Silent letters: the 'gn' spelling
I can spell words with 'gn' representing the 'n' phoneme.
Silent letters: the 'gn' spelling
I can spell words with 'gn' representing the 'n' phoneme.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- 'gn' can be a representation of the 'n' phoneme.
- The representation 'gn' is usually found at the start or end of a word.
- How to spell the common exception word: school.
- Words connected in word families often have similar spellings, such as sign and signal.
Keywords
Phoneme - the smallest unit of sound that make up words
Grapheme - the letter or group of letters that represent a sound
Word families - a group of words common in feature, pattern or meaning
Etymology - the study of the origin of words and the ways their meanings have changed over time
Common misconception
The 'gn' digraph does not always use the 'g' as a silent letter.
Expose children to words with 'gn' where the 'g' is both silent and not silent.
To help you plan your year 2 english lesson on: Silent letters: the 'gn' spelling, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 2 english lesson on: Silent letters: the 'gn' spelling, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 english lessons from the Alternative GPCS for consonants and homophones unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
4
2
3
words that sound the same with different spellings
letters in a word that are not pronounced
the smallest unit of sound in a word
Exit quiz
6 Questions
gn
n
kn
nn