Spelling

Spelling - UGGGG. Spelling. Remind your kids that if they learn the phonics rules it will make spelling so much easier. If they learn their Phonics sounds (ph says f, ea-says long e, short e or a) It will make this task much easier.

Here's a video of the Spalding phonograms. This one is neat because the teacher has put hand signals with the phonograms to help kids stay interested in practicing their phonograms and to use multiple senses. The kids are hearing, seeing, saying, and moving as they learn their phonograms. 

I took a Spalding course and this was drilled into the kids heads. We practiced for a few minutes every day. We also did something called Spelling dictation.

I said the work (Cat)

Then showed the kids how many letters with my fingers (3 fingers up)

Then pointing to each finger I said the sound that letter made (k-short a- t)

The kids then said it with me

They then wrote it saying the letter sounds.

I really like this way of doing things because they heard the word, had a visual representation of the word (my fingers showing them how many letters are in the word) and they hear and repeat how to spell the words. It takes a little while (about 2 minutes per word once you've got it down) but it really works. I could hear my students saying it during their spelling tests.

Here's a video of a teacher using the Spelling Dictation with a student. Count how many times the child spells the word through the process. This is why this program is so good and helps kids learn to spell and read so quickly. 

Notice what she does with the "ph" in elephant. She points it out to the child and reminds them to use the "2 letter f" when spelling the word. The goal is to get the kids thinking about the words and spelling them correctly the first time so you don't have to go back an re-teach/re-train the brain. If they get in the habit of thinking about the words and sounds they hear they will be better readers and spellers. 

It takes a little getting use to but it really does work.

Now for a game.  kids spell.com is a nice site because you can create your own list of just use the lists they have. Over the summer I would just use their lists but once school starts have your child first type in their word list, then play the game. This way they will get more practice with the same words. ALWAYS check to make sure they put the words in the correct way first though. You DON'T want them practicing the words the wrong way. That just creates confusion and makes if more difficult to correct the problem. Some of the games are more obnoxious than others but they all help your child practice their Spelling words. I do however recommend a mute button. Just turn off the sound. They don't need to hear little beepings and other odd noises as they practice and neither do you!!!!

This site does have ad's so make sure you remind your kids about your ad rules. Can they click on them? Do they need to just leave them alone? What do they do if they see an ad that isn't appropriate? Just an internet safety reminder.