Apples & Pears is a spelling programme that really works—even with pupils with poor memories or SEN. Built around phonics and morphemes, the scripted lessons are very easy to use; all of the lesson planning and monitoring is built in making it ideal for parents and Teaching Assistants. It progresses through the English spelling code, starting with single letters. Common, less predictable patterns are added next and finally the morphemes that are the building blocks of so many of our longer words—with the rules that cement them together. All through the programme, high frequency, less regular words are trickled in. The basics of grammar are included too. Everything is practised and reviewed until it is automatic.
In Book B Pupils learn the correct use of the apostrophe for contractions and possessives. The morphemic strategy is extended, teaching the pupil why we drop the ‘e’ from ‘hope’ when we write ‘hoping’, but not ‘hopeless’. It also covers the doubling rule, explaining why we double the ‘r’ in ‘starring’, but not in ‘starless’. Split digraph words, plus a range of new spelling patterns and irregular spellings are introduced at a carefully controlled rate.
