Looking for ways to make spelling easier for kids? Chunking or segmenting is a useful spelling strategy which will help them remember how to spell longer words.

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Segmenting or chunking can be a great way to help children remember the spelling of longer words.

Words are broken down into between two and four chunks and each “chunk” is memorised separately, before being combined to spell the whole word. Look for smaller words within bigger words or distinct sounds which can be pulled out and memorised individually.

For this activity:

1. As an example, you could focus on learning the spelling of the days of the week. 
2. After printing out the words, look for natural breaks in the words. For example,  ‘Monday’ is separated into ‘mon’ and ‘day’. 
3. Remember how many ‘chunks’ are in each word and, if possible, try to make the chunks the same length. For example, ‘Wednesday’ is separated into three, three letter chunks – ‘wed’, ‘nes’ and ‘day’.
4. After making chunks by cutting the words apart, scramble the papers and try to build the words again using the separate chunks. 
5. Repetition is key with spelling so after building each word, practise spelling it orally (without looking) and then write it down.