If you use WRTR for spelling...

[Pata]

What does your weekly schedule look like? We are just finishing up the phonograms and we are going to start working through the Ayers list after I give dd the diagnostics test. I have WRTR, Starting a Spelling Notebook and Month to Month Spelling guide, but I can't seem to picture in my head how the week will look when using WRTR for spelling. I know it can't be that hard! I think seeing a few more examples will help me to wrap my head around it.

 

Also, I understand page 1-7 in the spelling notebook, but what do you do when you encounter a rule that isn't covered on those pages? Do you have your student copy it in the front of their spelling notebook after page 7? Thanks for you help!

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

I met with a MODG consultant that teaches others how to use it. I'll see if I can find my notes for you.

 

ETA:

I just realized I included my notes in my copy of WRTR when I sold it........I also had Teaching Reading at Home by Wanda Sanseri. The consult used the organization of TRAH with WRTR. I was surprised at how simplistic it was, because so many people complain about WRTR. She gave her children 6 new words a day. She would talked to us a lot about the delivery of that part: making sure you say it correctly by syllable, saying "tell your pencil what to write", colder: "you are going to use the er as in her". She talked about the imprinting on the brain and how important it was that they get it write the first time. Then after she introduced the 6 new words, they had to use those 6 words in sentences. (This was her own idea. I use it in AAS, too. They start out very basic, beginning with I, but they will gradually get more creative to try and fit as many words in one sentence as they can. This way they have to write less sentences:) ) She saved the back of the book for new rules. When they encountered a new rule, the child would write it in that section. For her review, she would give 18 review words. Words that were missed received a red X and were practiced three times and placed back on her review list. I also remember she started w/ charts in the TRAH book (probably her 1st grade year). Then she started with the notebook.

 

I'm sorry that is so jumbled. I'm going on memory. I'm sure others will have a much better answer. I ended up using AAS, because I liked it better.

Edited April 10, 2011 by happyhappyjoyjoy

[Pata]

Thanks for the reply! So, she did more of a running list, rather than a week long list. I think that would go over much better here, hmm, more options to consider.

[Ellie]

What does your weekly schedule look like? We are just finishing up the phonograms and we are going to start working through the Ayers list after I give dd the diagnostics test. I have WRTR, Starting a Spelling Notebook and Month to Month Spelling guide, but I can't seem to picture in my head how the week will look when using WRTR for spelling. I know it can't be that hard! I think seeing a few more examples will help me to wrap my head around it.

If you want to do Spalding, your best bet, IMHO, is to stick with the manual--WRTR (the method is Spalding; the manual is WRTR). Toss the other books.

 

What your day looks like may be a little different than someone else's. Spalding is prescriptive; you do your schedule according to the needs of your dc. Generally speaking, though, each day you'll teach new phonograms and review previously learned phonograms (by dictating and by "flashing"); you'll review the words from the Extended Ayres List that were previously taught; you'll dictate and analyze new words.

 

 

Also, I understand page 1-7 in the spelling notebook, but what do you do when you encounter a rule that isn't covered on those pages? Do you have your student copy it in the front of their spelling notebook after page 7? Thanks for you help!

What rules wouldn't be covered on the Rule Pages in the spelling notebook?:confused:

[Pata]

If you want to do Spalding, your best bet, IMHO, is to stick with the manual--WRTR (the method is Spalding; the manual is WRTR). Toss the other books.

 

What your day looks like may be a little different than someone else's. Spalding is prescriptive; you do your schedule according to the needs of your dc. Generally speaking, though, each day you'll teach new phonograms and review previously learned phonograms (by dictating and by "flashing"); you'll review the words from the Extended Ayres List that were previously taught; you'll dictate and analyze new words.

 

Ellie, I was hoping you'd respond. I guess that I just need to sit down with my WRTR book again and really figure it out. I really liked the Spalding method and it's a good reminder to go back to the source to figure out our next step.

 

 

What rules wouldn't be covered on the Rule Pages in the spelling notebook?:confused:

:blush: I don't know, I figured there had to be some :D.

