Spelling for a 1st grader?

[Ms. Riding Hood]

I want a program, don't especially like SWO, and think that AAS would be overkill for her. She's spells very naturally, so she mainly needs something that can systematically take her through spelling patterns and give her practice. And cheap is good, too. : ) Maybe SWO best fits the bill for that, but I wondered if there is something else out there that I don't know about.

[Mommee & Baba]

I have a natural speller as well. I'm going to take the plunge and try out Sequential Spelling. Not only will it help her learn to spell in a pattern and similar endings, but it's going to help her write as well and get plenty of practice. Instead of doing spelling everyday though since she's a natural speller I'm going to do it twice a week and work it into her following year as well. Not sure if it's something that you'd consider for your speller but wanted to chime in :)

[stephanie]

If she's a natural speller, maybe she would enjoy copy work? Spelling Wisdom may be good for her. My kids actually enjoyed SW because it wasn't in a work book form. They never really realized that they were doing spelling either. We did it for 10 minutes or so every day, focusing on any words they had trouble with, then testing on Friday. Testing just meant that I would dictate the copy work while they wrote it without looking. It worked well for us.

[Ms. Riding Hood]

After much frustration I finally figured out I can search for tags...duh. I found several threads asking this same question that I hadn't been able to dredge up before. Now can anyone tell me if there is a way to search by "phrases in quotes"? Then life will be good.

 

Thanks for both these suggestions, you two!

[abbeyej]

Both of mine are natural spellers... And because of that, nothing has been a perfect fit. My son, at five, tried SWO, but it was just silly for him (he did level C). He ended up doing a few levels of Spelling Power that year, and we have not done spelling regularly, as a separate subject, since then. He has studied a *little* off and on since then, but not much. Mostly I correct his spelling in his writing, on those rare occasions that he misses things (and he reads quite a lot, studies Latin and Greek)... He has had some moderate spelling bee success (would have been a lot more if he'd studied, lol) and hasn't missed a word on the spelling section of the ITBS in several years. Mostly, I think, for him, there are just better things for us to spend time on than spelling. It's not that I think spelling is unimportant, I just saw little relation between whether or not we studied and his steady improvement. So we use that time for other things. :)

 

For my daughter, her "natural spelling" hadn't really kicked in at five and six. (She also started reading later than ds...) This past year, she was seven entering the school year, and I thought we'd tried Sequential Spelling. It was *okay*. We went through the first book (meant to be about a 3rd grade level) in 6 weeks of about 10 minutes a day (I did skip some words that were repeated or that I knew would be super easy for her). Then I tried SWO D and E at a friend's recommendation. I love the friend and typically respect her recommendations, but I faced the same annoyance with SWO this time around that I had with ds years ago. The spelling "rules" are haphazard groupings and mere suggestions of ways sounds can be spelled. I can't imagine it would be much use to a poor speller. But for strong spellers, there's a lot of busy work having to do with words they could already spell (or could learn to spell with a single correction). The only thing I like about SWO is the "editing" practice at the end of each lesson. Dd did a lesson a day, three days a week in SWO, til I tossed it. ;)

 

And then it was back to Spelling Power for us. What I like about Spelling Power for a natural speller is that you can test a child into the appropriate level and then move just as quickly as necessary. All grade levels are in a single volume, so you aren't buying 3 grade levels of workbooks a year. A used copy is fine. So, ultimately, you save money... We don't do all of the "steps" to learning words, or any of the activities. I just read the words, and correct as we go. If dd misses a word, we practice it a couple of times and move on. I have her repeat any missed words the next day. ... And it doesn't matter that we're doing an 8th grade level of spelling...

 

So that's my (limited) experience with natural spellers. I think this coming year will be dd's last with spelling. And I'm doing it in part *as* busywork so she has something "school-ish" to do while her poor older brother is stuck working for so long. ;) I don't truly think it's necessary.

 

Some kids just *get* spelling. And they improve the more they read and write. It doesn't work for all kids. Other than making sure my kids learned to read through phonics and careful decoding, I didn't do anything particularly "right" as far as teaching them. And I know plenty of kids and parents who work harder on spelling than we have ever thought of doing, and still struggle. Just different brains. ... But since we have the chance to spend our time on other, more interesting stuff, that's what we mostly do. :)

[nmoira]

Now can anyone tell me if there is a way to search by "phrases in quotes"? Then life will be good.

 

 

• Go to Google and then into "Advanced Search"

• Enter desired text string in "this exact wording or phrase" box.

• Enter "http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/" in site or domain box

 

Edited May 2, 2010 by nmoira
typo

[Ms. Riding Hood]

Ooooh, thanks so much! And how many *years* has it taken me to learn this?

[Chinalady]

I have natural spellers also. I like phonics zoo because we don't waste time on extra worksheets that are suppose to enforce the remembering of the spelling. It also works with the phonics rules, and I like that.

 

day 1 - I introduce list and rule

then day 2 till whenever - you give them a test until they get 100% then move on to the next list. this usually takes my dd about 3-4 days.

 

There are also the lists on cds so you don't even have to call out the words to them. I put them on my Itouch and give my daughter some ear phones and she goes at it independently and then turns in her spelling sheet for the day.

 

There are 3 levels A, B, and C that are all contained on large flash cards. if you don't want to use the cd and call out the words yourself, just by the cards and you are good for 3 levels of spelling. I know VP stretches level A for 2nd and 3rd grades.

 

Lesson 1: "ai" and "ay" words: a few of the words are brain, played, chained, railway, pail, sailed, train, painful, etc...

 

I know your daughter is in 1st grade, but if she already is reading at 2nd grade level I think it would be fine.

 

ChinaLady

[ElizabethB]

Spelling Plus (and if need be, sounds like you won't) the companion Spelling Dictation.

 

It's very efficient, you start where they need to start, it focuses on the most common words and the most commonly misspelled words, grouping them by rule and pattern.

Edited May 3, 2010 by ElizabethB

[Karenciavo]

I used TATRAS with my ds7 for pre-K to 1/2 way through 1st and then switched to Spelling Power. Easy to use, effective, and good for as long as we include spelling.

[hsmom2girls]

At the risk of sounding stupid...:001_huh:

 

What is; SWO, and AAS

 

I'm not up on all the phrases but they might be something I may be interesting in using to for the girls.

[Tracy]

At the risk of sounding stupid...:001_huh:

 

What is; SWO, and AAS

 

I'm not up on all the phrases but they might be something I may be interesting in using to for the girls.

 

SWO = Spelling Workout (recommended by TWTM)

AAS = All About Spelling

[amyrjoy]

Have you looked into Building Spelling Skills? Maybe not the first part of the book in the first book but it definitely picks up speed halfway through. Even trying the second book.

[Lovedtodeath]

Here are some efficient and inexpensive programs that teach the rules: How to Teach Spelling with How to Spell workbooks from EPS, Spelling by Sound and Structure by Rod and Staff, Apples and Pears (haven't seen this one).

[Ms. Riding Hood]

So far I think R&S has the most appeal. I like that I can actually look at the samples. I'll have to search for samples of Building Spelling Skills; it was another one I'd thought of.