Spelling Program for a Poor Speller

[AmyinMD]

My 5th grader is a poor speller. Right now we are using Sequential Spelling 1. I don't think she is getting much out of it. She consistently makes the exact same errors everyday. I know the words build on each other but it is not clicking for her.

 

I really dropped the ball with dd's phonics when she was younger. I had twins when she turned 4 and in the next 3.5 years we moved 4 times (2 cross country), had premature baby, and then had another baby 14 months later. Add in her older sister with LDs and dd really didn't get enough time. In hindsight I should have sent her to school for a couple years. Dh taught her to read with the RME book and that was the bulk of her phonics instruction. She doesn't seem to have any LDs. I just think her early phonics instruction was weak.

 

I own both PR1 and AAS1 so I could use either of those. I kind of like the idea of doing PR except that we just finished a big unit with Little House in the Big Woods and dd is sick of it. I wish PR offered a couple different choices for books to use. Would it be possible to do PR2 without the Little House study? I have plenty of other LA stuff for her. With AAS the first level looks easy for her but I may do it anyway because I already have it but I thought I'd read PR1 covered the equivalent of AAS 1-3. I had asked about AAS before it sounded like we could probably get through AAS 3 by next summer if we work at it. I was also looking at Saxon Phonics Intervention. Dd is a pretty good reader though, it's the spelling that's the big issue. Dd likes Sequential Spelling okay I think because it is quick but she doesn't seem to be learning anything with it. We have tried Excellence in Spelling and she hated that one.

[MerryAtHope]

Either one is a good choice. Maybe you could spend a bit of time this weekend looking at both and that will help you decide? I haven't used PR, so I don't know about whether you can do it w/o Little House. AAS 1 would likely go very quickly. She probably has the words memorized, or most of them, and just needs to learn the concepts, and that wouldn't take long to fill in. When my kids were 9 & 11, we took about 3 weeks to cover the Level 1 material.

 

Is her problem mainly in her writing outside of spelling? Here's an article that talks about that. It relates specifically to AAS, but you could apply the ideas with other programs too. HTH some!

 

Merry :-)

[ArizonaGirl]

Have you looked at The Writing Road to Reading? It may appear a little intimidating at first, but if you take the time to familiarize yourself with it, you will find it very simple to implement.

 

Kids do very well with it.

 

See Spalding Education International for more information--and start only with the basic textbook. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough that your library might have a copy?

 

Anyway, it teaches simple basic spelling rules without bells and whistles.

 

Good luck finding what is best for your child.

[JudoMom]

My 5th grader is a poor speller. Right now we are using Sequential Spelling 1. I don't think she is getting much out of it. She consistently makes the exact same errors everyday. I know the words build on each other but it is not clicking for her.

 

I really dropped the ball with dd's phonics when she was younger. I had twins when she turned 4 and in the next 3.5 years we moved 4 times (2 cross country), had premature baby, and then had another baby 14 months later. Add in her older sister with LDs and dd really didn't get enough time. In hindsight I should have sent her to school for a couple years. Dh taught her to read with the RME book and that was the bulk of her phonics instruction. She doesn't seem to have any LDs. I just think her early phonics instruction was weak.

 

I own both PR1 and AAS1 so I could use either of those. I kind of like the idea of doing PR except that we just finished a big unit with Little House in the Big Woods and dd is sick of it. I wish PR offered a couple different choices for books to use. Would it be possible to do PR2 without the Little House study? I have plenty of other LA stuff for her. With AAS the first level looks easy for her but I may do it anyway because I already have it but I thought I'd read PR1 covered the equivalent of AAS 1-3. I had asked about AAS before it sounded like we could probably get through AAS 3 by next summer if we work at it. I was also looking at Saxon Phonics Intervention. Dd is a pretty good reader though, it's the spelling that's the big issue. Dd likes Sequential Spelling okay I think because it is quick but she doesn't seem to be learning anything with it. We have tried Excellence in Spelling and she hated that one.

 

We're on lesson 7 of Saxon Phonics Intervention. I'm using it with my 4 older boys. They are all great readers, but they are all weak in spelling. I've got to say that I am so happy with it. I know we aren't terribly far into it, but I really think it's a great program. They are retaining the spelling rules for the first time. I like that it's finite, and after 100 lessons we'll be done with it.

 

I'm also using Sequential Spelling with my older 3. I write the words on the whiteboard using 2 different colors to show the patterns. We're about 1/3 of the way through and I have seen some improvement. I decided to add SPI because I'd like to drop spelling with my older 2 boys in 2012 when they are in 8th & 7th, and decided I would rather overteach now than hit high school and realize I should've taken the time in early middle school.

