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.

With you for today's lesson 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, and someone or something to talk to would also be excellent.

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

In today's spelling lesson, we're going to be applying the rule I before E, except after C.

The outcome will be, I can spell words and exceptions using 'ie' and 'ei' to make the 'ee' sound.

Here are the key words for today's learning, my turn, your turn.

Phoneme, grapheme, exception, brilliant.

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

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change word's meaning.

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

Another way of referring to a grapheme is the spelling.

And an exception is a case or situation that does not follow the usual or expected rule or pattern.

So today, the sound that we are concentrating on, that phoneme, is the 'ee' sound, and we are looking and particularly concentrating on the spelling 'ei' and 'ie' and the rules around that, as well as some words that are exceptions that don't follow our spelling rules.

Here is the outline for today's learning.

We are going to be applying the rule I before E, except after C, and we're gonna look at using both the 'ie' and 'ei' graphemes in the first learning cycle.

Then we're going to look at some strategies to practise, and we're going to finish with spelling curriculum words.

Let's get on with using these two spellings for that 'ee' phoneme.

Let's read some words that contain some different 'ee' sounds.

Employee, so a person that's employed by someone.

Dream, complete, we, money, funnily, thief, conceive.

When you conceive an idea, you form it in your mind.

All of these words include the sound 'ee'.

The 'ee' sound, that phoneme, can be represented in a variety of different spellings or graphemes.

The spellings, ee, ea, and e-e, our split digraph, are the most common representation of this phoneme.

But we can see some different ones here as well.

We can see here though, that these aren't the only spellings, the only graphemes, the only representations for this 'ee' sound, we can also represent this 'ee' sound just with an e, with ey, with a y, and those graphemes that we are concentrating on today, 'ie' and 'ei'.

We're gonna be looking at these now in a bit more detail.

The saying I before E, except after C, can help us decide between the 'ie' and the 'ei' spellings in words.

Knowing which spelling to use can be difficult, but remembering this rule is really useful.

Let's look at some words that are I before E words.

Words like peace, retrieve, which means to get something back.

Priest, here we have words that are then after a C, so it's spelled 'ei', like receipt that you might receive when you buy something from the shop.

Deceive, which means to trick someone, and perceive, to understand.

So our rule here is, I before E, except after C.

So if that 'ee' sound follows a C, then it will be 'ei', not 'ie'.

The spelling 'ie' is used unless the 'ee' phoneme, that 'ee' sound comes after a C when the 'ei' spelling is used.

There are though, exceptions to this rule.

Remember, this is one of our key words.

Words that don't follow the patterns that we've looked at.

A word like seize, for instance, is 'ei', but not after a C, I seized power.

Protein, which is that nutrient which helps the body grow.

Again, not following a C, but 'ei'.

Caffeine, which is that chemical which is found in coffee, and either.

Now, some people might pronounce this either, but it can be pronounced either, and either, which is given between the first of two things to give the alternatives.

These words have the 'ee' sound, but don't follow our rule I before E, except after C, so they are exceptions.

Have a look here for me.

I've got a group of words below.

I'd like you to sort these words into the table by their spelling.

Be careful, only place the words where the letters represent the 'ee' phoneme.

Make sure you say the words, some of them might contain E spellings, graphemes, that is, but they might not make that phoneme 'ee', and they would not be included in our table.

So sort these words into I before E words, after C words, exceptions, and leave out the words that don't have an 'ee' phoneme in them, off you go.

Great job team, let's see how you've done them.

Let's sort those words that don't have an 'ee' phoneme in them first of all.

Funnier and height.

Height makes an I sound, funnier is an ier sound, isn't it? So we would not include them.

They don't have 'ee' sounds in them.

They do have 'ei' and 'ie' spellings though.

Be careful.

Let's sort the rest of the words.

I'm hoping you managed to sort 'em like this.

Hygiene and briefcase are I before E, our except after C words are received and deceiving, and our exceptions were seize and either, great job.

For our practise task now, what I'd like you to do for me is underline the correct spelling of each word.

Let's read the words first.

Yield, if you yield something, you give it up.

It can also describe the collection that a farmer makes from their crops, their yield.

Thieves, the plural of thief.

Deceitful, an adjective used to describe someone full of deceit and trickery.

Retrieved, I retrieved my hat from the floor, to go and get something back from its place.

Protein, that nutrient used by the body to grow, often found in food.

Hygiene, cleanliness, and either, used to give two options.

And finally, perceives, if a person perceives something, they become aware of it or become conscious of it.

I'd like you to underline the correct spelling of each word.

