Can someone please explain Sequential Spelling

[Baseballmom]

I don't understand how this works. I looked at the sample, but I don't really see what you do with the lists they give you. Are there workbook pages? Is this teacher intensive? Why do you prefer this program over other spelling programs. Does anyone not like this program and why?

[Snickerdoodle]

Would like to know as well...

[Frontier Mom]

I use the first book with my three oldest ds's. I like it because it only takes about 5 minutes. What I do is call out the word, use it in a sentence and then we take turns spelling it back. There are no tests, just a list each day.

 

The format is that you start with a base word like "it" and build from the back and front, using the base word somewhere in the word. For instance, one word might be it, then sit, then spit, then sitting, etc.

 

Hope this helps. We discuss doubling consonants, etc. as I go over them but my guys are a little older and we like this a great deal.

[Baseballmom]

Does it tell you what the spelling rules are, or do you just know them? That is really what I don't get. Are they just memorizing the words or do they learn rules?

[juls]

The online samples are slightly misleading. After the initial two weeks or so, the child will be given a list of 25 words to spell dictated one at a time by you. Some of the words are not very frequent but they all build on a certain pattern. After a certain number of lessons a test is provided, but there is no studying. The idea is that the child will learn different spelling patterns by the daily repetition.

 

Do you have a poor speller? SS is usually recommended for children with spelling difficulties.

 

I used SS with my oldest (a poor speller) for about two and a half years. He didn't like it but I think it helped him. I have been more impressed however with the Apples and Pears spelling program that I am now using with my 3rd grader, also a poor speller. This program is a bit more multi-sensory and I think it is sticking a bit more. Neither of these programs teach rules or require memorization of lists by the way.

 

Hope this helps,

[Claire]

I used Sequential Spelling with my dd, who is a remediated dyslexic and had a *lot* of difficulty with spelling. No other spelling program we had used before this worked for her. We had tried Spelling Power, Phonetic Zoo, Wanda Sanseri's approach, and several others I no longer remember. SS was the first program that improved her spelling. I could see the improvements in her everyday writing starting around lesson #60 in the first book.

 

SS is a word family approach. It does not teach rules at all (although some people do add in rules as they go along). I would say it works on spelling subskills that other programs take for granted -- especially pattern recognition skills.

 

IMO, SS is best for poor spellers. It would bore a good speller to death.

 

Different children benefit from different spelling approaches. My dd, for example, could *not* learn spelling from the traditional rules, I think because the rules for English have *so* many exceptions. Also, she is dysgraphic so kinesthetic approaches (air writing, writing in sand or shaving cream, etc.) did not help her.

 

SS lends itself to different approaches. We found that an extremely streamlined approach worked best for us. I gave dd a word, she wrote the word, I looked at the word. If the word was spelled correctly, I gave her the next word. If it was incorrect, I told her which part needed to be changed, she crossed out the wrong word, wrote the corrected word, and I gave her the next word. Working this way, we were able to finish a lesson in book #1 in under 5 minutes, so I was able to double-up (working from different parts of the book simultaneously) to cover more patterns every day. Spelling became my dd's favorite way to start the academic day.