Spelling Review for AAS

[rebbyribs]

We started back to school this week after a month of break and a month of "light school" before that.  My 8yo was finishing up AAS3 with 2 lessons to go when we stopped for break.  So we just jumped back in where we were yesterday, using the review cards.  Gah!  She spelled "graceful" "g - a - c - backwards e - s - f - u - l" and "where" "w - a - r - e - r".  There were also some more straightforward mistakes, like not doubling the consonant in "giggle," "middle," "wetter," and "dropped".  And, of course, there were all sorts of spelling mistakes (on things we had covered in AAS2 or AAS3) in her other written work.

 

Overall, I was pretty discouraged.  I suspect she's dyslexic because learning to read was a rough road (although she's reading at about grade level now.)  Spelling has always been hard for her.  She does not have a good visual memory for words, so I was really happy to find AAS because it taught rules and just relied on visual memory for rule breakers and the long vowel words that can be spelled different ways (e.g. "steel" vs. "steal").  By the end of last year, she seemed to be doing pretty well with spelling, although she had a bit of trouble keeping up with all of the different rules about adding suffixes.  

 

Is what I'm seeing just normal learning loss after a break?  Or is it looking like AAS might not be working well for her?  (But then, what else should I try?)  Should I go back and re-teach some of AAS3, or is there a good way to review in more depth than just going through the cards?  Or should we just continue on and go through the review cards?

 

Thank you for your help!  Spelling has been a tricky subject to teach this child because our brains seem to work in different ways.  I learned to spell visually and never had much trouble with it.

[momof4babes]

Following.

[Kiara.I]

If you're jumping back in, it might be good to spend time reviewing the phonogram cards, the sound cards, and the key cards, before reviewing words.

 

However...I don't know how to assess whether it's not working for her at this point.  That might be the case.

[rebbyribs]

If you're jumping back in, it might be good to spend time reviewing the phonogram cards, the sound cards, and the key cards, before reviewing words.

 

However...I don't know how to assess whether it's not working for her at this point.  That might be the case.

 

Thanks for your help!  I think she knows the phonograms and sounds pretty well.  I thought that reviewing the key cards might not work so well by itself because we may have hit the point of "too many rules" and I'm not sure she can remember all the rules at once and know what to apply when.  I'm starting to think about making a flow chart or something for all the suffix rules.

[Kiara.I]

Thanks for your help!  I think she knows the phonograms and sounds pretty well.  I thought that reviewing the key cards might not work so well by itself because we may have hit the point of "too many rules" and I'm not sure she can remember all the rules at once and know what to apply when.  I'm starting to think about making a flow chart or something for all the suffix rules.

 

In that case, maybe yank out samples of words that use what the key card is talking about?  Review two key cards, and then review words that go with them in some way.

Also, you might want to go back to having her spell the words with the tiles.  Moving them around gives that extra moment of "hey wait, that's not right" before it's on the paper.  

[dragonflyer]

It took us a couple of weeks to get spelling back.  At first, it looked really bad, but he did come around after a lot of review.

[MerryAtHope]

I always started after a break with at least 2 weeks of review. This is especially important for kids who struggle with spelling. We would go back over all of the previously learned phonogram, sound and key cards, plus all of the word cards from the most recent level (if we were near the end) or from the previous level (if we were near the beginning of a new level). The words that were mastered near our stopping point were especially important to review. That's the only way to see what "stuck" and what needed more time to really be mastered. 

Here's what I would do with some of the mistakes you saw:

 

 She spelled "graceful" "g - a - c - backwards e - s - f - u - l" 

 

First, have her read *exactly* what she wrote. The missing R and the letter reversals of E and S are phonetic errors. If she says "graceful" sound out what she wrote for her. I'd say "gay-ses-ful" if I was sounding it out. See what she can correct at that point, and praise her for improvements. 

 

If she still misses the C when she tries again, you may want to go to the tiles, or at least have her try the root alone on paper. Say, "There are two ways to spell the /s/ sound. Do you remember what they are?" See if she remembers that the root is "grace" at this point, or if she can at least remember the two ways to spell it. If the root doesn't come out correctly at this point, show her. 

 

Praise her for getting the suffix correct. Many children misspell this suffix with 2 l's. (Don't mention how kids misspell it, just praise her for a job well done there.) "Great job on the suffix!"

 

I would practice this word for several days--I'd have the card in daily review, and we would talk about the reasons for each tricky part as she reads it for a few days, and then we'd try spelling it for several days after that until it was easy.

 

and "where" "w - a - r - e - r". 

 

This is a tricky word, and I'd just show her with the tiles. I'd say, "This one is a sight word and it isn't spelled like it sounds. Which letters don't say what we expect?" (the ere combination). 

 

I like to show my kids that the word "here" is inside the word "where," and that both refer to location. Where is it? Here it is. My kids tended to mix up "where" with the homophone "wear," and this visual demonstration helped them. I'd also help her see that "warer" would be pronounced with 2 syllables--there's a definite auditory component to many of her mistakes, and teaching her to sound out what she has written will help her over time learn to correct these errors. 

