How do you strew spelling?

[Sarah0000]

And the individual skills that are helpful for spelling, like syllabification? Here are ideas I already have but its a short list, not enough variety, and doesn't really provide much opportunity for the discussion or need for spelling rules.

 

Spelling workbook (none of them look particularly fun though)

Crossword and word search books and apps

Riddle of the day (whiteboard with a riddle and child spells answer with letter tiles, but then I have to find riddles...)

Scrabble and other board games but then that has to wait until I'm available

 

Its so easy to strew math. I'm hoping to do the same with spelling until DS is ready for something like Megawords. Ideas?

[SparklyUnicorn]

How old is your DS? 

[Sahamamama]

You could show this video:

 

Perhaps you'll glean more ideas from here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0hb6AjHMROGZHpB35pHU0Q

 

You could have the student spend time with these apps: http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/apps

 

My kids love to do these on my Kindle. ;)

 

You could get a set of these magnet letters: http://shop.scholastic.com/shop/en/tso/Little-Red-Tool-Box-Alphabet-Letters-amp-Pictures-Super-Set

 

Games that involve spelling:

• Scrabble
• Scrabble, Jr.
• Scrabble Apple
• Boggle
• Boggle, Jr.
• Upwords
• Bananagrams

Not exactly strewing, but it may eventually develop into child-directed activity (it did for my three girls):

• "Help me make a shopping list." (You have already set up a home office spot, with a notepad & pens for making lists!)
• "Help me copy this recipe for Grammy."
• "Please write a letter to ______________." (You have already set up a letter-writing station, complete with blank cards, lovely stationery, a line guide to place under the stationery, envelopes in different sizes, mailing addresses, return address labels, postage stamps, stickers, pens, and markers.)
• "Will you write a skit for our Peter Rabbit party?" (You have already read the stories, and you have plenty of costumes and props in the playroom, and the children have rabbit ears from Easter.) ;)

There are more ideas for spelling practice from Spelling Power. In fact, she has a whole box full of them, set up as task cards. http://www.spellingpower.com/products/ActivityTaskCards.aspx

 

Natural Speller has other ideas for working with words, not exactly sure they are of the strewing variety, though. They are more along the lines of "add prefixes" or "add suffixes" or "make singular nouns into plural nouns" and that sort of thing.

 

http://www.christianbook.com/natural-speller-kathryn-stout/9781891975004/pd/65005?kw=21439910172&mt=b&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1186432&gclid=CLS8p-PKu8wCFZdZhgodcSoC2A

 

Again, not strewing, but we had a year or so in there when the kids made their own "dictionaries." They had a simple composition book, and first labeled the top corners of the pages with letters of the alphabet. Next, they were assigned a section of the children's dictionary for that week (Section A). They were to skim or read through that section, and choose [i think] four or five of their favorite "A" words to add to their dictionaries. They didn't have to write in the definitions, just the words, in alphabetical order. It was simple, and they loved doing it. You could spend more time on "M" and "S" and "T," since a school year usually has more than 26 weeks.

 

HTH.

[Sarah0000]

He's 4.5 years old but accelerated. Online assessments put his reading level at around a third/fourth grade level. His handwriting is pretty good, he just needs practice for speed which I've already got things strewn for that.

 

So basically I'd like to keep providing him opportunities to engage in the next level. I feel like I don't have much around the house that he can pick up and do independently in a meaningful way at his level.

[73349]

• Upwords

• a Wheeler's Elementary Speller

cards with word families

whiteboard & markers

craft/popsicle sticks you've written on, bundled by interesting topics (names of family members, plants in the garden, anything of interest)--These are great for practicing alphabetical order, too.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I had a toy called Turbo Twist Spelling that was good for that.  They don't make it anymore, but maybe something else out there like it.  It seemed like a toy for my kid at that age so he picked it up on his own.

 

I found spelling to be a waste of time.  I did do spelling because I just had this idea that explicit spelling instruction is always needed.  So with my second he was the same with spelling and I decided not to do formal spelling with him.  I see absolutely no difference between the two of them in terms of their spelling ability. 

[nature girl]

I have to agree with Sparkly, especially for a kid so young (even though he's advanced.) I know it can be disconcerting to see a bright kid write sentences like, "She playd in the prc." I've been there and started to wonder if we should try a spelling program, or if it would start to get better on its own. Well guess what, it did. :) And I didn't have to do anything that would take the joy of writing away from DD, or take away from her creativity, by making her worry about HOW instead of WHAT to write...

 

Many--if not most--kids will pick up basic spelling rules intrinsically on their own from reading...Words just start looking right or wrong. After having read them so many times, they can see them in their mind's eye. If you really want to enforce spelling you can go back and correct some of the words he writes on his own (at least a week after he's written them, so he doesn't feel like he's being criticized.) But again IMHO I don't think it makes much sense for a kid so young, there's so much time for that, so many more important and fun things to learn!

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yeah I found the stuff they couldn't spell was just words they didn't encounter much yet.  Once they were reading those words, no problem.

 

I also had an older edition of Spelling Power.  There were a lot of spelling activity suggestions.  A used older version is inexpensive.  Otherwise it's pricey. 

[Sarah0000]

Alright I hear ya. What I've got now is fine. I hope its enough to inspire him and keep him interested in LA stuff. I did get MCT Music of the Hemispheres for a creative LA for next year that I think he'll engage with.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Alright I hear ya. What I've got now is fine. I hope its enough to inspire him and keep him interested in LA stuff. I did get MCT Music of the Hemispheres for a creative LA for next year that I think he'll engage with.

 

We loved MCT's books here.

[Farrar]

I strongly agree with the you don't need to worry camp. However, for a bright kid because he'll probably just enjoy it anyway, I would do games like Bananagrams and the others from the same company. Sahamamama had good ideas. One nice thing about Bananagrams is you can use the letters to make puzzles (there's a book for them for kids that an accelerated kid might enjoy - you'd still need to pick and choose which ones to give him though). And you can alter the game - I still take more letters when I play against my 11 yos and let them have a special power (they get to put back one tile at any time with no penalty).