Spelling- by rules or word families?

[ThreeBlessings]

I'm trying to decide what approach I'd like to use for Spelling for next school year. My kids are 8 and 10 and we haven't done any 'formal' spelling instruction. They both spell well. I bought Sequential Spelling Level 1 and the Spelling Power book used (luckily!). Spelling Power insists teaching by spelling rules is the way to go. Sequential Spelling works by word families. Here's my thing, I think spelling is mostly memorization or recognition from reading the word, using the word, writing the word. I wonder if focusing on the rules might be confusing. Here's this sound and five different ways to spell this sound. Then you need to remember a list of words with some of each of the five examples of how to spell that sound and which word is spelled which way even though they all sound the same. I'm leaning towards using Sequential Spelling as our main lessons and introducing the rules from Spelling power on the side. Any thoughts? Which way do you do it? Have you tried both and prefer one or the other?

[Sara in AZ]

I'm interested in the answers here. I've been using Spelling Power for a couple of years. My daughter is a natural speller and loves it, but we pretty much ignore the rules. I have her copy them out on her daily quiz sheet where she is supposed to, but other than that they don't mean much for us. Dd is only 7, so I keep thinking maybe when she's older we'll focus on rules more. In the meantime it really is just memorizing as you say.

[thowell]

I can only tell you what we have experienced. When sdd11 started with us a few months ago I realized very quickly that she was only on maybe a 2nd grade spelling level. Although she could read well she could not spell at all. I picked up a program to try and teach her the rules and realized she had been taught all of these but for some reason they were not connecting for her and seemed to confuse her worse. Example when she learned the rule about the silent "E" she began to spell words like "sit" "site". I spoke with the author at SS before we picked it up used. He explained to me that not all children can learn to spell from rules. In their minds they have to learn and memorize the rules and the exceptions and then know when to apply the rules or when to apply the exceptions and that some children simply can not do all the steps. That was my sdd11. She has really excelled using SS. I can't say it works for everyone but in our case it seemed to be the only thing that did work.

[Veritaserum]

We use All About Spelling, which teaches spelling with words. It's working well for the three kids I have using it. She introduces phonograms, rather than sounds. For example, when you introduce "ou" you learn all the sounds that "ou" can make and the rules for when it makes each of its sounds. What you were describing (a sound with all the ways it can be spelled) does sound confusing to me.

 

Sequential Spelling may be a better fit for some kids, though.

[ThreeBlessings]

So AAS works by introducing word families?

[Greta]

My daughter definitely learns best by families rather than rules. The rules just overwhelmed her, confused her, and really slowed her down. Sequential Spelling was a really good fit for her.

 

*I* like spelling rules. But I wonder if this is at least in part because they help me remember the words I have trouble with, but for most words, I know them confidently through experience and familiarity. I think for beginners, the rules might be too confusing. I plan on teaching her spelling rules later on, to help her with trouble words, but just letting her gain experience with word families for now.

[Orthodox6]

:confused: Word families are organized by "rules". What differences are under discussion? (Just want to learn something new today !)

[ElizabethB]

Spelling Plus has rules and organizes the words by word type! Plus, it's cheap and focuses on the most frequent 1,000 words. So, cheap, efficient, both rules and pattern, what more could you ask for? It also has homonyms, that's one thing my daughter need explicit instruction for, I tell her the rules as she misspells words so the only formal spelling we're doing right now is homonyms.

 

For children that need to reproduce the words in dictation to fully learn them, there is a companion book called Spelling Dictation.

[ThreeBlessings]

So for an example from Spelling Power by rule-

 

/a/- long a(sorry can't put a line over it) can be written ay, ai, ey, ei, eigh, ea, or a followed by a consonant and silent e.

 

words-

 

they

play

came

day

sprain

away

way

baby

made

make

great

rain

grade

same

wait

 

An example from Sequential Spelling by word family-

 

3rd day

 

thin

pinned

sinned

I

shin

skins

wins

twins

be be

begin

chin

she

 

4th day

 

thins

pinning

sinning

spinning

shins

skinned

winning

inner

begins

chins

we

wee

bee

see

tree

[MerryAtHope]

If they both spell well, I might not do a formal spelling program. I'd focus on dictation instead. However, since you have Spelling Power already...Give them the Spelling Power test to see where they are & then do dictation for the year. Next year give them the Spelling Power test again if you want to see if they've progressed. You can use a reference like The ABC's and All Their Tricks to look up spelling patterns they struggle with and see if their are rules about when the pattern is used.

 

I don't think Spelling Power actually teaches rules though. Let me demonstrate: The list they posted is a word-sorting exercise. It doesn't actually "teach" the child anything about when to use the different spellings of long A, which ones are most common, which ones have to be visually discerned, etc...

