We now turn to one of the "subject areas" within the language arts, spelling. I have had many questions about how to help students with spelling.
For some children, spelling is a gift. For most, the learning of spelling is a gradual process. Some spelling sense will occur as the child learns basic phonics skills. We will also discuss ways to teach this. Children will ask how to spell words they need and they will invent spelling for words they need, especially if none is available to help them. As mentioned before, many words do not fit into a phonetic structure, so many words will have to be memorized just as we need to memorize the sight words we must read. There are also many different spellings for some "long vowel sound" words. Some examples are bake, rain, say, etc.
Children should have a wide exposure to many different kings of printed material: books, charts, magazines, and newspapers. Give them the opportunity to see and use many different kinds of meaningful printed material. They should be encouraged to be involved in many kinds of writing experiences. Have many kinds of print and writing materials around your house that are available to the children.
Play with words. Do letter-sound association games. "What words can you think of that start with b'"? "Let's spell them." "Where do you hear the sound of b' (at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the word?" "What words rhyme with at'?" Make a list: bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, (g)nat, pat, rat, sat, tat, vat. Do tongue twisters. Word search puzzles are fun. There are all levels of them. You can buy them and you can have your children make them.
Young children often ask, "How do you spell...?" Sometimes you may answer or initiate, "How do you think...is spelled?" They may answer back, "..." You may reply, "That's right." or "That's close." Then you can proceed to show the correct way. It is a learning process and very young children will use "invented spelling"; but when they have the ability to begin learning how to spell, we should encourage that skill instead of passing over it and calling it "ok" like they do in many schools.
Encourage the child to spell words the best he or she can. Develop dictionary skills at an early age. There is a huge variety of dictionaries on the market, from preschool (My First Words) through high school and college level. Allow the child to use them and have many different kinds. Allow the child to make, have, and keep his own "dictionary" comprised of words he has asked for help in spelling. One excellent teacher that I worked with required her first-grade children to be able to spell any word they could read.
It is very helpful for the student to keep a continuous log of words with which he or she has difficulty. It is good to develop one's spelling program around a core of words the pupils are most likely to use or need in the future. See the words of frequency below. (These words are in the spelling packet.) Promote spelling within the context of writing. Provide many opportunities to write. Language experience improves spelling.
Dictation can begin in the primary years by giving children short sentences to write such as, "Bob is a boy." "Tim ran to dad." You can use their names and names of family members. You can use names and ideas from their readers or a favorite book. You can use everyday incidents that are familiar.
Proofreading (even in elementary compositions) is an important skill and develops a firm habit of attention to detail. This skill should be taught at an early age and continued into the intermediate level in a more formal way.
Many have asked that I compile lists of curriculum for each grade so they would have a better idea of what to teach when. Many schools and many "canned" homeschooling programs don't start spelling until 2nd grade. I guess they feel the child needs to have other phonics (if they teach that) and reading to start the spelling.
One commercial series which I highly recommend is Spelling Workout published by Modern Curriculum Press. I particularly like this series because the children are taught to proofread for mechanics and spelling errors. The books are lettered from A-H which correspond to grades 1-8. However, please never use a grade marking to place your children in any book. The upper level books are very difficult. It is always ok to back up "a grade or two" to meet the needs of your children if spelling is a challenge for them. Please contact me if you live in eastern Washington or Northern Idaho as I carry this book.
Because, until recently, I had not found a spelling program I liked, I developed my own. There are many words that 1st graders use all the time in their speech, easy reading, and writing; so I advocate starting spelling in 1st grade.
I, therefore, developed my own spelling packet which includes the 220 Dolch Basic Sight Words, the 100 and 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, and graded lists from 2nd-8th grade. I do not normally use spelling books with older students. (However, if spelling is a challenge for your older student, you can use any of the lists contained in Karen's Spelling Packet.) I have them do a lot of writing in the content areas and "critically" correct that their compositions so they will learn how to become better writers. Any words they miss in their writing become spelling words.
The next section in the spelling packet is The Challenge of Spelling. I wanted to include a list that contained more challenging words for the gifted younger speller and the older student. The list is arranged alphabetically. I have included root (base) words with prefixes and suffixes. I have not included a plan of study in this section. You could:
Now, let's discuss a couple of alternative suggestions for spelling.
Rescue the Students Now: This program was developed by a teacher in Yakima for use in grades K-3. If you decide on this program, I recommend that you only buy the Teacher's Edition. There is no "list of words" to memorize, and promptly forget after the test is over. The program focuses on the phonics, the sounds of letters. All work is done on regular notebook paper as the whole program is dictated. The student is given the sound for the lesson; then the words that follow that phonics component, phrases, and sentences are dictated to the child. He or she is doing phonics, handwriting, spelling, and sentence construction in every lesson. This method is also mentioned and advocated by Charlotte Mason. It was also a method commonly used in earlier times. I remember my teachers dictating quite large passages such as poetry or American documents (speeches). Misspelled words always became spelling words.
Total Reading: This is another program that I highly recommend. It is a combination phonics/reading program for grades 1-3; and it also has a component for intermediate/middle school level students who are having trouble reading. It differs from the Rescue program in that It teaches all the sounds for each phonogram (example: three sounds for "a") using flashcards. Students learn the markings for phonograms; and in the early units of the program, the student marks what he or she reads. This program also emphasizes literature in the teaching of reading instead of basal readers.
Some parents/teachers have their children use the Wordly Wise vocabulary books for spelling. These books can also be used in creative writing exercises by having the student write a story using the vocabulary words in a unit. The Wordly Wise Books are published by Educator's Publishing Service. Other highly recommended books by the same publisher are: Vocabulary from Classical Roots and Analogies which are very useful in helping the student prepare for the pre-college SAT and ACT. I carry these and many other books from Educator's Publishing Service because of their excellent quality.
You can contact Karen at Rosehillacademy.org for more details about ordering Rescue the Students Now, Total Reading, and the books from Educator's Publishing Service; or to obtain the Spelling packet which includes the graded learning objectives, the basic and graded spelling lists and "The Challenge of Spelling.