Spelling

[kathymuggle]

What are your thoughts on learning to spell? How do you teach it? Do you teach it? Do you think they retain words from spelling lists?

Curious,

Kathy

[mom2ponygirl]

I think a lot of kids learn to spell quite well from lots of reading. However, I also think some kids need some direct instruction. My daughter was a very early reader and has always read a tremendous amount. However, she has always been a poor speller. When she was 6 we quickly went through a phonics program. I thought since she read so early it might have been a piece she was missing. She enjoyed it and seemed to 'get' it quite quickly. I don't know if it helped much - she was still a weak speller a couple of years later. We tried Spelling Power. She would miss quite a few on the pre-tests, work all week on those words, then take the post test and miss a bunch of words she spelled fine on the pre-test!

Now we've used Sequential Spelling for the past couple of years. It is quick and painless to do. It is based on word families and the patterns seem to stick with her. Her spelling has improved tremendously. However, I don't know if it is truly the program or the fact that now she communicates via email and message boards and all of a sudden spelling is important to her. LOL

[terra-pip]

I have been using AVKO sequential spelling with my just turned 7 year old with a lot of success...I sometimes expand on the spelling words and teach a little grammer which he seems to love...contractions, sentence structure etc...he has been retaining the words even weeks and weeks after he has even physically written the word and has been able to figure out how to spell other words he wants to spell on his own. It's helped with his handwriting too since its an every (or every other) day practice. As well as his reading since it works on word families.

For us the key was following the books advice to use a white board or chalkboard with different colors. That seemed to be key to him learning the words.

It's fun to plug the words into Spellingcity.com and then it adds another sensory approach...he's even spelled words out with soap in the tub...

sensory activities are key, beyond pencil and paper.

[cappuccinosmom]

I think lots and lots of reading is the best way to cement spelling in the mind. But I was taught phonics and spelling rules (as well as word roots later on, which was really helpful, as was just a little bit of knowledge about the languages that English draws from), and had my spelling lists, and found that practice to help me out.

We take an ecclectic approach to spelling. It's not all about the lists, but it's not all by osmosis, either.

[dotnetdiva]

We're enjoying going by the rules, learning in a multi-sensory way. Spelling is my 5 year old daughter's favorite subject! (It rotates between Spelling and Math these days). We use All-About-Spelling. Link goes to our blog posts that describe it.
http://satorismiles.com/tag/aas/

[elizawill]

we like the draw-write-now books (we use them for dictation). i also purchased spectrum spelling in mid december. it's just a workbook, but we like it a lot. my dd is coming along nicely with it. we like to plug our words into spellingcity as well. it's a great site. hth.

[mangopassion]

We use All-About-Spelling and LOVE it! It's a multi-sensory approach which is much needed in our home.

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by mangopassion

We use All-About-Spelling and LOVE it! It's a multi-sensory approach which is much needed in our home.

We love it too! I also don't believe that spelling will come from reading; I believe except for the few completely natural spellers (can spell anything), explicit, systematic spelling is the way to go. AAS teaches all the phonograms and the rules for using them, including syllable rules. It also carries over very well into reading, especially multi-syllabic words.

[kathymuggle]

Thanks for the input.

My older 2 are decent spellers. They spell as well their friends who have spelling lists and such. They learned it from reading as they have never had "spelling" in their lives (we are borderline USers).

I have, on occasion, thought of doing spelling list and such. I have never gone beyond thinking - as their spelling is decent - but also out of concern that it was just busy work - that they would not remember words from list.

I do see, though, how learning in word families may be usefull - as would word roots.

I will check out some of the resources listed.

Kathy

[MyLittleWonders]

I don't see much value in word lists - when I taught, I would have kids ace the test on Friday and then forget it on Monday because it is only memorizing the spelling of individual words. Teaching the phonograms and how/when to use them enable to apply those rules across the board. Just my humble opinion.

