Starting the day with a focused spelling activity can set a positive tone for your students and significantly enhance their spelling skills. A morning spelling warm-up is a simple yet effective way to reinforce learning and make spelling a natural part of their daily routine. Here are five morning spelling warm-up ideas to help your students kickstart their day with spelling success. 1. Spelling Flashcards Flashcards are a classic and versatile tool for spelling practice. Here’s how you can use them in the morning: Preparation: Create a set of flashcards with challenging words tailored to your students' level. Activity: Each morning, instruct your students pick a f...
With the right words, you can choose what you want to guide your reader’s attention to. Over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at sentence starters for different purposes: introducing, expanding, and illustrating ideas, demonstrating cause and effect, and linking contrasting ideas. Here are 24 sentence starters to help you emphasise a point: Above all Above all, mastering grammar is essential for effective communication. All things considered All things considered, a strong foundation in literacy skills is important for academic success. As a rule As a rule, regular practice is the key to improving one's English proficiency. Assu...
A really good way to practise your spelling is by writing as often as you can. Over the years, we have shared a variety of blog posts about writing—from top tips, to how to get ideas, to expressing yourself in interesting ways. Feeling creative? Why not have a browse? Not sure where to begin? Whether you’re writing for school, university, work, or fun – these 5 tips will help you improve your writing. Wondering what you should write? Here are 5 ideas to help you write in your free time and 5 writing prompts to get you started. Often, good writing begins with good planning. Here are our top planning tips. ...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery. Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727. So far we have looked at the words pencil, pen, ruler, and sharpener, and today's stationery-themed word is stapler. A stapler is a machine that inserts staples into sheets of paper in order to fasten them together. The word dates to 1949 and comes from ‘staple’ which as a verb dates to the late fourteenth century and as a noun d...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery. Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727. So far we have looked at the words pencil, pen, and ruler, and today's stationery-themed word is sharpener. The word sharpener refers to any implement that is used to make something sharper. While the term sharpener dates to the 1630s, the term pencil sharpener is from 1854. Both words come from word ‘sharpen’ which dates to the 1520s...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery. Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727. So far we have looked at the words pencil and pen, and today's stationery-themed word is ruler. A ruler is a strip, usually made of wood, metal, or plastic, which is used for drawing straight lines and measuring lengths. Rulers are marked at varying intervals to indicate units of measurement like inches or centimetres. The word dates to around 1400 and com...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery. Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727. Last week we looked at the word pencil, and today's stationery-themed word is pen. A pen is writing implement with a point from which ink flows, Although you might expect pen to have the same word root as pencil, it actually comes from the Old French ‘pene’ meaning ‘quill pen’ or ‘feather’, which in turn comes from the L...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery. Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727. Our first stationery-themed word is pencil. A pencil is a thin cylindrical pointed writing implement. The word entered English in the mid-fourteenth century as ‘pencel’ and was used to describe a type of fine brush made of camel hair which was used by artists. ‘Pencel’ comes from the Old French ‘pincel’ which comes from the Latin ‘pencillus&r...
Over the course of March we’ve decided to try something new for our Word for Wednesday feature and choose each week’s word to fit around a specific theme. Our chosen theme is punctuation, starting with the word apostrophe. As today is National Grammar Day in the United States of America, it is important to point out that grammar and punctuation are not the same thing. Grammar refers to the whole system and structure of a language and you can find a Word for Wednesday post about the word’s origin here. Punctuation on the other hand refers to the written marks used to separate sentences in order to clarify meaning. Punctuation marks have a variety of...
In the limelight this week for various reasons is a word that encompasses almost all human achievements; a word that has come to represent our creativity and our desire to explore and progress. Art. Today we are in a social climate where art completely surrounds us, whether we like it or not. The paintings of masters, the music of the greats, the work of our finest writers and the world’s most incredible buildings can all be accessed with the click of a mouse and, finance permitting, in ‘the flesh’ by travelling abroad. But what is art? Unfortunately, to many, the word art conjures up an image of pretentiousness, luxury and controversy. A quick look in to the me...
American vs. British English
Common Mistakes
Commonly Confused Words
English Idioms Explained
English Literature
Exams & Tests
Grammar & Punctuation
Mindful Spelling
Spelling at School
Spelling Games
Spelling Homework
Spelling Tips
Spellzone Tips & Tools
Supporting Adult Learners
Supporting Dyslexic Learners
Supporting EAL Learners
Word Origins & Stories
Writing & Vocabulary
"I have just subscribed and look forward to continuing to use Spellzone. I have been really impressed with the program during the trial period and the students gave very positive feedback. Many thanks."
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