What's Your Fifth Grade Boy's Favorite Spelling Program?

[tdeveson]

My 10-year-old ds is bored with his spelling book. Each time I pull out the book, he sighs and gets that resigned look on his face. There's got to be something more engaging, more exciting for spelling than these dry old pages.

 

:bigear: Any ideas? :bigear:

[PeterPan]

Are you sure he needs spelling? Might be time to switch to vocab, do roots, or drop entirely.

[tdeveson]

Are you sure he needs spelling? Might be time to switch to vocab, do roots, or drop entirely.

 

He can't spell. :( Seriously, he misspells every other word.

[southmetromom]

My son loves All About Spelling. He actually slipped once, and said, "Mom, I really like that curriculum." It transformed him from a way-advanced-reader-who-couldn't-spell-cat to a boy who can really spell! I would do all the levels, but you can ask Marie Rippel, the author -- she is very accessible.

 

When you get to level 3, there is a fun writing element with every lesson. My son likes to make up sentences that reflect what he's studying at the time in history, or just plain silly stuff. It really is fun!

 

HTH,

 

Sandy

[Debbie in OR]

Spelling Wisdom.

[Blessedwithboys]

I would try using Spelling City (free online program). My boys love it and its free. :lol:

[Faithr]

I don't know if it matters what kind of spelling program you have. You could just get a list of words from Webster's Blue Back or off the internet or use words pulled out of a book he's reading. What made my son tolerate spelling is: 1) time the session for 15 minutes 2)let him write the words on a whiteboard 3) have impromtu spelling bees where he gets to challenge me to spelling! 4)send him notes/e-mails and have him write/e-mail back (suddenly spelling becomes important). Right now his sister away at college is sending him e-mails and he's very careful to spell everything correctly when he responds.

[PeterPan]

He can't spell. :( Seriously, he misspells every other word.

 

Uh, that's not bored, that's frustrated. I'd do dictation every day and then throw in some other things to see what clicks. The Spelling Plus Dictation book is spirals and goes through very useful words, or you can use literature, or the SWR Wise Guide sentences, or Spelling Wisdom, or... Dictation got us over the spelling hump. My dd needed to see the things in context and use them a lot. More writing and more dictation.

 

For the extras, well AAS would be fine. We used the Calvert spelling cd's (computer) for a while and dd enjoyed them. You might also do the free learning styles assessment at http://www.educate.com just to make sure you're working to his best learning modality. When I did that and realized my dd was so dominantly visual, I dumped our oral approach to spelling and changed things dramatically, with lots more visual input (computer, dictation that she reads back, workbooks, etc.). There are kinesthetic and other types of learners too, so it's good to be able to work with that. For an auditory learner, PZ might be great.

[ssexton]

I completely agree with OhElizabeth on the dictation. My ds10 has really struggled with spelling, but he made enormous strides over the last year by adding in dictation. We spent a year with SWR/Wise Guide, mostly studying and applying the spelling rules (many of them were eye-opening to me!) and doing the dictation. Now that we know the rules, we can apply them to any spelling program--but the dictation is key, imho.

[SilverMoon]

My natural speller didn't get terribly good grades in that SWO. He hated the puzzle type activities. Currently he uses Rod and Staff for spelling. It makes the kids use the spelling rule and teaches spelling, rather than mentioning the rule in passing.

[HSDCY]

My 5th grader is not a good speller. We've been using Spelling Power in the last two years. Although it's not the most interesting program, it gets the job done and we only spend less than 10 minutes a day doing it. I can see a slo but steady improvement in his spelling ability.