

Brilliant work, team.

Let's see how you've done them.

The first word was "named." Now, my root word there is "name." It's an A split E, isn't it, with that consonant M.

So I'm just going to have to remove the E that was there before adding my E-D suffix.

So it's going to be this one here, "named." It wouldn't be A-Y, because that "ay" sound isn't coming at the end, at the end of that root word.

And I'm not going to have words with two E's, then a D.

Remember when we add that E-D suffix, we remove the E if the word ends in an E before adding E-D.

The next word is "trains." Let's think about our root word here, "train." (speaks phonetically) That "ay" sound's coming in the middle, isn't it? Train.

I'm just adding an S to make it plural.

So "trains." Remember, we commonly just add S to make things plural.

Sometimes we do add an E-S, but in this instance we just add an S.

The next word was "player." Let's think about this.

My root word here is "play." (speaks phonetically) Well, it's gonna be that A-Y spelling, isn't it? Because the "ay" sound is coming at the end of the root word.

And then I'm adding my E-R suffix, "player." So that's the correct spelling there.

And finally we had "shaking." Let's think about this.

My root word here, "shake." (speaking phonetically) "Shake," it sounds to me like it's a split digraph.

A split E with a K coming between.

So that root word would end in an E, and we wouldn't keep the E before adding I-N-G.

We would remove the E and then add our I-N-G suffix.

So it's "shaking" here.

Be careful with this one 'cause it looks like it might be "shacking." But remember our root word was shake, which was that A split E.

We've just removed the E before then adding our I-N-G suffix.

Pause the video, make any corrections, see how you did.

So we've looked there at the rules for our common "ay" graphemes.

Now we're going to look at some of the rarer "ay" spellings.

spelled A, E-I-G-H and E-Y.

We're gonna consider whether they like to come in words, and we're gonna have a go at practising spelling some of these words as well.

So, other rare spellings of that "ay" sound include "ay" just spelled with an A, "ay" spelled E-I-G-H and "ay" spelled E-Y.

We have words like stable, April, which has a capital letter, 'cause it's a proper noun, table and acorn.

And then we have our E-I-G-H words, words like eight, eighty and eighteen.

Notice they are part of a word family.

If you know the spelling of eight, you'll know the spelling of eighty and eighteen.

They're linked, they're all numbers.

And then we have our E-Y spelling, grey, they and prey.

These are rarer spellings, remember.

We don't see them so often, but it's important that we know about them.

What can you remember about where these spellings can be found in words? Have a read of these words again, and have some thinking time.

Where can you see these different sounds, these different graphemes, representations for those sounds coming in the words? Pause the video and have a think.

Great conversations, team.

So let's have a look at these, then.

Let's first look at our A spelling.

The A spelling seems to go at the start and in the middle of a word.

I can see it the start of both April and acorn.

And I can see it in the middle of both stable and table.

Spotting rhyming words can help us here.

If I know the spelling of the word "able," A-B-L-E, then I know the spelling of the words, stable, table and fable.

Rhyming is a really useful strategy when learning spellings, 'cause often when words do rhyme, they may have similar spellings.

Not all the time.

Let's have a look at our E-I-G-H spelling for that "ay" sound then.

The E-I-G-H spelling seems to go at the start of a word.

However, this isn't always the case.

We have words like weigh, weight, sleigh.

That's like a sleigh that might be pulled along by reindeer.

So we have our E-I-G-H here that's coming at the end and also in the middle of "weight," isn't it? So it can go anywhere in a word.

It's one we have to keep an eye out for.

It's really important probably just learn those less common words that contain that E-I-G-H spelling.

Notice here as well, eight, eighty and eighteen.

They all have the number eight in them, don't they? That word, eight.

So, these words are connected in meaning.

They are a part of a word family.

Words in word families often have similar spellings.

So if you know how to spell "eight," you can spell lots of other words.

Remember to keep an ear and an eye out for word families in your spelling.

