Useful for both parents and teachers.

Graham from Bucklands Beach

SOME USEFUL SPELLING/READING RULES

A vowel-consonant-last letter e makes the long vowel sound.
blade complete alone arrive amuse

When two vowels go walking, the first one usually does the talking .
(exceptions = oi as in join, ou as in south or soup, ie can make a long e sound as in niece, oo as in cook or spoon)
ai = long a sound chain raise faint
oa = long o sound boat coast croak
ea = long e sound reach speak dear
= short e sound bread instead weather
ie = long i sound (but not always – see note) died replied cried

Some other sounds.
aw makes an or sound raw hawk claw
ou makes an ow sound as in cow or an or sound as in your.
loud around thousand
your course pour

a single vowel before double consonants always makes a short sound.
swimming planning spelling cunning stopping

y is a vowel when it sounds like an i or an e.
cycle happy style

c or g followed by an i, e or y makes the soft sound.
giant recent stage century
the or sound can have different spellings.
or as in cord oar as in boar oor as in floor our as in pour aw as in straw

Plurals of words ending in ch, sh, x or s - add es.
church becomes churches flush becomes flushes box becomes boxes bus becomes buses

Plurals of words ending in y
- vowel before the y, just add s
- consonant before the y, the y changes to an i and add es
monkey becomes monkeys city becomes cities

Plurals of words ending in f or fe - sometimes the f changes to a v and you add es
half becomes halves shelf becomes shelves life becomes lives

Plurals of words ending in o - usually add es (there are some exceptions)
potato becomes potatoes mosquito becomes mosquitoes volcano becomes volcanoes

Single syllable words ending with a single vowel followed by a single consonant - the vowel makes a short sound - double the last letter when adding ed or ing.
(if the suffix being added starts with a consonant, this rule doesn’t apply - as in gladly)
chop chopped chopping
slap slapped slapping
step stepped stepping
stun stunned stunning
tip tipped tipping

Final e goes away when ing comes to stay (there are some exceptions).
shine becomes shining shake becomes shaking

Words ending in l - double the l when adding a suffix.
travel travelled travelling
jewel jewellery

Adding ing to words ending with y - the y is retained.
carry becomes carrying
hurry becomes hurrying

Adding ed or ing to verbs ending with c - add a k beforehand.
picnic picnicked picnicking
panic panicked panicking

Verbs ending in ie - change the ie to y before adding ing.
tie becomes tying
lie becomes lying

i before e except after c (there are some exceptions though as in seize or weight)
friend field piece niece
receive ceiling receipt

When you join two words together to make a contraction, the apostrophe goes where letters are left out.
is not = isn’t
could not = couldn’t
they have = they’ve
he will = he’ll

dis or mis as a prefix (only one s)
dishonest disappear misunderstood misrepresent

ful as a suffix (only one l)
wonderful awful dreadful