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 today, for the spelling lesson, you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains.

As well as that having something to write on and write with would also be excellent.

And having something or someone to talk to would also be really helpful.

Right.

Let's not waste any more time then.

And let's get straight into today's spelling lesson.

In this spelling lesson, we're going to be spelling words with the silent letters b, k, g, w, and t.

And that's exactly what our outcome is.

Hope by the end of this lesson, be able to spell words that contain the silent letters b, k, g, w, and t.

Here are the key words for today's learning.

My turn, your turn.

Silent letter, phoneme, grapheme, digraph.

Now, you may remember many of these words from your phonics learning.

A silent letter is a letter in a word that is not pronounced when the word is spoken.

It's silent 'cause we don't hear it.

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change its meaning.

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

And a digraph then, with that graph, is two letters that represent one sound.

The outline of our lesson is spelling words with the silent letters B and W.

Then, we're gonna look at the silent letters k, g, and t in the next learning cycle.

And we're gonna finish up by spelling some curriculum words.

Let's get on them with spelling words with a silent b and a silent w.

Let's read some words that contain some of the silent letters we're looking at today.

Thumb.

I hurt my thumb.

Crumb.

They followed the trail of crumbs.

Plumber, will come round to fix water works.

Bomb.

Climbing.

Combed.

Combed my hair.

Debt.

It's where you owe someone money.

Doubt.

Subtle.

Amazing.

So, what do all of these spellings have in common? Have a think.

Great.

Well, absolutely.

They all contain the silent letter b.

They all contain a b that we don't clearly hear.

Now, you may start noticing that very often, this b is coming at the end.

You may also start noticing some letters that it likes to go with.

We cannot hear the letter b when we read these words aloud.

Let's sound out these words.

Crumb.

Crumb.

Crumb.

The b is silent there.

I'm not saying crumb.

I say crumb, crumb.

Making mm, an m sound at the end there.

There are four sounds, but five letters.

That's why the b is a silent letter.

Lamb.

Lamb.

I enjoy roast lamb.

Again, I didn't say lamb, lamb.

You don't hear the b.

There are three sounds, but four letters.

The b is a silent letter.

Doubt.

Doubt.

I didn't say doubt, doubt.

I say doubt.

Here, the letters ou are a digraph.

So, two letters creating one sound or representing one sound.

There are three sounds here, but five letters.

The grapheme then mb represents the m sound and the grapheme bt represents the t sound.

Which two of these words contain a silent b? Sound them out, read them, see if you can find them.

Off you go.

Good job, team.

So, bomb, bomb.

Yep, that one there has a silent b.

Zombie, zombie.

Well, I can clearly hear the b there, so it's not silent.

Ham, ham.

No silent b there.

And debt, debt.

The b and the t are working there to make that t sound, so it's a silent b.

Remember, we can have the digraphs, mb and bt, working together.

What do you notice about this silent letter? So, look at it.

We have comb, thumb, climb, debt, doubt, and climbed.

Do you notice anything about where it particularly likes to come? Any letters that it's often paired with? Have a think.

Great.

Well, I've noticed that the silent b is usually found towards the end of a word.

It is most commonly found next to the letters m, but it can also be found with the letter t, like in the words doubt and debt.

In climbed here, it's in the middle of the word, but it's still at the end of the root word and we've added our ed suffix, that root word being climb.

There are some exceptions such as subtle, where the silent letter is in the middle of the word.

So, with the learning that we've just done in mind, where is the silent letter b usually found in a word? Select your answer or answers.

Great job.

The beginning? No, I didn't think so.

The middle? Hmm.

The end? Absolutely.

Most commonly it is found at the end.

We know there are some exceptions, like the word subtle where it can be found in the middle, but that's not too often.

Usually comes towards the end of a word.

If you look here, comb, thumb, climb, and debt towards the end of a word.

Let's read some words that now contain the next silent letter we're going to be looking at.

Write.

Please write a letter.

The act of writing.

Wreath.

They put a wreath on the door.

Wreck.

Wrist.

Wrong.

Wrinkle.

Wriggle.

Sword.

Answer.

What do these spellings all have in common? That's it.

That's right.