 

There were also some more straightforward mistakes, like not doubling the consonant in "giggle," "middle," "wetter," and "dropped".  

 

This just shows she needs more reinforcement on the consonant-le pattern, syllable division, and the 1-1-1 rule. I'd work through each of them like this:

 

First, with "giggle" and "middle," I'd make these words with tiles (you can write a g on a blank blue tile or just write one in if you don't have 3). I'd ask if she remembers how to divide them into syllables--if she does it correctly, praise her! Have her label each one. Then ask, "Why can't I spell giggle with one g?" gigle. She should indicate that then the word would be pronounced gi-gle (long I) or something similar. If she isn't sure, show her how it would be divided and pronounced. Do the same with middle.

 

If she doesn't remember open and closed syllables, review that. 

 

Then move on to the 1-1-1 rule, and have her make the root "wet." Ask if she remembers any rules about adding a consonant suffix. If she does, praise her! If not, walk her through that rule again. 

 

Do the same with drop/dropped.

 

If she struggles with either of these concepts, work back through the full lesson in AAS 3.

 

 And, of course, there were all sorts of spelling mistakes (on things we had covered in AAS2 or AAS3) in her other written work.

 

I would expect this from a struggling speller, and especially after a break. In other written work, there are so many things to focus on--spelling, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, syntax, how to form ideas into words, how to organize thoughts, what answers are correct or what is creative--many children are not able to put all of this together until junior high. 

 

In her other work, I would focus on content and ideas. You can make notes (without telling her) of things she misses spelling-wise and slowly work through a review of those concepts/words in your daily spelling time. 

 

You may even need a month to review spelling if she has gotten rusty on a lot of it.

 

I found it helpful throughout the year to do daily review of things my kids struggled with for 3-5 minutes, and occasional days that were just review if it was obvious they weren't ready to move on. You want to make sure concepts are solid before you add more new information (remember the funnel concept). Keep lesson times short, 15-20 minutes. If you need a month to review before starting back, that's okay--it's time well spent before continuing on. 

 

Automaticity--the ability to automatically do something--takes time to develop. In AAS, there is a gradual progression or scaffolding from easier activities to harder ones with spelling:

 

-Spelling in the context of the list with tiles is easiest–words all follow the same pattern

 

-Spelling the list in writing can challenge some students who have to work hard at handwriting.

 

-Spelling from word cards (shuffled to mix the patterns) is slightly harder, but students still only have to focus on spelling

 

-Spelling in dictation is another step harder–many words using differing patterns are used, and the student has to hold the sentence in memory, and also think about capitalization and punctuation.

 

-Writing Station exercises (introduced in Level 3) focus on words the student has learned, but ask the student to come up with original content, which requires additional skills to be used. These serve as a bridge between dictation and spelling in the context of outside writing.

 

-Outside writing–this is the hardest level for the student for the reasons I posted above.

 

“Word Analysis†is added starting in Level 3 to get children to think more about why words are spelled the way they are–to think about which techniques they need to use.  Does this word follow certain rules?  Is there more than one spelling choice that could work? Do I have to learn this one visually and use methods like scratch-paper spelling?  Do syllable rules or suffix rules apply?  and so on.

 

Use the dictations and Writing Station exercises to teach basic editing skills–how to look for errors and how to think through how to correct them. Even professional writers need proofreaders, so elementary students definitely need ongoing training in this area. This article on Helping Kids Achieve Automaticity in Spelling has some tips that I think you’ll find helpful.

 

To help my kids start to use some of these editing skills, I first worked on it through the dictations. When they made a mistake, I would say, “There’s one spelling error. Can you find it?†Praise if she can find it. Then see if she knows how to change it. If she’s not sure, give a question to prompt, such as, “Can you think of a rule that applies?†or “Sound out exactly what you wrote†(very useful if she has a wrong phonogram, too many sounds or a sound left out of the word) or, “Can you think of a word that might have another option for one of the phonograms?†Try to lead to the answer by getting her to think it through. However, if she starts to get frustrated, you can give more help and just model the process of thinking of the rule, sounding it out, or trying different phonograms.

 

Make sure to put any missed words back in daily review until they are truly mastered.

 

When we started the writing station activity, I would put a light pencil x next to each line that had a mistake, and would again see if my child could find them. Again, praise for any she finds. This is hard work for them, and you really want to encourage them. Go through the same process I described above.

 

When she has the hang of editing in dictations and writing stations, then you can start to help her edit outside writing that needs to be polished (not all writing needs to be polished, and sometimes if the subject is science or history, I would choose to focus on content knowing that spelling would eventually come along. Kids can get discouraged if you focus on everything at once–the goal of perfection seems unattainable.)

 

AAS has the tools you need to teach her, but know that for struggling spellers, kids with stealth dyslexia and so on, you need to keep reviewing, do lots of modeling and demonstrations, and walk her through how to apply what she is learning. The editing part can take quite awhile for kids to get, so don't get discouraged. She'll get there! My oldest struggling speller heads to college this fall and while not perfect, he's much improved! Work with her where she is, and know this takes time and patience.