 

Any other thoughts :bigear:.

[Jen the RD]

Pata, I've copied and pasted from two posts I made about 2 years ago and then updated the info. What you see is a schedule from 1st grade after my ds had learned all the phonograms. Initially, though, I only introduced 4-5 phonograms per week; 4-5 per day was way too fast for him. We did the oral phonogram review (OPR) and written phonogram review (WPR) daily. What you see below is what happened after ds learned all the phonograms. Once he did, it was amazing to see him start reading almost overnight. I can't say enough about how great WRTR has been for my dc.

 

Monday

-Oral phonogram review (OPR)-Read/say at least 30 phonograms. Discuss how spelling and usage relate (e.g. ay is used at the end of words that say a) ----------5 min

-Written phonogram review (WPR)-Dictate phonograms and student writes. (I dictate 18 per day for my 1st grader.)-------15 min

-Reading Time-ds reads book to me -------- (15-20 min)

-Review last week's spelling words

-Dictate 5 new words. Ds writes words in his notebook. Discuss rules associated with words.

-Go back and read new words. -------30 min

 

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

-OPR

-WPR

-Reading

-Review yesterday's words.

-Quiz yesterday's words and any previously missed words

-Dictate 5 new words

-Read new words

 

Friday

-OPR

-WPR

-Reading

-Review week's words

-Test week's words

 

Once per month

Dictate Morrison McCall 50 word Test. (For 1st grade, I dictated 12 words, 2nd grade-20 words, 3rd grade--30 words, 4th grade--will begin dictating 40-50 words)

 

In grades 2 & 3, I stopped the WPR, but continued the OPR w/ds. My dd didn't start WRTR until grade 4, so I only used the OPR/WPR for about 4 months w/her. So, the following schedule is what I now use for ds. DD finished WRTR about 2 months ago!

 

M-TH

I dictate 5 new words daily. Both dc write them into the notebook marking each word per WRTR guidelines. We discuss spelling rules and use each word in a sentence. On T, W, Th, I quiz them on the previous day's words. I also quiz them on any missed words from previous weeks.

F

I give a test over the 20 words from the week and any other words that need further review/testing.

 

Every four weeks, I use the Morrison McCall tests in the spelling assessment manual. My dd is tested on all 50 words and my ds is tested on 25 words. This helps me pin down any problem areas and evaluate retention.

 

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!

 

God bless,

Jennifer

[cfn10]

Enjoying this thread. Quick question---When you do the written phonogram review--how would you phrase the question to ask for the "s" sound for a letter "C" or any of the less common sounds such as a "z" sound for s in as?

[Pata]

Jen, this gives me such a clearer picture, thank you!!

 

cfn10, when we've done oral or written phonogram review, I've always said, "Write the letter that says /k/ and /s/", just like it says on the phonogram card.

[Pata]

Ok, after re-reading the WRTR section on spelling and the posts, here's what I'm thinking (we've already done the rule pages and I've taught all 70 phonograms)...

 

M-Th

-phonogram review (she still has trouble with a few of the ones from 54-70)

-dictate 8 new words, give sentences for each

-review any trouble words

-have her write two sentences using the words

 

F

-give a test on words (and maybe phonograms for a bit as well)-30 words in all

 

My plan is to go all the way through the Ayers list, not skipping any of the words. This year we will use manuscript, as she's still getting the hang of spelling and the year is almost over.

 

Next year we'll use all cursive. We'll begin with reviewing the phonograms and then writing all the rule pages. Next we'll write a list of words she had trouble with from last year. And then we'll start with the Ayers list where we left off. Does that make sense? Anything I should change?

 

Also, is there somewhere online that I can get the Morrison-McCall Spelling Assessments? Or can I make up something similar? Overseas shipping would kill me on those :).

[Ellie]

Enjoying this thread. Quick question---When you do the written phonogram review--how would you phrase the question to ask for the "s" sound for a letter "C" or any of the less common sounds such as a "z" sound for s in as?

For c, you say, "Write the phonogram that says /k/ /s/ ."