They all contain a silent w.

You may be noticing, wow, I see lots of these ws coming at the beginning of a word.

Hmm.

We cannot hear the w when we read these words aloud.

I don't say write, I don't say wreath, wreck.

It's working with the r there to make that r sound.

Write, wreath, wreck.

So, which of these words contain a silent letters w? Read the words.

See if you can figure it out.

Off you go.

Good job, team.

Water.

No, you can clearly hear the w there, can't we? Forward.

Again, I can clearly hear that w.

Wrong.

Yeah, I hear re sound there and I don't say wrong.

So, that's one there.

Arrow.

Now I can hear the ow, the w at the end, can't I? So, the only word there with a silent w was wrong.

So, what do you notice about this letter, silent letter? We've got some words there.

Read them.

Think about where it's commonly found in a word.

What letters is often paired with? Pause the video and have a think.

Great.

Some lovely thinking going on there.

So, I've noticed that the silent letter w is usually found at the beginning of a word.

When it is at the beginning of a word, it's most commonly appears combined with the letter r.

In this case, the wr grapheme represents the r sound, almost working like a digraph, two letters making one sound.

If we know the present tense of a wr word with that silent w like write, we know the past tense will also contain a wr, like wrote.

So, where is the silent letter w usually found in a word? Select the correct answer now.

Off you go.

Okay, let's see how you've done then.

The beginning, absolutely.

The middle, no.

The end, no.

And anywhere in the word, no.

Most commonly, it's found at the beginning.

Wrong, wrinkle, wriggle, and wreath.

Most commonly found at the beginning.

There are some exceptions to this though.

The silent letter w can also be paired with the letter s near the beginning or in the middle of a word.

Sword, for instance.

Answer.

You can see here it's paired with an s.

In this case, the sw grapheme represents the s sound, not that r sound we saw before.

When spelling these words, it can help to say them as they are spelt to help you remember the silent letter.

Sword.

Answer.

So, true or false, the silent letter w is often paired with the letter m.

And then, justify your answer from the correct reason below.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Really impressed.

Absolutely.

This is false.

We've seen that it likes to be paired with an r or an s.

The silent letter b is often paired with the letter m or t, like the words numb and doubt, or the silent letter w is often paired with the letter r or s like the words write or sword.

Well, the correct reasoning here is the fact that our silent letter w is often paired with that r or that s, not an m.

So, for our practise task now, what I'd like you to do is put the words below into the correct column to show if they have a silent letter.

Is it a silent b or a silent w? Be careful.

Not all of the words have a silent letter.

So, you're going to need to sound them out, read them, and then not include those words that don't have silent letters.

Pause the video now, read the words, put them into the correct columns, leave the ones that don't have silent letters out.

Off you go.

Excellent work, team.

I'm super duper impressed.

You're doing a really good job here.

So, let's have a look and see and read of the words to see if we can get rid of the words that don't have silent letters first.

Thumb.

Yeah, I can see there I have my mb pair together, don't I? That grapheme.

Embarrassed.

Doesn't have any silent letters.

Wrong.

I can see my w, my r paired there, my silent w.

Forward, no silent letters.

Subtle, that's that bt silent b.

Wrist, silent w.

Exhibit, exhibit.

And if that h is unheard in your pronunciation, it's not a silent b or a silent w.

Sway.

I can clearly hear the w there.

Wonder, no silent letters.

Climbed, yeah, our mb there working together.

And answer, our sw working together there.

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

Thumb, subtle, and climbed with that silent b.

Wrong, wrist, and answer with that silent w.

Remember, our silent b likes to be paired with an m or a t, and our silent w likes to be paired with an r or an s.

Great job, team.

Onto our next learning cycle then, which is spelling words with a silent k, g, and t.

Let's read some words containing some silent letters.

Knee.

I hurt my knee.

Knight.

The knight in shining armour.

Knowledge.

Gnaw.

You gnaw at something with your teeth.

Gnash.

You can also gnash your teeth.

Reign, like the reign of a king or queen.

Thistle, a type of flower.

Castle or castle, dependent on your pronunciation.

Fasten, like you fasten your seatbelt.