And finally our E-Y spelling for that "ay" sound, it most commonly comes at the end of words.

So I'd like you to match the words here to the spelling pattern that they're using.

We have just our A, our E-I-G-H for "ay" and our E-Y for "ay".

Have a read at the words below and match them to the pattern that they're using.

Off you go.

Good job, team.

So "they" as in "Who are they?" is our E-Y spelling.

So it's at the end.

"Eight," remember the E-I-G-H can be found anywhere in the word.

We have "eight" here.

And remember, if you know the spelling of eight, you know the spelling of eighty, you know the spelling of eighteen.

Remember those word families.

"Stable" as in a stable in which a horse might live.

That's that "ay" A, just the letter A, and "apron," the same.

Remember, it can be found at the beginning or in the middle of a word.

And finally sleigh, that E-I-G-H.

The sleigh that reindeer might pull, can be found anywhere in a word, remember.

Great.

So, as these are rare spellings, when spelling always think about the most common spelling first, and then follow these rules.

Apron, apricot, fable, stable.

That's an apricot as in the fruit.

An apron that you might wear if you're doing some cooking.

A fable is a story.

And a stable is an area in which a horse lives.

Remember, this is often this spelling where the "ay" is often found at the beginning of a word or in the middle.

We have here, weight, eight, sleigh and eighteen.

That E-I-G-H spelling can be found anywhere in a word.

And E-Y for "ay", "they," "prey" as in the food of a predator.

"Grey" as in the colour and "obey" as in "you must follow the rules." That E-Y spelling for that "ay" sound is most commonly found at the end of a word.

But remember, think to the more common spellings first.

So we are gonna have a go now at writing some spellings that contain these rarer "ay" spellings.

So the first word is April, as in the month.

"My friend's birthday is in April." The next word is grey.

That shade between black and white.

Sleigh.

"The dogs pulled the sleigh along the snow." Sleigh.

And "stable." Stable.

"The horse lived in the stable." So I'll say those words one more time.

Consider the rules that we've looked at.

April, grey, sleigh, stable.

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

Off you go.

Fantastic job, team.

Let's see how you've done them.

The first one was April.

Now, April, this is a proper noun.

It's either a name or the name of a month or a person's name.

So it needs to have a capital letter.

So the second one can't be right.

Now, "ay", April, that "ay" sound is coming at the start of the word.

We know that our rarer spelling for that "ay" sound which can come at the start of the word or in the middle is just an A.

A-Y, as in the last one here, is most commonly found at the end of a word, remember.

So our correct spelling is this one here.

The next word is the colour grey.

Grey.

Now, it's that rarer spelling I'm looking for for that "ay" sound.

And it's coming at the end of the word.

So the correct spelling is G-R-E-Y, grey.

We now have "sleigh." Now, I'm looking for that rarer spelling, and it's at the end of the word.

Now, remember, A-Y does like to come at the end of the word, but I'm thinking of that rarer spelling, and it's that sleigh that's pulled by reindeer.

So it's S-L-E-I-G-H, sleigh.

Interestingly, this is actually a word as well, "slay." If you slay something, you kill it.

So, it's a homophone with that "ay" sound also at the end of the word.

So watch out.

Remember homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

The sleigh I was looking for was a sleigh as in a sleigh that might be pulled by an animal that you might ride in, not slay as in to kill, which is S-L-A-Y.

And finally we had "stable." Stable.

(speaks phonetically) It's that "ay" sound coming in the middle of the word there.

Now, lots of different spellings are options here.

I don't think our A-Y would be an option because it's not coming at the end of the root word, which is where it likes to come.

And I don't think the second one there looks right because I don't think I tend to end a word just an L like that.

I think it's gonna be my L-E ending for that "le", "stable." So it's this spelling here, just an A spelling which can be found, remember, at the beginning or in the middle of a word.

Great job, everyone.