 

For s, you say, "Write the phonogram that says /s/ /z/."

 

IOW, when a phonogram (and generally you say "phonogram" instead of "letter") has more than one sound, you dictate all the sounds of the phonogram.

[Ellie]

Ellie, I was hoping you'd respond. I guess that I just need to sit down with my WRTR book again and really figure it out. I really liked the Spalding method and it's a good reminder to go back to the source to figure out our next step.

Yup. It's all there. :001_smile:

 

 

:blush: I don't know, I figured there had to be some :D.

 

When you meet words that have unusual sounds, you address it in the spelling lesson. You don't make another rule.

 

There are only 27 rules.

 

A "rule" is not the sounds that a phonogram makes. A rule is more like expanding on the sound a phonogram makes, as in the 5 reasons for final silent e (rule 7), or under which circumstances a vowel says its second sound (at the end of a short word or syllable--rule 4).

 

Also, we say "first sound" or "second sound" of a vowel instead of "short" or "long," because that's what we say with all phonograms that have more than one sound, as with ea or c. There's no reason to do anything different with vowels.

[Guest]

We will be starting the Spalding method in the fall. Adrian already knows his phonograms through Horizons and ETC but I will be reviewing with Spalding and then going from there. I will be getting a couple of TG's for my boys but I have been following your thread with interest Paige and will be saving it for future reference. Thank you for starting it and thank you Ellie and Jen for your input.

[Pata]

Hey Marie :seeya:.

 

I didn't know you were starting WRTR! I guess I missed that. I know that it can be done and I think that I was trying to make it harder than it is :). I just needed to see how a few others do it so I could get my thoughts in order. Good luck!

[Guest]

Hey Marie :seeya:.

 

I didn't know you were starting WRTR! I guess I missed that. I know that it can be done and I think that I was trying to make it harder than it is :). I just needed to see how a few others do it so I could get my thoughts in order. Good luck!

 

Good seeing you :seeya:. You are way ahead of me. I am looking for a little more hand-holding on this, perhaps because I am trying to determine how much of the method I want to implement. I was originally attracted to Spalding in order to give Adrian a good foundation in spelling (he is a natural speller but I prefer he knows the rules). We have been getting the spelling rules through Horizons (lots of drill built into it) but I find the Spalding method has a better structure. Horizons being a spiral program (I am very mastery oriented) leaves me with a scattered feeling. I now want to determine how much I wish to implement from Spalding beyond spelling and also figure out my approach with Malcolm when the time comes. I hope you post and share how it is going :).

[Ellie]

We will be starting the Spalding method in the fall. Adrian already knows his phonograms through Horizons and ETC but I will be reviewing with Spalding and then going from there. I will be getting a couple of TG's for my boys but I have been following your thread with interest Paige and will be saving it for future reference. Thank you for starting it and thank you Ellie and Jen for your input.

I haven't seen Horizons phonograms, but there could be differences between them, so if you do Spalding, you'll want to be sure you let go of the other phonograms. :-)

[Guest]

I haven't seen Horizons phonograms, but there could be differences between them, so if you do Spalding, you'll want to be sure you let go of the other phonograms. :-)

 

Thank you Ellie. Horizons just introduces them within their worksheets. Same with the spelling rules we have come across so far. They do not use flash cards. Also, they do not introduce all the sounds together. It is a rigorous program and Adrian has gotten a lot out of it but a very different approach and I have come to realize that Spalding will work better for me, for what I want to do. It is why Horizons feels so scattered for me also. I like that Adrian gets to practice the phonograms and spelling rules through examples but it is so difficult to follow where you have been and where you are headed. That said, I did purchase the SWR phonogram and spelling rule cards in the fall but I am definitely putting them aside and ordering the Spalding cards :).

Edited April 11, 2011 by Guest

[Hunter]

I ordered WRTR and Riggs Writing and Spelling Road to Reading and Thinking. I picked Riggs because supposedly in their 1999 revision they changed a few things to line up with Merriam-Webster dictionary.

