‘Tricky words’ are those words which children cannot use their phonic knowledge to blend.
Once you’ve introduced tricky words and practised them, reinforce the words regularly when sharing picture books and reading together.
When helping your child to learn to spell the tricky words you may decide to use the ‘Look, Cover, Write and Check’ method. This involves first looking at the word and identifying which part is tricky, covering the word, writing it and then checking the spelling. Remember: if phonics can’t work, it’s not possible to sound out all the sounds, so you might want to start using the letter names.
Aim to make learning tricky words a fun and enjoyable activity, perhaps by writing the tricky words in sand, paint, shaving foam or glitter. Once your child has practised a few times in a less structured way, give them the opportunity to practise writing the tricky word on coloured paper with pencil colours or felt tips. The only way these words can be read and spelt correctly is by learning them and having plenty of practice.
The tricky words children learn in Reception are:
- the
- to
- I
- no
- go
- into
- he
- she
- we
- me
- be
- was
- you
- they
- all
- are
- my
- her
- said
- have
- like
- so
- do
- some
- come
- were
- there
- little
- one
- when
- out
- what