[johnandtinagilbert]

You'll lose a wee bit of grammar and the outlining, notetaking, and all other writing skills of PR2 if you skip the lit. study. You will still get dictation and some copywork, though. The book is a tool that is used to bring out writing. I think plugging in something else would be like designing your own unit study...kind of a pain ;)

 

Here's what I can suggest. PR3 is a review of spelling words for the first 16 weeks, so you could start w/ PR3 and have her mark all the words. Since you have PR1 &2 (right?) you have the cards, Rule and Grammar Tunes, and a Teacher's Copy for the few references to PR2 Building Codes (there aren't many references) and I'm assuming you already have taught her some basic grammar. She'll apply those skills and get a review of them in PR3's early weeks. If you continually work through the markings and songs for those 16 weeks, you should be golden in spelling, get started on the word study (which will teach the "why" behind it all), bring grammar up to speed, and get the writing in at an appropriate level.

 

Can she outline at all? If not, a quick lesson on outlining would help and I think you could pick up in PR3 w/ the lit. study, too. It still works on writing skills and will build up nicely as you go. My blog has posts on outlining and samples of the writing in PR3. Take a look. Perhaps it can help you decide. My blog addy is in my siggy. There is a post on outlining instruction, too.

 

HTH!

[tarana]

My DD(8) had spelling issues but is an advanced reader. She had poor phonics foundation too. We started using Writing Road to Reading since Aug '10. I have seen tremendous improvement in her spelling. Initially we worked on the phonograms agressively. Now we are incorporating the rules.

 

I borrowed the book from the library & latter bought my own copy ($20 for new).

I did buy the phonograms CD but found it on the net latter at http://homepage.mac.com/ashleya/villa/spaldingmp3.html

We also used the Spalding DVD http://pat.leeschools.net/Helpful%20Websites.htm

 

As another poster said - It may appear a little intimidating at first. But you can use it only for "Spelling".

Edited November 18, 2010 by tarana

[AmyinMD]

Here's what I can suggest. PR3 is a review of spelling words for the first 16 weeks, so you could start w/ PR3 and have her mark all the words. Since you have PR1 &2 (right?) you have the cards, Rule and Grammar Tunes, and a Teacher's Copy for the few references to PR2 Building Codes (there aren't many references) and I'm assuming you already have taught her some basic grammar. She'll apply those skills and get a review of them in PR3's early weeks. If you continually work through the markings and songs for those 16 weeks, you should be golden in spelling, get started on the word study (which will teach the "why" behind it all), bring grammar up to speed, and get the writing in at an appropriate level.

 

Can she outline at all? If not, a quick lesson on outlining would help and I think you could pick up in PR3 w/ the lit. study, too. It still works on writing skills and will build up nicely as you go. My blog has posts on outlining and samples of the writing in PR3. Take a look. Perhaps it can help you decide. My blog addy is in my siggy. There is a post on outlining instruction, too.

 

HTH!

 

I think I will go with this. I appreciate all the suggestions.

 

I don't have PR2 but $200 could fix that pretty easily. :lol: If I buy Saxon Phonics Intervention it is something that probably wouldn't get used again. PR 2 and 3 would get used with my younger kids. I can't swing buying PR 2 and 3 together until January but it may take us until then to get through the rules and spelling lists in PR 1 anyway.

 

My dd uses IEW so she's done outlining with that. I'm thinking if I could accelerate her into PR 3 then we could just use that for all LA and drop the other stuff we have.

[cermincantik]

We are using Spell to write and read (SWR). Its great help for phonic fondation of my son.

[Lovedtodeath]

PR 2 has tests at the beginning. You can use those to see what you need to work on. We were able to skip to week 11. Since you are starting fresh, you could really use the PR 2 review. You review all of the rule tunes and building codes from PR 1, and marking the words (and singing the songs) in the PR 2 tests will help a lot too. :)

 

You could possibly go ahead and do the Little House study (but in your case it may be better to get to PR 3 quicker). DD has read way ahead in it. The story isn't really the point, but the dictation is based on what they have read, so that they have seen the words in print recently... and the writing skills and literary terms are based on the book. (Yes, Tina, I took a break from our other subjects so that I could get it going and understand it. :))

 

You can probably get a PR 2 teacher's manual for the spelling only for less than $200, either directly from them (she understands that some of us need to accelerate) or used. :)

 

Edit: I guess I am smile happy today. lol

Edited November 18, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Lovedtodeath]

I have had to add syllabication work to PR for Emily. It seems to be a little lacking so far, but that might just be her.