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October 2023 Round-up

Have you tried out our October spelling lists? This month, we explored how to spell l sound after the letter m, shared 10 alternatives for the word talk, and prepared for Halloween with these scary words. We also brought back our seasonal game Spooky Spelling – are you brave enough to play?   Is it a which or a witch? What do the words evil, scream, banshee, zombie, and spooky have in common? Why does Frankenstein need a capital letter?  We celebrated spooky season by sharing 10 writing tips for Halloween.   When you are writing, it is important to choose the words you use to begin a sentence carefully. You can...

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October 2022 Round-up

This month's English vocabulary lists were ‘ble’ as a suffix, Key Stage 3: Science, and 10 Words for … SURPISED. Have you tried our new Monkey Business game?   We added two new blog posts to our Commonly Confused Words series. Do you know the difference between creak and creek? What about which and witch?   Our Word for Wednesday theme for October was Halloween. The word Halloween likely dates to the seventeenth century but was popularised in the Burns poem ‘Halloween’ which was written in 1785. It is a Scottish abbreviation of ‘Allhallow-even’ which means ‘Ev...

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Word for Wednesday: Ghoul

Our Word for Wednesday theme for October is Halloween. The word Halloween likely dates to the seventeenth century but was popularised in the Burns poem ‘Halloween’ which was written in 1785. It is a Scottish abbreviation of ‘Allhallow-even’ which means ‘Eve of the All Saints’.  ‘Hallow’ means ‘holy person’ or ‘saint’.  Over October, we’ve looked at the words witch, banshee, and zombie. Our final word for the month is ghoul. A figure of Arabic folklore, the ghoul is a demonic being or evil spirit that robs graves and feasts on human flesh. In some stories, ghouls...

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Word for Wednesday: Zombie

Our Word for Wednesday theme for October is Halloween. The word Halloween likely dates to the seventeenth century but was popularised in the Burns poem ‘Halloween’ which was written in 1785. It is a Scottish abbreviation of ‘Allhallow-even’ which means ‘Eve of the All Saints’.  ‘Hallow’ means ‘holy person’ or ‘saint’.  So far, we’ve looked at the words witch and banshee. Today’s word of the week is zombie. A zombie, a figure of Haitian folklore, is a dead body that has been reanimated by supernatural spirits or forces. Today, the zombie exists in popula...

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Word for Wednesday: Banshee

Our Word for Wednesday theme for October is Halloween. The word Halloween likely dates to the seventeenth century but was popularised in the Burns poem ‘Halloween’ which was written in 1785. It is a Scottish abbreviation of ‘Allhallow-even’ which means ‘Eve of the All Saints’.  ‘Hallow’ means ‘holy person’ or ‘saint’.  Last week, we looked at the word witch and today’s word is banshee. A banshee is a female spirit from Irish folklore whose wailing, screeching, or keening foretells impending death. The word banshee has been used in English since 1711 and is a phonetic s...

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10 Words from Ireland

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Every year, on March 17th, Irish people all over the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and is known for bringing Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century. According to legend, St. Patrick used the shamrock as a tool for explaining the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish (with the leaves representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and so it has become traditional to wear the shamrock symbol on St Paddy’s day. Here are ten words with Irish roots: Banshee In Irish mythology, a ‘banshee’ is a female spirit who wails when someone is about to die. In English, the word dates back to th...

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