Remember to think about our rules, I before E, except after C, and watch out for any exceptions, off you go team.

Excellent job, I'm really, really impressed, your application of what is quite a tricky rule here.

Remember, it can be tricky to choose between the 'ie' and the 'ei' grapheme for that 'ee' sound.

But remember our rules, I before E, except after C, and watch out for those exceptions.

So underline the correct spelling of each and now check, see how you did.

So yield, I before E here, because it's not following a C.

Thieves, again, I before E here, because it's not following a C.

Deceitful though, is coming after that soft C, deceit is our root word here too, which is spelled D-E-C-E-I-T, following that C.

Retrieved, I before E here, because we're not following a C.

Protein, that was one of those words that was a exception.

Hygiene, 'ie' here, 'cause we're not following a C.

Either, again, that exception with that 'ee' sound right at the start here, E-I-T-H-E-R.

The other one just didn't look right at all, did it? And perceives, if you perceive something, you become conscious of it, you understand it.

Again, following our C here, so it's 'ei', great job.

These two here are exceptions, remember, they're exceptions to our rule I before E, except after C.

Make any corrections now, see how you did and share your learning, off you go.

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

Spelling rules can help us to know how to spell words, but practise is really important.

Remember the key spelling rule we are looking at today is, I before E, except after C.

But now we're gonna look at some strategies to practise.

When you practise, you remember the words more easily, you become better at noticing how the words are spelled, and you feel more confident using them.

There are many different strategies that we can use to practise spellings.

We will try the naughty letters strategy first of all.

The naughty letters strategy helps in several ways.

First, as with any spelling strategy, we have to look really carefully at the word, paying close attention to its spelling and the tricky parts.

And this is actually really helpful for us today, because we are noticing the order of the I and the E, aren't we? Or the E and the I for that 'ee' phoneme.

And then we copy the word, showing the tricky part of the word by writing it in a larger letter.

This helps us to pay attention to that really, really complex or naughty bit of the word.

And we could even draw a naughty face over it.

I will try using the naughty letters strategy here to remember the exception word protein.

Remember that word that doesn't follow our I before E rule.

So you can see here I've written out protein, and I've written out the E and the I as the naughty letters here, and you can see I've also drawn a naughty face over them as well.

I'd like you now to have a go at using the naughty letters strategy to practise one of the exceptions, seize, protein, caffeine, or either.

Pause the video now, consider and look carefully at the word, which letters are naughty because they're exceptions? And write them out bigger and even draw naughty faces over them, off you go.

Brilliant, remember, this strategy helps us to focus on and then remember the tricky letters in a particular spelling, it's really useful.

We can also use the look, cover, write, check strategy to help us.

It's a really good independent strategy.

This helps us by visualising the word, 'cause again, as with all spelling strategies, we have to first look and pay close attention to its spelling and any tricky parts.

Then we test our memory, because we cover it up so we can't see it.

This test our memory as we try to remember how it's spelled.

Then we practise writing the word in our neatest handwriting.

This helps reinforce the spelling in our mind, because writing by hand, it's a powerful way of remembering things.

And finally, we check and look back and we self-correct and we see if we've made any mistakes against the original word.

This helps us to learn from mistakes and remember the correct spelling for next time.

And we can do this a number of times writing the same word out using this look, cover, write, check.

I will use the look, cover, write, check strategy now to practise the word hygiene.

Here we have hygiene, I look carefully at it.

Hmm, okay, hi, it's the H-Y, it's an I spelled with a Y, Gi, hygiene, and it's 'ie' spelling, and a naughty E at the end as well, it's quite a lot going on here.

Okay, I've looked at it carefully, I've now covered it up and memorised it, H-Y-G-I-E-N-E.

I have a go at writing out to my neatest handwriting and then I check back and see how I did.

Oh, I got it right, even if I get it right first time, I don't give up there, I keep going, I do it a number of times so that I embed that spelling into my long-term memory.

You try using the look cover, write, check, strategy now to practise one of the following words, thieves, deceitful, or retrieved, off you go.

Incredible job, remember that this strategy is really useful because it helps us by recalling and spelling each time you write it and then allowing us to check for errors, it's a really good independent strategy that I highly recommend.

So for our practise task now, what I'd like you to do is to spell the following words for me.

Please remember to sound out the word, to think of the spelling rules we've looked at today, I before E, except after C, and remember that some words are exceptions.

Remember those exceptions that we've looked at, and read the word and check.

The first word is retrieved.

He retrieved the item he thought he'd lost, retrieved.

The next word is seize.

Seize, to grab onto something, to hold it.