Which silent letters can you identify here? Read them again.

See what you can spot.

Great job.

So, I've noticed there's a silent k, a silent g, and a silent t in these words.

We cannot hear the letters k, g, and t.

Let's have a look first at the silent k.

So, we have the words know, knead, knock, knife, knit, and knuckle.

Have a look at these words.

Look at where the silent letter is.

What do you notice about this silent letter? Have a think.

Great.

Well, I've noticed the silent k is always found at the beginning of a word.

It's always followed by the letter n here, which is then followed by a vowel.

So, we can see in know, we have the n and then the o.

Knead, we have the n and the e.

Knock, n and o, so on and so forth.

In this case, the kn grapheme represents the n sound, that mm sound.

Which of these words contain a silent k? Read the words.

Okay, team.

Good job.

So, sink, sink.

I can clearly hear the k, k, k there, can't I? So, not that one.

Know.

I don't say know, do I? Know, it's the G and the.

Sorry, the k and the n working together.

Awkward.

Oh, I can hear the awk, k, and then, ward.

And knuckle.

I didn't say knuckle.

Knuckle.

Absolutely silent k there.

The k and the m working together, that grapheme.

Words connected in word families often have similar spellings and it's really useful in our word consciousness to be aware of this, to help us remember how things are spelled.

So, know, known, knowing, knowledge, unknowing, and unknowledgeable with those prefixes un.

If you know how to spell that word know with that silent k, that kn, then you know how to spell these other words.

Now, here, (clears throat) we can still see that in unknowing and unknowledgeable, it's still at the beginning of our root word, which are knowing and knowledgeable, with added up prefix un.

Where is the silent k always found in a word? Select the correct answer now.

Okay, good job.

Always, always, always, the beginning.

And we know that it's then always paired with that n, isn't it, to create that grapheme.

Look at these words that also contain an n sound.

So, really similar to our silent k, but instead of having the silent k, they include a silent g.

We have gnat, which is like a fly.

Gnarled, like the roots of a tree.

Gnome, like a garden gnome.

A sign that you might read.

Design and assign.

If you're assigned something, you give that job for someone to do.

Link to that word assignment being given something to do.

So, what do you notice about this spelling? You notice anything particularly about where it likes to come.

It's a touch difference to that silent k.

Have a think.

Good job.

So, I've noticed the silent letter g is usually found at the beginning or at the end of the word.

We can see at the beginning in gnat, gnarled, gnome, and then at the end, in sign, design, and assign.

It's always followed by the letter n, just like our silent k.

Not all words that contain the gn spelling use it to form a digraph, e.

g, signal.

S-I-G-N-A-L, signal.

The g and the n are pronounced separately here.

So, they won't always, g and m being together, create a digraph like they do when the g is silent.

It is thought that the kn and the gn digraphs are etymologically rooted in the Germanic past of English.

So, you can see here, campaign, design, foreign, sign, reigned, and assigned.

And we can see here in reigned and assigned, the root words are reign and assign.

The gn is at the end of the root word.

We've added our ed suffix onto the end.

So, in which two places is the silent letter g usually found in a word? Excellent.

Absolutely.

It's found either at the beginning or not the middle, not anywhere at the end.

And we can see that here, gnaw, gnat, and sign.

What do you notice about this silent letter? Let's read these words.

It's a silent t.

Listen, rustle, chestnut, mortgage, ballet, gourmet.

The silent letter t is usually found in the middle or at the end of a word.

It is often found next to the letter s, but this is not always the case.

We can see in listen, rustle, and chestnut, it is next to that s, but in mortgage, ballet, gourmet, it's not.

In this case, the st grapheme represents the s sound.

So, which of these words contain a silent t? You need to read them out and work it out.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

So, thistle.

Yeah, that does, doesn't it? I didn't say thistle.

You don't hear the t there, Thistle.

It's making that s sound, that s sound.

Staple.

Ooh, s and t next to each other.

but I'm clearly hearing staple, staple.

Chestnut though, I didn't say chest nut.

I say chestnut.

I don't hear that t next to the s.

And guitar.

No silent letter there.

Words containing the silent letter t at the end, like we looked at a moment ago, like gourmet or ballet, are often a French origin or French words that we use in English.

