High (Navy) Level Instructions
Affixes: Suffixes and Prefixes…
Affixes include additions to base or root words that change the meaning of the original word, this can be in relation to its tense or a number of other alternations, including creating adverbs. At the Lexplore Intensive Navy Level, further examples of common suffixes and prefixes are included for the students to work through. As with Lexplore Intensive Light Blue Level, there is information given along the way, to build the student’s metacognition of the language involved, together with morphology of the words used and aspects relating to inflection, derivation and the formation of compounds. This is important, as it can particularly aid spelling and understanding of more complex texts, when there is some knowledge of why things change the way they do and how words are put together.
There are some general rules that can be followed when adding suffixes to base or root words. Do remember that in English, there are exceptions to these (which are thankfully relatively few) and these should just be over-learnt to embed them in the longer-term memory.
These are, when adding a suffix to a base or root word, the options are:
- Do nothing
- Double the final consonant
- Drop the e
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 3 – 14
Homophones…
Homophones can and do cause a great deal of confusion in spelling. Put very simply, they are each of two or more words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spellings. If a pair of students is unsure of the meaning of either of the homophones seen here, they should be encouraged to look these up, or make a note of them, to ask the instructor. These charts (following on from those in the Lexplore Intensive Light Blue Level), are not fully comprehensive, but do include the more common homophones that students will come across in their daily reading.
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 15 – 17
Homographs and Homonyms…
Homographs are words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings or origins and they are pronounced differently as well (this can be simply a different inflection when saying the word, putting the stress on different syllables within the word). Homonyms are words that have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings and origins. You need to know the context of the sentence to work this out.
Students should be encouraged to work with their partner, to read the homographs and homonyms on the following pages (one line each). They should then think of the different ways of pronouncing these and what their different meanings are. They should take turns in saying a sentence for each of the meanings. You may like them to write some of these. Encourage them to make their writing interesting by including adjectives, adverbs and some of the more complex words they have been reading in the programme.
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 18 – 20
Writing…
Either the students will take it in turns to read a sentence to their peer, before breaking this into chunks for them to write, or you (the instructor) can do this. Use the sentences on the following pages (or make up your own), using the target words that the student struggles with. Writing in context, is an excellent way to practice the skills that have been built up. This can easily be done with a whole class of students or 1:1. If the students are working together, they can use a page each from the Instructor Copy and choose two sentences each, to read to the other student.
- Begin by reading the sentence.
- Break the sentence into chunks and allow the student time to write each chunk.
- Read the sentence again and allow time for the sentence to be checked.
- ‘Mark’ the sentence in reverse order (the student ‘marks’ their own work), this helps them to focus on each aspect of the sentence. Award marks for correct punctuation (as well as accurate capital letters) and for all words spelt correctly.
- The student corrects any errors, they could even add these to their own word book if they use one of these.
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 21 – 23
Correct the Errors…
Proof reading for errors and correcting them, is a really useful way to improve language skills in general and particularly to make students notice how things are written. Encourage them to read the sentences out loud, as this can often help them to ‘listen’ for things that don’t ‘sound’ right and to look for words that don’t ‘feel’ like they look correct.
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 24 – 25
Sentence Completion…
To become truly successful readers, students need to understand what they read. To achieve this, they need to learn a number of comprehension strategies, as well as reflecting upon their own understanding and learning. They also need to build on their understanding of their likes and dislikes of what they read, beginning to critically evaluate this. They need to further improve their understanding of the author’s characterisation, plot development and ideas.
As they develop as readers, they will move beyond simple interpretations and recall of texts, to exploring the concepts of inference and deduction. They will need supporting in honing their strategies for good comprehension, including:
- Activating prior knowledge
- Clarifying meaning and understanding
- Interrogating the text and generating questions
- Constructing mental images whilst reading
- Summarising
There is not space here, in the Lexplore Intensive Navy Level material, to do full justice to comprehension skills, but the following exercises give a good indication of a student’s developing understanding of what they have read and can lead to further teaching and learning points.
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 26 – 28
High Frequency and Tricky Words…
During the next section, students will encounter further lists of common High Frequency Words. These are quite simply, those words which occur most frequently in spoken and written material.
This section also incorporates Tricky Words. These words are sometimes known as ‘irregular words’, ‘common exception words’ or ‘sight-words’. Many of these words are not decodable and therefore need to be learnt ‘by sight’. Overlearning, using the principles of precision teaching, is an excellent way to commit these to a student’s long-term memory.
Some of these tricky words do not follow ‘typical’ patterns, such as in the word ‘bruise’, or may contain consonants that do not ‘say’ their ‘typical’ sounds, such as in the word ‘conscience’. These may need to be told to the student the first few times that they encounter them.
Working through these words can greatly help students develop the sight-reading skills they will need as they progress through their education.
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 29 – 36
Subject Specific Spellings…
It is recommended that the student can to use previously encountered word lists, as spelling lists. The instructor can choose which list the student should begin with, whether this is from this level or previously ones. Use knowledge of the student here, to determine which word lists are most appropriate, for example, if they struggle frequently with spelling words containing a particular suffix or prefix, begin with words containing that. Each page has four columns of eight words and for most children, this is a good number to choose. For those students who experience memory challenges, use four words, and consider checking them more frequently.
An excellent and proven way to learn spellings, is to use the ‘Trace/Copy/Memory/Eyes Shut’ routine:
The paper should be folded across the middle, so that the student can write over the top of the word/phoneme in question in the ‘trace’ section. As they do this, they should say the letters out loud. When this has been done, they should copy the word (in the ‘copy’ box) and check for accuracy. After this, the student flips the sheet over and in the ‘memory’ box, writes the word from memory, before checking and finally, writing the word with their eyes shut. Many students are amazed by how neat their writing is with their eyes closed and they enjoy the process of overlearning, without feeling like they are doing this.
At this stage, only the core subjects of English, mathematics and science are covered in Lexplore Intensive’s Subject Specific Spellings.
Student and Marking PDF: Pages 37 – 40