1 syllable words:  maize, is, a, one, sound, word.

2 syllable words: wa-ter, of-ten, con-tains, dou-ble, walk-ing, be-cause

3 syllable words: Zam-bi-a, syl-lab-les,  hosp-it-al, con-son-ant

4 syllable words: cat-er-pil-lar

1. Open syllables (ending in vowel - long vowel sound)

2. Closed syllables (ending in consonant - short vowel sound)

3. Words that contain an 'r controlled vowel'

4. Words that contain a 'magic e'

5. Words that contain a 'vowel digraph' (Dipthong)

6. Words that end vowel +le

We call this the floss spelling rule because the word floss follows this rule and includes the letters f, l, and s to help us remember the rule. There are some exceptions to this rule (for example if, pal, has).

The middle consonant is usually doubled in words that meet three criteria:

1. The word has two syllables.
2. You hear a short vowel in the first syllable.
3. You hear one consonant sound between the first and second vowels.

E: ee, ea, e-e, ey

I: ie, i-e

O: oa, oe, o-e

U: ue, u-e

1.     Letter <y> only says its sound /y/ if it is at the beginning or middle of a word (beyond yellow yoghurt).

2.     Letter <y> makes the /ie/ sound at the end of short words (why, try, fly). In these words, letter <y> is acting like a vowel.

Letter <y> makes the /ee/ sound at the end of longer words (sorry, hairy, lady).

In a two syllable word <y> says /ee/

1.     Letter <y> only says its sound /y/ if it is at the beginning or middle of a word (beyond yellow yoghurt).

2.     Letter <y> makes the /ie/ sound at the end of short words (why, try, fly). In these words, letter <y> is acting like a vowel.

Letter <y> makes the /ee/ sound at the end of longer words (sorry, hairy, lady).

'c' is the most common spelling for /k/ at the beginning of words.

Use the consonant digraph 'ck' only at the end of 1-syllable words when the /k/ sound IMMEDIATELY follows a vowel.

Makes the short vowels looooong

Magic 'e', magic 'e'

This is the magic 'e' song.

Words don't usually end in ‹i› - shy ‹i› and toughy ‹y› (boy, day)

Words don't usually end in ‹u› - /ou/ is spelt ‹ow› at the end of a word (now, cow)

Words don't usually end in ‹v› - words end in ‹ve› instead, (have, give)

Words don't usually end in ‹j› - see soft ‹g› rules (edge, cage)

Also worth noting:

• ‹i› and ‹j› look similar - ‹u› and ‹v› look similar too

• Foreign words (ski, taj), Proper nouns (People's names don't always follow spelling rules) and some Pronouns (you, I) are all exceptions.