KS2 English textbook

Chapter 1: Spelling patterns in depth

Strand Spelling
Level Year 4
Practice 95 questions with step-by-step solutions

National Curriculum for England, Key Stage 2 English, Year 4. Content: Spell the i sound with y in the middle of a word, such as gymnast and rhythm, Spell the u sound with ou, and with o, such as colour and come, Spell the k sound with ch from Greek, such as anchor and stomach; the sh sound with ch from French, such as moustache, Spell the g sound with -gue, the k sound with -que, and the s sound with sc, such as plague, cheque and scenery, Spell the ay sound with ei, eigh, ey and aigh, such as veil, weight, convey and straighten, Spell further homophones and near-homophones, and choose each one by its meaning, Read and spell further unusual spelling-sound links and silent letters, such as ph, wr, kn, gn, mn, gh and rh, Use the terms vowel, vowel letter, consonant and consonant letter.

Open Year 4 chapter

By the end of this chapter you will be able to

Spell words with y in the middle that make the i sound, and tell them apart from words with the eye sound
Spell the u sound with ou and with o, and say which spelling a word uses
Spell Greek and French words with ch, and words with -gue, -que and sc
Spell the ay sound with ei, eigh, ey and aigh
Choose the right homophone or near-homophone by its meaning
Spot silent letters and unusual spellings, and spell the words that use them

You should already know

The Year 3 spelling patterns: y that makes the i sound, ou that makes the u sound, and ei, eigh, ey and aigh
The Year 3 Greek, French and Latin spellings, and the first half of the statutory word list

Where this leads

The statutory word list and the dictionary (Chapter 2)
Prefixes, suffixes and word families (Chapter 3)

Lessons in this chapter

Read the whole chapter on one page (good for printing).

Practise with real exam questions

The DfE publishes every past KS2 test, with mark schemes, for free.

KS2 English past papers