Jump to content

Menu

Spell to Write and Read


Lady Lulu
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello friends,

 

I have a quick question for those of you who use Spell to Write and Read for your phonics program: how many spelling words do you go through in a school year?

 

We are in our first year using SWR. My son is in the 1st grade. We got off to a late start using the program this year simply because it took me forever to figure out how to implement it.

 

Once we got it going, we shot to do 3 spelling words a day, and one sentence (using the spelling words). We also do just a few minutes of the phonics flashcards. We have completed about 80 words.

 

I'm wondering if we should stop once we get to 100 words and start reviewing the phonics and handwriting.

 

As a side note, SWR is one of my favorite parts of our homeschooling day. However, this is not my son's favorite subject and he really resists my attempts to get him to write more. I would really like for him to write more sentences in a day, but I don't want to make homeschooling a negative experience for him.

 

I'd love to hear what other people are doing that are using this program. '

 

Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did A-somewhere in K when ds was in first grade. So that's between 400 and 500 words. We reviewed phonograms every week as well as spelling rules. We started out with 10 words for the week which we would write on Monday in the learning log and then practice for the rest of the week. After a few months, we started doing 20 words a week and writing 10 on Monday and 10 on Tuesday. Ds had additional copywork through history, science, and WWE for handwriting.

 

Personally, I wouldn't stop doing words. I would just incorporate review into your week with a game or just going through the cards. We did take an occasional week off doing spelling words to catch up on the extra pages in the back and focus on phonograms, but it wasn't that often.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I've started SWR in 1st grade, I've done A through somewhere in the Js to just starting the Ks. Even this year, with a 1st/2nd grader & a 4th grader, we'll barely hit the Ls before we're done for the year. Both of these kids have gone through these lists at least once before, although the 1st/2nd grader hasn't gotten to the later K lists.

 

We review the phonograms with the cards weekly (at 85%+ mastery) and are at the point that we can quiz the whole list monthly (with mini-quizzes more often). Our "handwriting" is practiced while we are writing our words & sentences.

 

One thing I learned to do was to set a timer (or watch the clock) because my kids can only take so much SWR in a day. Once we use our time up (this year is 30 minutes), we're done. I mark what we got done & we pick it up the next day at that spot. That means that some days, I don't get done all that I want to. C'est la vie. We just keep trucking along.

 

Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you seen the chart on p. 64? In 1st grade, ideally, you want to shoot for 20 words per week and get through List L by the end of the year.

 

Remember, though, that this is an ideal, and there are a number of factors that are going to affect how many words you do. One very important factor is how long you have been using the program. Being new to the program, and getting a late start, I would not expect you to be able to do 20 words per week. It sounds like what you are doing is a good pace at the moment. I would also not expect you to get to List L. But don't fret about it. Just teach him where he is at. Do what you can do until you get to the end of your school year. In the fall, you will give him a diagnostic test and start there next year. It would be wise to start with 10 words per week and then slowly increase the amount you do until you can get him to 40 words per week. You may not get to 40 words per week in 2nd grade. That is okay. Please do not worry whether you keep the schedule. It is a guideline. You do what you can, and remember that you are teaching a child, not teaching a program.

 

I started SWR when my oldest was 5yo, so you would think that moving her to 20 words per week at 6yo was easy, but it was a challenge. She was struggling with her writing stamina at that time. I had to divide up our SWR time into three blocks. We did phonogram review first thing in the morning. Later that morning, I dictated 5 words. And in the afternoon, I had a quiz on the 5 words we dictated that morning. That year, I also had her doing some copywork (WWE) twice per week. That really helped her writing stamina. When we started our third year (this year), I no longer had to divide up our SWR time anymore, and we were able to move to 40 words per week within a couple of months.

 

Do not stop going through the spelling lists. You will review the spelling rules and phonograms over and over again in context. This is so important. Very often, these things do not click for a student until they see the patterns over and over again in the context of several words in several different lists.

 

You should be doing some review of phonograms daily (be sure to play games with them), and you should regularly administer written phonogram tests (you can do these on a white board if you have a reluctant writer). But it will take years before it is all automatic. My dd8 just tested at grade 4.9, yet she still forgets some of the phonograms. That is okay. We do a little review every day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daughter is in first this year. She is a very young first grader with a birthday in August. We are currently right in the middle of J and I am not progressing her any further. She has stuggled with some of the words in J so we are now just reviewing all she has done this year. We didn't start till around October. We also do WWE and she also does MP literature pack so she does a lot of additional writing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

So sorry for the late reply.  I am just now looking at this thread again and realized I did not thank you all for your responses.  Each of your responses is so helpful for me.  Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences and knowledge with me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you seen the chart on p. 64? In 1st grade, ideally, you want to shoot for 20 words per week and get through List L by the end of the year.

 

Remember, though, that this is an ideal, and there are a number of factors that are going to affect how many words you do. One very important factor is how long you have been using the program. Being new to the program, and getting a late start, I would not expect you to be able to do 20 words per week. It sounds like what you are doing is a good pace at the moment. I would also not expect you to get to List L. But don't fret about it. Just teach him where he is at. Do what you can do until you get to the end of your school year. In the fall, you will give him a diagnostic test and start there next year. It would be wise to start with 10 words per week and then slowly increase the amount you do until you can get him to 40 words per week. You may not get to 40 words per week in 2nd grade. That is okay. Please do not worry whether you keep the schedule. It is a guideline. You do what you can, and remember that you are teaching a child, not teaching a program.

 

I started SWR when my oldest was 5yo, so you would think that moving her to 20 words per week at 6yo was easy, but it was a challenge. She was struggling with her writing stamina at that time. I had to divide up our SWR time into three blocks. We did phonogram review first thing in the morning. Later that morning, I dictated 5 words. And in the afternoon, I had a quiz on the 5 words we dictated that morning. That year, I also had her doing some copywork (WWE) twice per week. That really helped her writing stamina. When we started our third year (this year), I no longer had to divide up our SWR time anymore, and we were able to move to 40 words per week within a couple of months.

 

Do not stop going through the spelling lists. You will review the spelling rules and phonograms over and over again in context. This is so important. Very often, these things do not click for a student until they see the patterns over and over again in the context of several words in several different lists.

 

You should be doing some review of phonograms daily (be sure to play games with them), and you should regularly administer written phonogram tests (you can do these on a white board if you have a reluctant writer). But it will take years before it is all automatic. My dd8 just tested at grade 4.9, yet she still forgets some of the phonograms. That is okay. We do a little review every day.

 

That chart always discourages me every time I look at it! I agree that keeping the pace is challenging, we haven't been able to, although it is getting a little easier as ds is getting older and not so opposed to writing.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...