You can find out the two spelling learning objectives for this year, and the teaching focuses for each unit within the Year 3 spelling programme. You can also learn what ongoing work children can continue to apply throughout this year.
Learning objectives
- Spell high- and medium-frequency words
- Recognise a range of prefixes and suffixes, understanding how they modify meaning and spelling, and how they assist in decoding long, complex words
- Spell unfamiliar words, using known conventions including grapheme-phoneme correspondence and morphological rules
You can use these lists of The first 100 high-frequency words (PDF-52 KB) Attachments and The next 200 most common words in order of frequency (PDF-50 KB) Attachments to help improve and develop spelling across Year 2 to Year 6. You can draw on these words during each yearly spelling programme or use them to support your application of different approaches or strategies.
Teaching focuses
- Term 1
-
Unit 1
- To consolidate knowledge of adding suffixes and to investigate the conventions related to the spelling pattern -le
Unit 2
- To spell regular verb endings and to learn irregular tense changes. For example, carry and carries, and carried, go and went.
Ongoing work
Extend the knowledge of spelling strategies and apply to high-frequency and cross-curricular words.
- Term 2
-
Unit 1
- To know what happens to the spelling of nouns when -s is added. For example, army and armies, and ash and ashes.
Unit 2
- To understand how words change when suffixes are added. For example, homeless and reliable.
Ongoing work
Extend the knowledge of spelling strategies and apply to high-frequency and cross-curricular words.
- Term 3
-
Unit 1
- To embed the correct use and spelling of pronouns. For example, my, your, and his.
Unit 2
- To develop knowledge of prefixes to generate new words from root words. For example, sense and nonsense, and cook and precook.
Ongoing work
Extend the knowledge of spelling strategies and apply to high-frequency and cross-curricular words.
