Read Write Inc. Spelling

Your child is learning to spell with Read Write Inc. Spelling, a systematic spelling programme for children in Years 2–6 (Primary 3–7). This page outlines how you can help your child practise and consolidate their spelling by using the Extra Practice Zone.

What is Extra Practice Zone?

This is an area on Oxford Owl with over 1,000 spelling activity screens. There are a variety of activity types including typing in, matching pairs, multiple choice, and highlighting. The activities included in the Extra Practice Zone are:

Spell the Vowel (spelling words with vowel sounds)
Sounds the Same (using the correct spellings of homophones – words that sound the same but are spelt differently, e.g. hear and here)
Swap, Double or Drop? (spelling words with suffi xes)
Rule Breakers (spelling words that don’t follow the spelling rules)
Playing with Plurals (spelling singular and plural nouns)
Word Endings (spelling words with endings that sounds the same but are spelt differently, e.g. metal, pencil, snorkel)
Silent Letters (identifying silent letters within words)
Spell the Root (identifying the root of a word with a prefi x and suffi x)
Odd Sound Out (spelling Greek/ French/Latin words)
Odd Rhyme Out (spelling rare grapheme-phoneme-correspondences) Please refer to the end of the article for a glossary of terms.

How does my child access Extra Spelling Zone?

The Extra Practice Zone can be accessed via ‘My class login’ on Oxford Owl.

Go to www.oxfordowl.co.uk
Click on the ‘My class login’ button (top right).
Type in the class name and password that your child’s teacher has given your child, and click ‘Log in’.

4. Click on the ‘Extra Practice Zone’ button.

5. Use the ‘Year groups’ dropdown menu to fi nd your child’s year group, and the ‘Activities’ menu to fi nd the activity that your child’s teacher has recommended.

6. Click on the activity to open it

7. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the activity.

8. Use the ‘Done’ button to mark the answer, and the ‘See answer’ button to show the answer.

How should my child use Extra Spelling Zone?

Your child’s teacher will tell you which activities your child should complete at home. To get the best out of Read Write Inc. Spelling, we recommend that your child logs into the Extra Practice Zone three times a week, and spends 5–10 minutes on each activity that their teacher has recommended. Avoid completing activities that your child’s teacher has not recommended, as the activities are carefully designed to match the stages of the programme.

Glossary

Vowel graphemes – ways of spelling: the short a, e, i, o, u sounds (e.g. hat, pen, sit, hop, tub), the long a, e, i, o, u sounds (e.g. play, see, high, snow, zoo, book), the ar, or, air, ir, ou, oy sounds (e.g. car, for, fair, whirl, out, toy), and the ire, ear and ure sounds (e.g. fire, near, pure)

Homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and are spelt differently (e.g. hear, here)

Silent letters – letters in words that aren’t sounded out when we read the word (e.g. scent, numb)

Prefixes – a group of letters that can be added to the start of a word to make a new word (e.g. well, unwell)

Suffixes – a group of letters that can be added to the end of a word to make a new word (e.g. short, shorter)

Exception words – words that don’t follow the spelling or phonic rules that children are taught

Plural nouns – more than one person or thing (e.g. fox is singular, foxes is plural)

Root words – the most basic part of a word with no prefi x or suffi x (e.g. unhelpful)