Spelling Lesson 8 (ff)

Spelling Lesson 8 (ff)

Follow the steps below to teach the spelling ‘ff’.

Step 1: Revision

Revise some basic sounds. Revise the tricky words ‘he’, ‘was’, ‘to’, ‘do’, ‘are’, ‘all’, ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘come’ and ‘some’.

Step 2: Main Point

Introduce the ‘ff’ spelling of the /f/ sound.

Fun action for ‘ff’: Let hands gently come together as if fish deflating and say f f f f

At the end of a small word with a short vowel, ‘f’ is usually doubled, except in the words ‘if’ and ‘of’. Explain to the children that they can remember the difference between ‘of’ and ‘off’, by listening to the sound at the end of the word. If it is a /f/ sound, as in ‘off’. Then they must use ‘ff’, but if they hear a /v/ sound, as in ‘of/ they only need on ‘f’. With the children, make a list of words which use ‘ff’. Then ask them to make up sentences, using some of the words. The words could also be written onto a big cliff shape in worksheet 8.1.

Step 3: Spelling Sheet 8

The children write inside the outlined 'ff' in spelling sheet 8. Then, in worksheet 8.2, they write an ‘ff’ word in each of the boxes and draw a picture for that word. They may colour the pictures afterwards.

Step 4: Dictation

The words for dictation includes words and sentences that use the ‘ff’ spelling. Be careful to ensure that students know the meanings of the words that you are asking them to write. An important principle of language learning is that words should mean something to the learner.

Step 5: Spelling List

The spelling words should be read out with the children. The regular words can be said aloud. For the tricky words ‘said’ and ‘here, letter names should be said. The longer word ‘chaffinch’ has two syllables and can be remembered as ‘chaf’ and ‘finch’ for spelling.

Dictation (words)

• off
• cuff
• huff
• gruff
• ruff
• cliff

Dictation (sentences)

• He can jump off the step.
• She ran up the cliff.
• We must not sniff.

Spelling List

• red
• win
• drum
• off
• cliff
• stiff
• cuff
• said
• here
• chaffinch

Spelling Sheet 8 'ff' Worksheet 8.1 ‘ff’ Worksheet 8.2 ‘ff’