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 some one 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 lesson, we're going to be spelling words with the silent letters, H, P, N, L, and S, and that's exactly what our outcome is going to be.

I can spell words that contain the silent letters, H, P, N, L, and S.

Here are the key words for today's learning.

My turn, your turn.

Silent letter, Digraph.

Grapheme.

Excellent.

So a silent letter is a letter in a word that is not pronounced when the word is spoken, we don't hear it.

A digraph is two letters that represent one sound, and a grapheme is a letter or group of letters that represent a sound.

So here's our lesson outline.

We're gonna be spelling words with these silent letters, and we're gonna begin by looking at words with a silent H and a silent P.

And in the second learning cycle, we're going to be spelling words with a silent N, L, and S.

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

Let's get on then with spelling words of a silent H and a silent P.

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

Rhyme, rhubarb, rhino, wheat.

Whale, when chemist, chaos, honest.

What do all of these spellings have in common? Great.

Well, they all contain a silent letter H.

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

What do you notice about the silent letter H? Have a look at these words again.

Consider where it is in the word.

Consider what letters likes to come next to it.

Pause the video and have a think.

Okay.

Well, I've noticed that the silent letter H can be found in different places in the word.

When it is at the beginning of a word, it's usually next to the letters R or W.

So in rhyme and rhubarb, we don't say rhyme or rhubarb.

The R and the H work together a bit like a grapheme, a bit like a digraph, to create that sound rhyme.

That R sound or whirl and whale, that w sound.

You may have heard wh, or ch be described as digraphs, where you have two letters making one sound a phoney.

As our knowledge of words develops, we can see that the letters w and c make the sound on its own already, which is why we describe the H in these cases as being silent.

Which two of these words contain a silent H? Great.

We have ham sounding out.

I can clearly hear that h there can't I? Rhyme.

Well, yeah.

The R and the H, they're working together in effect, aren't they? Or the R on its own is making that sound.

And the H is silent.

So rhyme, wish and Honest.

Honest.

Oh, I don't hear my H there do I? My H.

I hear that oh, that Oh, honest.

So that has a silent H as well.

In the word wish.

The letters S and H work together to form a digraph, making that sh sound.

Where can the sign letter H be found in a word? Okay, well, it can be found in lots of different places.

There's no specific place or no specific rule for us to know here other than it can be found in a variety of different places.

And you can see here rhyme and whale coming after the first letter ache towards the end there and honest at the beginning.

Let's read some more words that contain another silent letter.

Raspberry, receipt, cupboard, corps, like an army Corps.

Psalm, which is a sacred religious song that might be sung.

Psychedelic, psychology, pneumonia an illness.

Pterodactyl, that flying dinosaur.

What do these spellings have in common? Look at them again carefully.

Can you spot the silent letter? Brilliant.

Absolutely they contain a silent P.

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

I don't say raspberry or receipt or cupboard.

You don't hear that P when we say these words.

So which of these words contain a silent P? You need to say these words or sound them out.

Great.

Precious.

P-P.

I can clearly hear the P.

Tip toe.

I can hear the P there, can't I? Receipt.

I didn't say receipt.

I don't hear the P there.

And pattern, I can hear the P.

So my only word here that had a silent P is receipt.

So what do you notice about this silent letter? Look at the words again.

Raspberry, cupboard, corps, psalm, pterodactyl and pneumonia.

Does it like to be with any letters in particular? Are there any particular positions in the word in which it's found? Have a think.

Brilliant job team.

So the silent letter P can be found in different places in the word, just like the silent letter H should be looked at earlier.

There's no specific place in which it's particularly found at the beginning or the end.

It can be found anywhere.

And we can see that here in raspberry and cupboard it's in the middle, in corps it's towards the end, and in psalm, pterodactyl and pneumonia, it's at the beginning.

It can also be found next to a variety of different letters as we can see here.

So, where is the sign letter P found in a word? Think about the learning we've just done.

Great.

The beginning, the middle, the end, or in different places? Well, just like that sign letter H it's in lots of different places and with lots of different letters.

And we can see that here of raspberry, corps, psalm and psychology.

Here are some examples of when we have silent letters compared to digraphs.

We call it a digraph where the two letters come together to produce one sound.

We refer to it as a silent letter when one of the letters in the pair is able to make the sound on its own.

And this is a really key distinction now.