What mistakes did you make? Do you have any corrections to make? What success have you had? Share your learning and make any corrections now.

Pause the video.

Brilliant job.

Onto our final learning cycle then, which is where we are going to apply our spellings that we've been looking at for this different "ay" sound within a sentence.

So we are going to write a sentence now containing some of our focus spellings, those rarer spellings for that "ay" sound.

When we write the whole sentence, we have to do several things at once.

Let's make sure we're ready to do this.

We're going to need to remember the whole sentence.

We're going to need to sound out each word.

Think of the spelling rules we've looked at.

So where those different "ay" spellings like to come in the words.

Also look out for any common exception or curriculum words.

And finally, remember our sentence punctuation.

Not only capital S and full stops, but any commas or apostrophes that might also be within the sentence.

So I'd like you to listen to me say the sentence.

First of all, use your incredible hearing for me.

"On the table there were some scales to weigh an apricot." "On the table, there were some scales to weigh an apricot." So we're gonna use some different strategies now to help us remember this sentence, because it wouldn't be fair if I just said it a couple of times when threw you out to write it.

We're really gonna get to know this sentence.

So the first one is tapping on our shoulders.

"On the table, there were some scales to weigh an apricot." Pause the video and have a go at tapping that out now.

Off you go.

Great job.

The next one is saying it in a silly voice.

"On the table, there were some scales to weigh an apricot!" Pause the video and say that in your silliest voice and try and make me laugh.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

And finally, we're gonna count words on our fingers.

"On the table, there were some scales to weigh an apricot." "On the table, there were some scales to weigh an apricot." I make that 11.

Pause the video, count each word on your fingers as you say it now to make sure you didn't miss any out.

Off you go.

Great work, team.

So I'm gonna say the sentence one more time in a moment, and then you're gonna navigate writing it.

Remember to sound out each word.

Think about any common exception words or tricky words there, and remember to check your sentence punctuation.

Full stops, commas, apostrophes.

"On the table, there were some scales to weigh an apricot." Pause the video and have a go at writing that sentence now.

Off you go.

Fantastic work, team.

Brilliant application of our rules there, really considering where those rarer "ay" spellings are coming.

And also really great punctuating.

So, let's check our work and make any corrections as we go along.

"On," obviously needs to have a capital letter.

"The table." Ooh, and that's just an A spelling for that "ay" sound there, "table," which remember, can go at the beginning or in the middle.

And don't forget that L-E spelling at the end.

And we have a comma here after our fronted adverbial phrase, "on the table, there were some, S-O-M-E, scales." Scales.

Now, root word here is "scale," isn't it? And that's an A split E split digraph.

We just added our S to make it the plural there.

So it's a A split E.

"To weigh." Oh, that's that strange E-I-G-H spelling for that "ay" sound, that's far rarer, which can come anywhere in a word.

And "apricot." Make sure you've got "an" there because the article there is coming before a word beginning with a vowel.

So it's "an apricot." An "apricot," that "ay" sound can come in the middle or at the beginning of a word.

"Apricot," that rarer A spelling for that "ay" sound.

Apricot, a lovely, tasty fruit.

And of course we need to have a full stop.

How did you do then? What successes have you had? How did you do with spelling those trickier words? Do you have any magical mistakes that you want to share? Do you have any corrections to make? Share your learning and make your corrections now.

Pause the video.

Great learning today, everyone.

Today we've been spelling the "ay" sound with just an A, E-I-G-H and E-Y.

"Ay" spelled A-Y, A-I and A split E are our most common ways of spelling that "ay" sound.

Sometimes we must look at the root word to find the rule because we've added prefixes or suffixes.

Some rare spellings of "ay" include A, just an A, "ay" spelled E-I-G-H, and "ay" spelled E-Y.

To know which spelling you can use, we can do a couple of a few things here.

We can look for where the "ay" phoneme is in the word.

We can think about some rhyming words, and we can also think about word families.

Great spelling, everyone.

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