Practise spellings in the morning on the carpet before registration.

Using a laminated spelling set list for the week, children stand at the front and ask other children to spell any word from the list. Children must put their hands up and answer. The child with the list checks. Children who are correct get to stand at the front and be the teacher. Remember to explain to the children that they must not always ask the same children or just their friends. Only answer children with their hands up. This has led to most children in our year 2 class getting 10/10 for their spellings, a few weeks in a row. The children now ask to do this every morning.

Variation (picked up from another teacher) - children write sentences on whiteboards using spelling words and then share them with the class before or just after the register. This can be done on the carpet like the above while you wait for other children to come in and take their coats off and put things away.