Spelling doesn't have to be a chore. I don't even focus on it with my Lambies unless they don't develop good spelling naturally by fourth grade or so. I have seen Charlotte Mason's Dictation method of spelling work well with some of my children. With others, it didn't. I have the first Spelling Wisdom book and have used it for spelling and copy work. I do like it, but it didn't really work for all of my learners as a spelling tool.
Sequential Spelling was highly recommended and we tried it....really, we did! It took quite a while to get through a written test every day. Too much time for me. Also, my worst speller wasn't improving, despite the repetition of patterns. I am totally willing to use it again, but it wasn't right for the learning style of the children currently working on spelling.
Currently, for my learners that need basic spelling work, I use Fry Words. I made a Weekly To-Do List to keep them on track and give them the new word list on Mondays. I look over their spelling work on Friday and give them a test. Here are their weekly tasks: Monday: write each word 10 times. Tuesday: Use each word in a sentence. Wednesday: Build each word using letter tiles. Thursday: Complete a (mother prepared) puzzle. Friday: show all work to Mom and take the oral spelling test. Any words that are missed on Friday are rewritten 10 times and retested.
I've seen my struggling speller begin to improve in daily writing. I love progress!
I make a lot of puzzles for my Lambies. It's an easy way to make learning fun. Some of my favorite puzzles can be custom made at Discovery Puzzlemaker. I recently found a word search generator that I like even better. I've been making a word search of the week's spelling words using it. I also use these generators for occasional science and history work.
Boggle, Boggle Jr. for Littles, Scrabble and Word Bingo are fun games for spelling. You won't be able to use a word list, of course, but it develops different skills than looking for known words.
How do you work spelling into your day? Please share in the comments!
I love your simple approach to things that tend to get stressed over. I miss you friend :-)
ReplyDeleteI really like how you break it down day by day during the week. Do you do this for sight words or do you do sight words? Do you wait until after they've finished 100 EZ lessons?
ReplyDeleteYosemite K