By now your child will have learned about the relationship between sounds and letters. By the time your child is 8 years old there will be a greater focus on building their vocabulary.
Your 7-8 year old will be spelling common words
At this age your child will be writing many commonly written words correctly. They will also be able to spell a list of words personal to them correctly, family member’s names, pet’s names and perhaps their address.
Your 7-8 year old will be able to break words into syllables
As your child’s knowledge of the relationship between words and sounds grow, they develop the ability to break words into syllables. Simple activities such as having them clap the syllables they can hear in words will back up the idea that two or three letter combinations create single sounds.
A 7-8 year old will begin to spell unknown words
As your child grows in confidence, they may begin to spell unknown words by combining the new words with words they already know. A good example of this is becoming familiar with the endings of words, for instance words that end in ing such as; ‘going, coming, having. Help your child to look for the similarities and patterns found in words.
Your 7-8 year old will use rhyme to help them spell words
During this age children will begin to group words into families, beginning by rhyming ending sounds and then progressing to combinations of vowels such as 'ai', 'ay', 'er' and 'oy'.
7-8 year olds will be able to find and correct simple spelling mistakes
Children of this age-group will start editing their own writing, which means they can look for patterns what they have written and see if the letters they have written match the sounds.
At home, you can help them to practice by using the “look, say, cover, write, check” strategy.
7-8 year olds will use dictionaries to correct spelling mistakes
Children of this age will begin to use word charts and junior dictionaries to correct their spelling mistakes.
7-8 year olds consolidate how words are formed
Your child will learn that bigger words are made up of smaller words and the searching of words within words is an important skill for spelling strategies.
Your 7-8 year old will be spelling common words
At this age your child will be writing many commonly written words correctly. They will also be able to spell a list of words personal to them correctly, family member’s names, pet’s names and perhaps their address.
Your 7-8 year old will be able to break words into syllables
As your child’s knowledge of the relationship between words and sounds grow, they develop the ability to break words into syllables. Simple activities such as having them clap the syllables they can hear in words will back up the idea that two or three letter combinations create single sounds.
A 7-8 year old will begin to spell unknown words
As your child grows in confidence, they may begin to spell unknown words by combining the new words with words they already know. A good example of this is becoming familiar with the endings of words, for instance words that end in ing such as; ‘going, coming, having. Help your child to look for the similarities and patterns found in words.
Your 7-8 year old will use rhyme to help them spell words
During this age children will begin to group words into families, beginning by rhyming ending sounds and then progressing to combinations of vowels such as 'ai', 'ay', 'er' and 'oy'.
7-8 year olds will be able to find and correct simple spelling mistakes
Children of this age-group will start editing their own writing, which means they can look for patterns what they have written and see if the letters they have written match the sounds.
At home, you can help them to practice by using the “look, say, cover, write, check” strategy.
7-8 year olds will use dictionaries to correct spelling mistakes
Children of this age will begin to use word charts and junior dictionaries to correct their spelling mistakes.
7-8 year olds consolidate how words are formed
Your child will learn that bigger words are made up of smaller words and the searching of words within words is an important skill for spelling strategies.
Read more about spelling milestones for 9-10 year olds here.