I myself have referred to them as digraphs previously, and that's a health way of understanding them, especially when we're in the early part of our spelling journey.

But now it's important that we refer to them as silent letters.

So here, digraph, photo and chew.

The PH, making that ph sound and the EW, making that oo sound.

Phishing.

The SH, making that sh sound and those, the TH making the th sound.

And then silent letters P, psychology.

'Cause it's just that S making that sound.

Whale.

It's just that W making that W sound rhyme.

It's just that R making that R sound, and pterodactyl is just that T making that T sound.

So it's important that we understand this distinction now between dig grass and silent letters.

So with that in mind, for our practise task here, what I'd like us to do is to put the words into the correct column to show that they have a silent letter, either silent sign H or a silent P.

But be careful, make sure you read all of these words because some of them have no silent letter, so you won't want to put them into either column.

Off you go.

Excellent job team.

So we had the words, ache, stampede, cupboard, shipped receipt, honest, phone, hand, Psalm, uphold, and whale.

Well, some of these words like stampede, have no silent letters.

I'm hoping you've managed to sort them like this, ache, honest and whale, all had that silent H, and cupboard receipt and psalm, and remember that psalm is that sacred song or poem used in worship.

These words here had silent P.

Remember the silent H and silent P can be found in lots of different places in the word and can also be paired with lots of different letters.

Onto our next learning cycle then, which is spelling words with a silent N, L and S.

Let's read these words containing silent letters.

Autumn, that season.

Condemn.

If you condemn something, you say you disagree with it, you don't think it's right.

Solemn, meaning very serious.

Salmon like the fish.

Yolk, found in an egg, Island, viscount, which is a title of nobility, like an Earl.

Debris.

Which silent letters can you identify, read the words again and have a think.

Great.

Well, I've noticed silent N, silent L, and silent S.

When we read these words aloud, which of these words contains a silent N? You must read the words aloud it will really help you.

Off you go.

Great.

Sink.

Oh, I can clearly hear that N there.

know, I can hear that N as well.

There's a silent K there.

Condemn.

Oh, that M and that N.

It's just making an M sound.

So it's a silent N.

Government.

Again, I can't clearly hear the N there.

Government with my pronunciation.

So we have two silent Ns there, condemn and government.

What do you notice about this silent letter? Look carefully these words.

Autumn, column, hymn, solemn, mnemonic, government.

Well, I notice that the silent n is most often found at the end of the word.

Not all the time, but most often.

It nearly always comes after the letter M.

So there's that link between them.

Here, the silent N is at the end of a root word, which is govern.

In this case, it is before the letter M.

So where is the silent letter N usually found in a word? Great.

It's most commonly found at the end.

And we can see that here, hymn, autumn, column.

But remember, there are some exceptions like government.

Look at these words containing the silent letter L.

Salmon, yolk, could with our lucky duck.

And should with our ou lucky duck.

Remember that helps us remember how to spell those words.

And folk, what do you notice about this spelling? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay.

Well, I've noticed that the silent letter L is usually found in the middle of a word.

We can see that here.

It's often found after a vowel, usually letters A, O or U.

And we can see that in yolk and folk we can see it after an O.

In could and should, we can see it after that U.

And in salmon, we can see it after that A.

So there are other words which feature digraphs, including L.

So we have calm, balm, chalk, psalm and calf.

In these words, the L is changing the sound of the vowel to either an or, or ar sound.

Can you think of any other words featuring these diagraphs? Pause the video and have a think.

Brilliant.

Some great words being said there.

So where is the silent letter L usually found in a word.

Okay, it's commonly found in the middle.

And often we know it's being followed by A, it's following, sorry, an A, O or U.

And we can see that here in could salmon and yolk.

What do you notice about this sign letter are sign S.

We have the words island, isle and aisle.

Do we have homophones there? Isle I-S-L-E is like a piece of land in the sea, an isle linked to that island, and an aisle, A-I-S-L-E is that aisle like an aisle in a supermarket that you might walk down with different items on either side? We have viscount, which is that noble title and debris.

So I've noticed the sign letter S is usually found in the middle or at the end of a word.

It is often found after the letter I.

Which of these words contains a silent S? Read the words aloud.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

So thistle.

Well, it has a silent letter, but it's not an S.

I can hear the S there.

It's the T that's silent.

Isle.

Like the isle of white, the isle of man.

That island in the middle of a body of water.

I-S-L-E.

