Supplementing CLE LA with separate spelling?

[Shannon in TN]

I used to think my daughter was a natural speller but either she's getting lazy or just learning the tests. When she's writing things on her own, she's constantly misspelling words. I know she's only 7 but would anyone recommend adding a separate spelling? She'll be in CLE 300 next year. I've seen people talk about Spelling Work Out and AAS but I'm not really familiar with any of them.

 

What would you suggest or not suggest and why/why not?

 

Thanks!!

[Jen+4dc]

My ds10 is a natural speller. He always aces his tests but is constantly misspelling things in his writing. Basically, his brain goes faster than his hand. If I remind him to go back and check for spelling errors he always catches them.

 

I wouldn't worry, just have her reread her writing before she turns it in and look for errors. If she does this and doesn't find the errors, then I might start to worry. Otherwise, just waiting till her hand catches up to her brain might solve the problem.:001_smile:

[rdolphingirl]

:bigear::bigear::bigear:

My sister has a dd who is like this too, and is in CLE 3rd grade now.

I have done some spelling research and think that Sequential Spelling would probably help in her case.

You can look at their website for more info, and samples, they even have the program on DVD now through level 2, with the other levels due to come out as they finish them.

Sequential Spelling is easy, short, and very different from CLE so looks to me like it would be easy to use along with CLE.

 

However I (and my sis) am/are interested in seeing what others have to say about supplementing the spelling while using CLE.

 

~HTH

[krisperry]

Free:

Spelling City (.com website) and just put in the words that she misses. Make her practice those until she get them right.

 

 

Fairly Cheap:

Sequential Spelling - better for those that pick up on patterns without needing to know the rules

Calvert Online (my son uses this and they have 3rd through 8th). It is $25 for the year and independent.

 

Moderately Priced:

All About Spelling - Heavy on the rules and whys

 

Expensive:

Phonetic Zoo - Rules, great for Auditory Learners

 

Wouldn't recommend A Reason For if CLE isn't sticking. My son does CLE spelling AND Calvert. My oldest uses Phonetic Zoo and Calvert. My youngest that is in school just uses CLE and does fine.

[HeatherM2]

We supplement CLE with Sequential Spelling. It's easy to do and I've noticed major improvements in my kids spelling.

[MrsMe]

So you think she's just learning the tests? Does that mean she gets the words right on the tests but not in writing?

 

If so, that's very common, scoring well on the test, but they can't put the words into context in sentence form. It gets better in the next few years as she's still really young. It's a gradual thing to put the two together, writing using good spelling vs just spelling words at random.

 

I'd use some form of dictation instead. Try to get some of the words into a sentence. Have her study the sentence then write the sentence to include caps and punctuation. If she doesn't get it right, repeat with the same. It'll show that spelling and sentence writing is one in the same. It's sort of like one way is learned by rote and one way is learned by understanding.

[Mom0012]

I started my daughter out in K with Spell to Write and Read for spelling. We did that through most of first grade and then I transitioned her to CLE. I thought she was a natural speller and maybe she is because she still usually gets 100% on her CLE spelling tests. However, sometime earlier this year I noticed that when she was writing something and there was a word she didn't know how to spell, she was no longer able to break out all the sounds and figure it out like she could before when we were doing SWR.

 

I also felt that she might not be progressing with her reading as much, so I decided to quickly go back and do the SWR lists again with her. I'm going through 2 lists a day on the days we don't do CLE and she's really back to being able to sound out new words she needs to spell and I feel she is also doing much better sounding out words she doesn't know when reading.

 

I'm going to continue with CLE, but I'm probably going to throw in a SWR spelling list once a week at least through 3rd or 4th grade just to keep her phonics/spelling rule skills fresh.

 

Lisa

[Shannon in TN]

Thank you for all the suggestions! She is doing very well on her CLE tests; most of the time she doesn't miss any words at all. It's usually with her "fun writing" (we don't do a formal writing program right now).

 

Looks like I have some researching to do :)! Thanks again.

[titianmom]

My daughter is a very good speller and always has been (she's 13, now), but there's a phase that kids go through (and mine went through) where they get the worksheets or tests correct and can spell words to you verbally without a problem, yet when it comes to writing assignments, it's as if there's a disconnect.

 

It takes time for them to actually apply what they know when writing.

 

As a matter of fact, most parents I talk to find that their kids can spell and even win spelling contests but when they go to write a paper or whatever, they don't apply their spelling skills hardly at all and also don't bother with punctuation, either.

 

I think it has something to do with the fact that writing is a pretty daunting thing for young kids and all their effort is going into coming up with something to write and they don't concentrate very much on the details.

 

Eventually they grow out of it with some harassment from mom, ha! "Take that back and fix your spelling and punctuation, please. You know better than that..." :)

 

Now mine is applying what she knows, and I still occasionally have to ask, "Now, how do you spell that?" (She rattles it off correctly...) Mom: "Then why did you hand me this with spelling errors???"

 

Hopefully by the time college rolls around they'll really see the importance of doing a good job, but it's a maturity issue IMHO.

 

Kim

 

FYI, I use only CLE and I have no complaints. Again, she's an excellent speller just using this curriculum.

 

PS: Reading good books helps with spelling, also IMHO. If they're used to seeing good grammar and spelling and punctuation, it rubs off on them eventually. ;)