Ballet, for instance.

Gourmet.

Rapport.

If you have good rapport with someone, you have a really close relationship and can understand each other very well.

She had very good rapport with her class.

Many words containing a silent t have at some time in history pronounced the letter t out loud, such as castle and fasten.

But we no longer pronounce that t.

The pronunciation of the word has changed, but the spelling has not, hence why we are left with that t, but it's silent.

So, for our practise task now, I'd like you to put the words into the correct column to show if they have a silent letter.

Be careful though.

I've been a bit tricky here.

Not all of the words have a silent letter.

So, read them out loud, figure out if they have a silent k, a silent g, or a silent t, and put them in the correct columns.

And if they don't have a silent letter, leave them out.

Off you go, team.

Excellent job.

Really impressed.

Great careful reading of the words and listening there for the silent letters.

So, hopefully you've sort 'em like this.

We had knead and knife.

Like you would knead dough, which have our silent k.

And we know that likes to come at the beginning of the word very often and with an n.

Then, we had our silent g, which we know can be found at the beginning or at the end, often found with an n.

And then, we had our silent t, which we know likes to come with either an s, making that s sound or at the end of the word, those words that we've taken from French like gourmet.

Brilliant.

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

Read the following words.

Government.

Parliament.

Parliament met to decide the new law.

Rhyme.

So, these words, I've noticed a couple of interesting things about them.

In the word government, we don't always clearly hear the n.

In the word parliament, we don't always clearly hear the word i or the letter i, I mean.

And in rhyme, we don't clearly hear that h.

They're effectively silent letters.

To help us remember their spellings, it can help us to say them as they're spelt.

Parliament.

Rhyme.

Government.

I'm really emphasise those silent letters that we don't clearly hear.

So, which of these words that we just read are spelled correctly? Could you point now to the correct spelling of government, parliament, and rhyme? Consider the naughty letters or silent letters that are in them.

Off you go.

Great job.

Well done pointing to all three there.

So, government, government.

And it has that word govern in it.

Remember that n, and then N-M-E-N-T.

Then, we had parliament.

Now, we don't clearly hear the I here, do we? Saying it like it spoke can help us, parliament.

There you go.

And then, rhyme, rhyme.

Remember that h is in it that we don't clearly hear, that silent letter.

R-H-Y-M-E.

Great job.

Now, because these are tricky words and they have silent letters, perhaps really important that we really put them into our memory to remember how to spell them.

So, we're gonna use a practise strategy now called the look, cover, write, check strategy.

So, this is where you look carefully at a word and consider what's difficult about it.

With that word government, I know the word govern is in it, and I know there's that naughty n, which you don't hear when you say government.

Government, brilliant.

So, I'm gonna look carefully.

Once I've looked really carefully at it, cover the word up, and then I, from memory, write it in my niece's handwriting.

And then, I check back to see how I did.

Oh, I managed to spell it correctly there, my niece's handwriting.

But it doesn't mean I just stopped there.

Oh, I've got it in my memory.

No, I'm gonna practise it a number of times to really stick it between my hand and my brain and work on that muscle memory.

So, remember how to spell that word government with that naughty n.

Do the same now for government, parliament, and rhyme using that strategy of look, cover, write, and check a few times for each one.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

So, I'm hoping you've got them written out a few times like this, government, parliament, and rhyme.

Did you manage to spell them correctly? Check now, make any corrections, and know what you need to do better next time.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

Wow, what a load of learning we've done today, team.

We've been spelling words with so many silent letters, the silent letters, b, k, g, w, and t.

Remember that the silent b usually comes towards the end of a word after the letter m, such as dumb, or next to the letter t, such as debt.

A silent w usually comes at the beginning of a word and before the letter r, such as wreck.

A silent k always comes at the beginning of a word and before the letter ends, such as knock.

A silent g can come at the beginning or at the end of the word, but it generally comes before the letter n, such as gnaw or reign.

And a silent t is usually in the middle or at the end of word, and it is often after the letter s or at the end of a word of French origin.

Keep an eye out or an ear out for these silent letters in your reading and I'll see you again soon.