Number three, deceitful, he was a deceitful man.

Number four, thieves, the thieves stole the money.

And number five, caffeine.

Coffee contains caffeine.

I'll say those words one more time.

Retrieved, seize, deceitful, thieves, caffeine, remember our rule, I before E, except after C, and watch out for exceptions.

Off you go and write those words.

Excellent job team, really good application of our rule and really careful looking out for those exceptions as well.

Let's see how you've done then.

The first word was retrieved, from our root word retrieve with our ed suffix.

So retrieve, oh, I before E here, because it's not got a C before it, so it's R-E-T-R-I-E-V-E-D.

The next word was seize, watch out for this one, this one I think was one of those words that was an exception.

You seize power, you grab it, okay, seize.

So it's S-E-I-Z-E or Z-E.

Next one, deceitful, this one follows a C, doesn't it? That soft C, that deceit, is you're deceitful, you're full of trickery, deceitful, so I before E, except after C, this is an after C word, so it's E-I-T.

Brilliant, next word, thieves.

There's no C before this and it's not an exception, so it's I-E-V-E-S.

And the final one, caffeine.

This was one of those words as well, wasn't it? That was an exception.

So it's 'ei', but there's no C before it, so it's an exception, like the word seize as well.

How did you do that? This is quite a tricky rule.

Remember, I before E, except after C, and you have to learn those exceptions, like the words seize and caffeine.

Great job, remember in caffeine as well, we have a double F and also an E at the end.

There's some naughty parts about these words, and using some strategies to practise them will also really help.

Make any corrections now.

Onto our final learning cycle then, which is spelling curriculum words.

Curriculum words are those words which are going to appear a lot in our reading and writing.

So it's important we're confident in knowing how to read and spell them.

Read these words for me, rhythm.

The drummer showed great rhythm.

Rhyme, the poem had rhyming words in it.

There was rhyme to the poem.

And remember, remember.

I can't remember the last time I looked at this word, remember.

So there's a couple of things I've noticed about these words.

The words rhythm and rhyme both have a silent H in them.

I don't say reythm or reyme, it's a silent letter.

Really interestingly, rhythm has no vowel letters in it.

The Y makes an 'i' sound, doesn't it? Rhythm, 'i', 'i'.

And some people also use the mnemonic device, rhythm helps your two hips move, R-H-Y-T-H-M, to help you remember the spelling.

And finally, remember has three syllables and has the word member inside of it.

Remember, it might always sound like it when people say it quickly, but it has that word member inside of it, like the member of a club.

Take a snapshot of these key words now, go, because I'm gonna test you on them now.

Really quickly, which of these words that we've just read are spelled correctly? How do you spell rhythm? How do you spell rhyme? How do you spell remember? Remember what's tricky about them.

Off you go, select the correct words.

Great job team, so the correct spelling of rhythm, remember has that silent H, okay, rhythm helps your two hips move.

So R-H-Y-T-H-M.

Rhyme then is a linked word to rhythm, it's R-H-Y-M and that E at the end.

And remember, remember has the word member in it.

Remember also has those syllables.

Remember, brilliant.

So we're gonna use a strategy now, the look, cover, write, check strategy to help us remember these key important words.

I begin by looking carefully at the spelling, rhythm.

I consider what's difficult about it.

Well, that silent H for one, that Y making a different sound, and also that T-H-M, rhythm.

Okay, I've got it in my brain, I cover it up, and I have a go at then writing it, my neatest handwriting, ideally my cursive handwriting, and then I self-check back.

Oh I got it right, but I don't stop there, I do it a number of times to really embed it into my long-term memory.

I'd like you to use the look, cover, write, check, strategy now for rhythm, rhyme, remember, off you go team.

Fantastic job, brilliant.

I'm hoping you've got a piece of work that looks like this, rhythm, rhyme, remember, written out a number of times, hopefully spelled correctly as well.

I hope you enjoyed using that look, cover, write, check strategy, it allows you to be really independent and self-check.

Share your learning with me now, show me, and also make any corrections, off you go.

Great job in spelling today team.

We've been applying the rule I before E, except after C.

Remember that there are many ways to spell that 'ee' phoneme, that 'ee' sound, including 'ee', 'ea', e-e, e, y, ey, and then the ones we've concentrated on today, 'ie' and 'ei'.

The rule I before E, except after C, can help choose between that 'ie' and 'ei' grapheme for that 'ee' phoneme.

There are exceptions though, that don't follow our rules, remember, including protein, caffeine, either, and seize.

And remember, it's as important to practise to help us learn new spellings, and picking your strategy is really key.

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