I don't hear the S there, do I? So that's a silent letter.

Miserable.

I can hear the s-s and isolate.

I can hear the S.

So my only silent letter or word of silent S there is isle.

Modern English is a language that has roots in many other languages.

Some words containing the sign letter S are of French origin, like the word aisle here, like a shopping aisle.

Or viscount here that noble title or debris.

Debris is the remains of something broken down or destroyed.

And you can see here, they all contain that silent S.

In which two places is the silent letter S usually found in a word? Well, it is not found at the beginning, but it is found either in the middle or at the end.

These words island via count and debris show that.

In island and viscount, we have them in the middle and in debris we have it at the end.

So for our practise task now what I'd like you to do for me is put the words into the correct column to show if they have a silent letter, be careful, because not all of the words have a silent letter.

Do they have a silent N, L or S? Put them in those columns and if they don't have a silent letter, leave them out.

I suggest reading the words out and sounding 'em out and thinking carefully or listening carefully for those silent letters.

Off you go team.

Excellent job team.

Super impressed.

So we had the words aisle, column, stealthy, praise, sticker, pardon, salmon below, could, solemn and debris.

And I'm hoping you've managed to sort 'em like this, column and solemn both contain that sign N, which we know like to be paired with that M and at the end of the word.

Salmon and could have that sign L, which we know can be found anywhere in the word, but it often has an A and o, u before it.

And then we had the silent letters, aisle and debris, both of those words of course being rooted in French.

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

So read the following curriculum words, Environment, twelfth, desperate.

Well, I've noticed that these words here have a silent letter depending on pronunciation.

So environment, for instance, the way I say it, I don't clearly hear that N.

Twelfth, the way I say that, you don't clearly hear the F and desperate, you don't clearly hear that vowel either.

Saying the words slowly.

How they are spelt can help us to remember these silent letters.

Environment, desperate, breaking them down.

Twelfth perhaps might also help.

So really good strategy, especially in dealing with words that have silent letters, is to break them down and say them how they're spelt.

So we know and can remember those naughty silent letters that are in there.

Twelfth has an F in the middle, unlike the word 12.

So we have to remember that F, which is in there.

I came twelfth place, somebody came in 12th in the race link there in meaning, but the spellings slightly different.

Okay.

Which of these words we have just read are spelled correctly? Point to the correct spellings.

Oh, environment, twelfth and desperate.

What were those naughty silent letters.

Off you go.

Brilliant job.

So Environment, that naughty N was in there, wasn't it? Twelfth.

Well, I know it's like the number 12, but I it has that other F before the TH.

And desperate, I know there's that vow in the middle, which I don't always hear when I pronounce it.

Desperate though.

Breaking it down and saying it like it's S spelled does help.

D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E.

Great.

So because these are curriculum words and they're going to appear a great regularity in our reading and writing, and they have slightly tricky elements to them.

It's important we know how to spell them.

So we're gonna practise these words now using the look, cover, write check strategy.

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

Well, environment's quite a long word, isn't it? But we also know that it has that naughty letter N in it, doesn't it? Before my MENT suffix there.

Environment.

So, environment, breaking it down and remembering it.

I then cover the word up once I've looked at it carefully and put it to my memory, and then I have it writing at my handwriting it environment.

I then check back, and this is why this is a great strategy, allows you to self check, oh, I manage to spell it correctly.

I would then use that strategy a few more time to look cover, write, check to really embed it into my long-term memory.

So I want you to use that strategy now with environment, twelfth and desperate to practise spelling them.

Off you go.

Excellent job team.

Super impressed.

Hope you've managed to rise out environment, twelfth and desperate using this great independent strategy like I have above.

Did you manage to spell them correctly? Share your learning and make any corrections now.

Off you go.

Excellent working spelling today team, I'm really impressed.

We've looked at so many silent letters there.

Silent letters H, P, N, L and S.

A silent H can be found in different places within a word and next to different letters depending on its location in the word.

And this is the same as silent letter P, also found in different places and next to different letters.

A silent N is nearly always found at the end of a word, usually after the letter M.

A silent L generally comes after a vowel and often changes the sound of the vowel.

A silent S is usually found in the middle or at the end of word, often after the letter I.

Remember there's that link to the French roots of those words with the silent S as well.

See if you can spot any more silent letters in your reading and keep up the great spelling practise.

I'll see you again soon.