The ‘ay' spellings, including ‘ay', ‘ai' and ‘a-e'
I can read and spell words containing the three most common representations of the ‘ay’ phoneme: ‘ay’, ‘ai’ and ‘a-e’.
The ‘ay' spellings, including ‘ay', ‘ai' and ‘a-e'
I can read and spell words containing the three most common representations of the ‘ay’ phoneme: ‘ay’, ‘ai’ and ‘a-e’.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- How to spell the common exception words: all, ball and call.
- ‘ai’ is a representation of the ay phoneme that often is found in the middle of a word.
- ‘a-e’ is a representation of the ‘ay’ phoneme that is often found ‘last but one'.
- ‘ay’ is a representation of the ay phoneme that often comes at the end of a word.
Keywords
Common - common spellings are spellings which appear frequently
Digraph - two letters that represent one sound
Split digraph - has a letter that comes between the two letters in a digraph like in "make" where the "k" separates the digraph "ae"
Phoneme - the smallest unit of sound
Grapheme - the letter or group of letters that represent a sound
Common misconception
There are certain spelling exceptions to the general rules taught in this lesson.
Explicitly teach some of these exceptions ('crayon') and explain the addition of suffixes to root words ('playing' or 'rained').
To help you plan your year 2 english lesson on: The ‘ay' spellings, including ‘ay', ‘ai' and ‘a-e', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 2 english lesson on: The ‘ay' spellings, including ‘ay', ‘ai' and ‘a-e', 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.
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The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 1 english lessons from the Alternative GPCs for long vowels unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Licence
Starter quiz
6 Questions
2
4
3
the smallest unit of sound in a word
a letter, or group of letters, that represent a phoneme
a type of grapheme where two letters represent one phoneme
Exit quiz
6 Questions

a-e
ai
ay
the middle
the end
the last but one