[ZanZansMommy]

My DD is learning to spell by doing word searches & crossword puzzles. It seems to be working for her.

[chfriend]

Sequential Spelling here. Really works for my very social learner.

I'm wondering, though, if anyone has found a nice comprensive list I could print off of the most common spelling rules. Also looks for a list of root words, prefixes and suffixes to play around with.

[Mommy&Will]

We just finished our All-About-Spelling lesson. Ds (7) wrote phrases that I dictated to him, jumped up and down to distinguish the syllables (his favorite thing to do), spelled aloud to me, and wrote on the dry erase board additional phrases. We also often use the letter tiles for spelling when he is resistant to writing. It provides various options for the hard-to-keep focused 7 year old.

I am really glad I found the program. Knowing the rules of spelling will go a lot farther than memorizing lists.

[emilys_mom1]

Originally Posted by terra-pip

I have been using AVKO sequential spelling with my just turned 7 year old with a lot of success...

My special ed 8 year old is loving this program. It is the only thing that has worked for us so far. She is so proud of herself each day after our 10 minutes with this program. We just started it, but so far I give . You can download the first 7 lessons free to see how your child likes it. That is what we did.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by chfriend

I'm wondering, though, if anyone has found a nice comprensive list I could print off of the most common spelling rules.

This is the best list I've ever encountered.

I have four natural spellers here, so I've never taught spelling. If I did, I'd probably build an approach around the rules in the above link.

Miranda

[MaterBum]

Another vote for All About Spelling, here! It's not memorization, but simple, digestible chunks of spelling rules and patterns with examples and a few practice words and phrases. I like that it clears up the seemingly tricky stuff like when to use "ck" versus "k" at the end of the word. Or when to start a word with "c" or "k" since they both can make the same sound. I also like how the phrases naturally keep using words from previous lessons in a new context so review happens naturally along with new learning.

This along with word searches, reading, reading, reading, and playing word games like Banagrams has worked wonders for my dd1's spelling skills. Most important, she really likes the AAS book, and asks to do it!

[Ruthla]

I've never used a formal spelling curriculum, and I was incredibly frustrated by weekly "spelling tests" when my kids were in primary school.

DD1 is a naturally good speller. She didn't need any of the lists.

DD2 is a naturally horrible speller. Memorizing 10 words a week did NOTHING to help her spell better. She quickly forgot the memorized words. She does tons of reading, and has a good general sense of how words should be spelled, but she often forgets to double consonants or mixes up vowels. Her spelling is 100% comprehensible, even though many words aren't spelled properly. What's helped her spelling the most has been typing on the computer and then running her work through spell check. It's not JUST that spell check catches her mistakes: by seeing the words she misspells pop up like that, she's actually learning how to spell them!

DS has an innate interest in spelling words correctly. Tthis is partially fueled by Webkinz- that website has a list of words that are acceptable, and if you put in any "bad words" or misspell anything (so you include any words that aren't in their dictionary), it won't let you submit what you've typed so others can see it. He's constanly asking me "Mommy, how do you spell ______" (and has been doing that for years, even before he did much typing on Webkinz). He still does that-asks how to spell something when he's writing or typing, no matter what else I might be in the middle of when he wants the word.

[One_Girl]

I am having my dd learn words with one set long vowel pattern each week. I started doing this at the beginning of January because I wanted to help her see the pattern when she reads and it has really helped a lot. She is stumbling over words a lot less and it is funner to listen to her read already. I use a white board to show her the pattern and then have her read the spelling words and spell them once every day for three days. I am thinking about having her learn how to spell the sight words, but that would be really laborious and I am holding off until we get through the long vowel patterns.

[Kerimommyof2]

we read and i do a game where sometimes i will spell a word like i go ~do you want some C-A-K-E..she has to figure it out to know
also there a Free online program called spellingcity
anyways thats what we do

[chfriend]

Dingdangdilly moominmamma...Thanks!