Term 1

Welcome to our Stage 3 Home Support page! This space is designed for parents and caregivers to access resources that support learning in the classroom. We are starting with information on spelling rules to help your child improve their spelling skills. In the coming weeks, we will be adding more resources covering a variety of subjects and topics taught in Stage 3 classrooms. Check back regularly for updates!

Term 1

The following rules were covered in Term 1 and can be reviewed to support your child in their spelling journey.

The /ay/ sound 

• ai    ay    a   Examples: handrail, contain, stingray, today, cradle, basin

• Adding taught suffixes to words containing /ay/ Examples: majorly, mailboxes, flavouring, sailor 

• Homophones: plain/plane  sail/sale

• Rule 1: When I hear /ay/ with nothing after it at the end of the base word, I will use the vowel digraph, ‘ay’, even if it is the first word in a compound. If I hear /ay/ with a letter after it in the base word I will use the vowel digraph ‘ai’. 

• Rule 2: When I am spelling a two syllable word, which is not a compound word, and I hear /ay/ at the end of the first syllable I will use the ‘a’ spelling.

The /ay/ sound continued...

• a_e     Examples: amaze, mistake, cheesecake

• Adding taught suffixes to words containing ‘a_e’ /ay/   Examples: behaving, calculator, celebrating, debater

• Homophones: break/brake  great/grate

• Rule 1: When I am spelling a base word that has two or more syllables and I hear /ay/ in the last syllable, I have to remember that a_e is a common way of spelling the /ay/ sound. 

The /ee/ sound

• ee    y    e    ey    Examples: athlete, oversee, chimney, bilby, speak

• Adding taught suffixes to words containing /ee/    Examples: equally, sweeping, marries, freezing

• Rule 1: When a word has two or more syllables and I hear the /ee/ right at the end of the last syllable, I use ‘y’ . If I hear /ee/ not at the very end I will use ‘ee’.   Coffee and agree are exception words.

• Rule 2: When I hear /ee/ at the end of a syllable inside a word with more than one syllable, I will spell it as ‘e’. 

• Rule 3: When you hear the /ee/ sound at the end of the second syllable, you will write ‘ey’. You have to think about how you will remember this special spelling. 

The /ee/ sound continued...

• ea   e_e     Examples: eagle, ordeal, stampede, supreme

• Homophones: been/bean  heel/heal  creek/creak

• Adding suffixes to words conaining ea, e_e     Examples: completing, repeatedly

• Rule 1: When I spell, I can use syllables to help me break down longer base words to help me spell. In base words with two or more syllables one of the ways I can spell the /ee/ sound is ‘ea’. We don’t use ‘ea’ at the end of a base word with two syllables.  

• Rule 2: When I spell, I can use syllables to help me break down longer base words to help me spell. When I hear /ee/ in the last syllable, followed by a consonant, one of the best spelling choices is ‘e_e’.  

Morphology - Adding suffix -ness  

• firm – firmness, thick – thickness, silly – silliness, dusty – dustiness

• Rule 1: When I spell, I sometimes have to listen and think about the base word.  When I want to write a word that is a noun and I hear /nuhs/ at the end, I know I need to add the suffix ‘ness’. 

• Rule 2: When I spell, I have to check the base word. If the base ends with a single ‘y’ I need to change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding the suffix. When I hear /nuhs/ I know that I have to add the suffix ‘ness’. This makes the word a noun.  

Things to remember: 

1: When I spell, I have to listen and think - this is a homophone! I have to remember which is the correct spelling.

2: When I spell, I sometimes have to listen for the base word and the suffix. Then I check the base to see if I need to apply a suffixing rule before adding the suffix.

3: When we are writing we have to think of the meaning and then think of the spelling. We have to check as we write.