 

The program I use, All About Spelling, instead does the following:

 

In separate lessons it will teach each one of those spelling patterns. It can be spelled with just an A at the end of an open syllable. A_E is one of the most common spellings, so that is taught next. There is a word bank to provide visual reinforcement of words that are spelled this way. AY is typically used only at the end of a word. English words don't end in I...so we may NOT use AI at the end of English words. Again, these patterns have word banks provided to increase visual recognition.

 

These patterns are introduced separately, with many lessons inbetween. After that, THEN there is a lesson like the one in SP, where the child has to choose which pattern to use for long A. Later in the series, more patterns are added, and then more word-sorting exercises. There is customizable review so you can spend as much or as little time on words or concepts as you need. It's multisensory so the kids are using sight, sound, and touch. After giving the rules and showing a list of words that follow the pattern (along with the occasional rule-breaker--and rule-breakers are always pointed out, and can be put in "jail,"), then there is dictation using the current and previously learned words as another way of ongoing review and letting kids practice spelling in a "real-world" application. The dictations gradually increase in length, and then writing is added as well, so that kids practice making up their own sentences with spelling words, or short stories if they want to. So it brings all kinds of methods together and introduces things incrementally.

 

We did try Sequential Spelling for a time also, but my kids really wanted to know the rules. Things like changing y to i & adding a suffix, but sometimes we don't change it, and my son especially would say, "well, why didn't they just tell me?" He always felt like he was getting things wrong & didn't enjoy the discovery method. Some kids really like the discovery method though & it works for them.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

I've used Spelling Power, Sequential Spelling and All About Spelling. Spelling Power was very confusing for the reasons already posted. Sequential Spelling is better but still didn't help my challenged speller enough. He wanted to know WHY words are spelled the way they are and SS doesn't help with that at all. I started my 8th grader (yes, 8th grader) in AAS about 3 months ago and have been SO IMPRESSED!! It REALLY explains the why's behind spelling in amazing detail and filled many holes just with Level 1.

 

I'm going to use AAS with my 3 younger children, beginning it after they have completed their K/1st grade phonics. I'm still using SS with my 9th grader because his spelling isn't horrible and (when I asked) he chose to stay with SS. Spelling Power is in my give away pile.

[SophiaH]

My daughter definitely learns best by families rather than rules. The rules just overwhelmed her, confused her, and really slowed her down. Sequential Spelling was a really good fit for her.

 

*I* like spelling rules. But I wonder if this is at least in part because they help me remember the words I have trouble with, but for most words, I know them confidently through experience and familiarity. I think for beginners, the rules might be too confusing. I plan on teaching her spelling rules later on, to help her with trouble words, but just letting her gain experience with word families for now.

 

:iagree: This is us as well. We haven't started SS yet but I'm planning on adding elements of it in next year.

 

Spelling Plus has rules and organizes the words by word type! Plus, it's cheap and focuses on the most frequent 1,000 words. So, cheap, efficient, both rules and pattern, what more could you ask for? It also has homonyms, that's one thing my daughter need explicit instruction for, I tell her the rules as she misspells words so the only formal spelling we're doing right now is homonyms.

 

For children that need to reproduce the words in dictation to fully learn them, there is a companion book called Spelling Dictation.

 

We use Wheeler's Speller which is free from Google, and it is similar in that it includes patterns, rules and dictation. It introduces the pattern, and then will go over the rule the next day. This week we did these lessons:

 

Lesson 40

Write these words neatly from dictation:

run running

plan planning

sit

put

rag ragged

bat

rub rubbed

sin

sun sunny

fun

let

set

 

1. How many n's in run? In running? How many n's in sun? In sunny? What is added to plan to make planning? To rub to make rubbed? To fun to make funny?

2. Add -ing to sit, put, let, and set, and write out the words you make.

3. Add -ed to bat and sin.

 

Lesson 41

Rule

In a word of one syllable, and words accented on the last syllable, a final consonant after a single vowel is doubled before a suffix beginning with a vowel.

1. Add -er, -ed, and -ing to each of the following words, as shown in the first line.

2. Write the words from dictation.

dip dipper dipped dipping

trot

drum

blot

blot

pat

bat

tin

 

For my dd, introducing the rule after she has worked with the pattern some has been brilliant. She has enjoyed trying to figure out the rule herself--kind of like a mystery. Things seem to be sinking in more than when we were using AAS and I was beating the rule to death with the tiles first. (Oh how she hated those tiles! :tongue_smilie:)

 

BTW, the Speller also includes poetry for memorization and dictation. It has a lot of variety in its lessons. The more I use this program, the more impressed I am.

 

ETA: I use Webster's Syllabary for spelling about 2xs a week also. These seem to complement each other well without being overkill.

Edited May 28, 2010 by mommahawk