Spotlight on Spelling
Why do children need to learn to spell? There are LOTS of reasons. Here are a couple: “One, learning to spell helps to cement the connection between the letters and their sounds, and learning high frequency “sight words” to mastery level improves both reading and writing. The more deeply and thoroughly a student knows a word, the more likely he or she is to recognize it, spell it, define it, and use it appropriately in speech and writing,” By Susan Jones, M.ED.
Second, if children aren’t relaxed about spelling; it will inhibit their writing. They will be less willing to try to use more interesting words and not wanting to write as much. It’s thrilling to see a child write something and be able to read it with ease! They are so proud of themselves and can’t wait to share and write more.
The students will be given a pretest each week and given a list that is appropriate to his/her level. It could mean that your child could move up and down levels throughout the year. The list of words will contain words with specific patterns where students will learn to detect similarities and differences in words. The words have been carefully selected to include words that are most often used in their daily writing and in the higher level, more enriched vocabulary, especially later in the year. If you find your child mastered her/his test in the first two days, I can send home the next level for him/her. If you find the list is too difficult, I can send home the next level down. Please let me know in the first two days.
The test will be given on Fridays unless the end of the school week falls on a Thursday. If our week consists of three days or less, we will not have a test that week. Testing will often include sentence dictation, which will provide a few high frequency words, a few words from previous lists, (to see if students are retaining them) as well as the words from the current lesson. I will add a few new words just to see if your child knows how to spell them, however, I will only grade the words from their spelling lists. Words that are not included in the dictation will be in list form.
Here is a Good Way to Study Spelling Words:
Have your child spell the list of words aloud to you on the first night to see how much she/he already knows. Then choose an activity below to help make learning more fun and visual for several nights. Most of these activities your child can do on his/her own. Give your child a practice written test on Wednesday or Thursday night. When you are giving your child a practice test, say a sentence with the spelling word in it. This helps him/her to understand the meaning of the word. Please do not have your child try to study the words the night before the test. Watch carefully at first when your child is practicing writing the words that he/she does not capitalize the letters of words that are proper nouns.
Fun Ways to Practice Spelling Words:
Please do not hesitate to speak to me about any concerns you may have.
Why do children need to learn to spell? There are LOTS of reasons. Here are a couple: “One, learning to spell helps to cement the connection between the letters and their sounds, and learning high frequency “sight words” to mastery level improves both reading and writing. The more deeply and thoroughly a student knows a word, the more likely he or she is to recognize it, spell it, define it, and use it appropriately in speech and writing,” By Susan Jones, M.ED.
Second, if children aren’t relaxed about spelling; it will inhibit their writing. They will be less willing to try to use more interesting words and not wanting to write as much. It’s thrilling to see a child write something and be able to read it with ease! They are so proud of themselves and can’t wait to share and write more.
The students will be given a pretest each week and given a list that is appropriate to his/her level. It could mean that your child could move up and down levels throughout the year. The list of words will contain words with specific patterns where students will learn to detect similarities and differences in words. The words have been carefully selected to include words that are most often used in their daily writing and in the higher level, more enriched vocabulary, especially later in the year. If you find your child mastered her/his test in the first two days, I can send home the next level for him/her. If you find the list is too difficult, I can send home the next level down. Please let me know in the first two days.
The test will be given on Fridays unless the end of the school week falls on a Thursday. If our week consists of three days or less, we will not have a test that week. Testing will often include sentence dictation, which will provide a few high frequency words, a few words from previous lists, (to see if students are retaining them) as well as the words from the current lesson. I will add a few new words just to see if your child knows how to spell them, however, I will only grade the words from their spelling lists. Words that are not included in the dictation will be in list form.
Here is a Good Way to Study Spelling Words:
Have your child spell the list of words aloud to you on the first night to see how much she/he already knows. Then choose an activity below to help make learning more fun and visual for several nights. Most of these activities your child can do on his/her own. Give your child a practice written test on Wednesday or Thursday night. When you are giving your child a practice test, say a sentence with the spelling word in it. This helps him/her to understand the meaning of the word. Please do not have your child try to study the words the night before the test. Watch carefully at first when your child is practicing writing the words that he/she does not capitalize the letters of words that are proper nouns.
Fun Ways to Practice Spelling Words:
- Use a white board and dark colored markers such as red and blue to practice writing your words.
- Use scrabble tiles or magnetic letters to spell your words.
- Look-Cover-Write: Look at the word and remember it in your head. Cover the word and try to write it correctly.
- Be a cheerleader or use another form of exercise to spell out your words in a loud voice and in a whisper.
- Write your words using three colors one at a time on top of each other.
Please do not hesitate to speak to me about any concerns you may have.