New
New
Year 5

Applying the rule ‘i before e except after c’

I can spell words and exceptions using ‘ie’ or ‘ei’ to make the ‘ee’ sound.

New
New
Year 5

Applying the rule ‘i before e except after c’

I can spell words and exceptions using ‘ie’ or ‘ei’ to make the ‘ee’ sound.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are many ways to spell the ‘ee’ sound, including ‘ee’, ‘ea’, ‘e-e’, ‘e’, ‘y’, ‘ey’, ‘ie’ and ‘ei’.
  2. The rule ‘i before e except after c’ can help choose between ‘ie’ and ‘ei’ when spelling ‘ee’.
  3. There are exceptions, including ‘protein’, ‘caffeine’, ‘either’ and ‘seize’.
  4. It is important to practise to help us learn new spellings.
  5. How to spell the curriculum words: rhyme, rhythm and remember.

Keywords

  • Phoneme - the smallest unit of sound that can change a word's meaning

  • Grapheme - the letter or group of letters that represent a sound (the spelling)

  • Exception - a case or situation that does not follow the usual or expected rule or pattern

Common misconception

Children may choose the wrong spelling strategy to practise a particular word.

Help pupils to make informed choices about which spelling strategy is best to learn particular types of words. For example, 'naughty letters' is useful to learn those with unusual spelling patterns. Pupils will also develop their own favourites.

Give children a large range of words containing 'ie' or 'ei' in them. Ask pupils to sort into words containing the 'ee' sound and words that don't.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the word to the representation of the 'ee' sound it contains.
Correct Answer:ee,sleep

sleep

Correct Answer:ie,thief

thief

Correct Answer:ea,each

each

Correct Answer:ey,funny

funny

Q2.
Select the words which contain the long vowel ee sound.
Correct answer: receive
diet
Correct answer: funnily
they
Correct answer: chief
Q3.
Match the words linked to the rule 'i before e, except after c'.
Correct Answer:belief,'i before e' words

'i before e' words

Correct Answer:deceitful,'except after c' words

'except after c' words

Correct Answer:seize,exception to the rule words

exception to the rule words

Q4.
Select the words that apply the rule 'i before e, except after c'.
Correct answer: ceiling
lie
reins
protein
Correct answer: thieves
Q5.
Select the correct spelling of the word.
theef
Correct answer: thief
theif
Q6.
Select the correct spelling of the word.
riseeved
receeved
recieved
Correct answer: received

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the words linked to the rule 'i before e, except after c'.
Correct Answer:hygiene,'i before e' words

'i before e' words

Correct Answer:perceived,'except after c' words

'except after c' words

Correct Answer:caffeine,exception to the rule words

exception to the rule words

Q2.
Select the correct spelling of the word.
deseetful
diceitful
Correct answer: deceitful
decietful
decietfull
Q3.
Select the correct spelling of the word.
Correct answer: seize
sieze
seeze
Q4.
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence. My father ritreevd the parcel from the post office.
Correct Answer: retrieved
Q5.
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence. There is a crack in the seeling!
Correct Answer: ceiling
Q6.
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence. I love listening to music with interesting rithum!
Correct Answer: rhythm

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