 

I had ordered SWR, but canceled the order when I learned that SWR is incompatible with any modern dictionary. I'm glad Amazon sat on my order for so long :-)

[Amy Jo]

We will be doing the running list/no-test day method after we settle in and my DS7 gets up to speed on cursive. I saw it on the SWR list. Basically each day dictate 6 new words (or the # per week divided by the # of days you are schooling - 30/5 for us). Then quiz on the last 30 words. So each word is dictated once, and quizzed 5 times.

 

I'll probably do a few written phonograms on the quiz as well, and we do the flashcards of the difficult/new phonograms daily. I haven't decided on these yet.

 

I did use this method with SWR with my eldest, and I like it much better because it's simple. If there are any big reference pages I'll skip the dictation/quiz and do the new page. The nice thing (for my personality) about WRTR is it is UN-numbered and doesn't say the sky will fall if you deviate from the directions.

[Jen the RD]

Also, I understand page 1-7 in the spelling notebook, but what do you do when you encounter a rule that isn't covered on those pages? Do you have your student copy it in the front of their spelling notebook after page 7? Thanks for you help!

 

Sorry, Paige, I forgot to answer this question in my other post. When I started my dd in 4th grade, I found it easier to type a list of all the rules onto 1 page and paste it onto the 1st page of her notebook. That worked great for her because she and I had easy access to look at all the rules in one place simultaneously.

 

Now for my ds, who started WRTR in K, I set up a 3 ring binder rather than using the composition notebook. I tried using the Primary Spalding notebook, but his dexterity was just not good enough yet for no middle dotted lines. Using StartWrite software, I made my own paper for him. At the beginning of his notebook, I wrote out all the rules pages (on his paper) and tabbed them 1,2,3,4 etc. As we come to each new rule in our words, we go to that rule page and add in examples of words using that rule. For him, that has worked better than the method used in WRTR. For 4th grade, I'll probably continue doing it this way. He's very visual & kinestethic, so this has been a better fit for us. It's great when he forgets a rule, because he just goes to the tabbed rule and reviews.

 

One other deviation from WRTR that has helped ds, is that I have him write the silent "e" rule next to words. WRTR does not do this. I noticed a pattern of him misspelling words w/silent e so I decided we needed to focus on it more. For example, for the word fine....he marks r. 7 j. 1 for the rule. For blue, he marks r. 7 j. 2, for trace....he marks r. 7 j. 3, for table...r. 7 j. 4, etc.

 

HTH,

Jennifer

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

:bigear: I'll probably want to refer to this thread later.

[Ellie]

Now for my ds, who started WRTR in K, I set up a 3 ring binder rather than using the composition notebook. I tried using the Primary Spalding notebook, but his dexterity was just not good enough yet for no middle dotted lines. Using StartWrite software, I made my own paper for him. At the beginning of his notebook, I wrote out all the rules pages (on his paper) and tabbed them 1,2,3,4 etc. As we come to each new rule in our words, we go to that rule page and add in examples of words using that rule. For him, that has worked better than the method used in WRTR.

Spalding recommends making posters, using poster board that is lined like paper, for the rule pages, and putting them up on a wall for reference. Only the spelling words are written in the spelling notebook. In fact, a spelling notebook is optional before 3rd grade. :-)

[cfn10]

Thanks for the valuable information.

 

Was the Spelling Assessment Manual very useful? I have a copy of the 50 Morrison Mccall Words and I am starting at the beginning of the Ayres list in WRTR with my 4 year old. Reading about it on the Spalding website it sounded as though it was more for determining where the "classroom" should start the Ayres list based on the varying abilities of multiple students. I also do not think I need a generic teacher record or the CD since I have only 1 child per grade. Am I missing something?

[Jen the RD]

Thanks for the valuable information.

 

Was the Spelling Assessment Manual very useful? I have a copy of the 50 Morrison Mccall Words and I am starting at the beginning of the Ayres list in WRTR with my 4 year old. Reading about it on the Spalding website it sounded as though it was more for determining where the "classroom" should start the Ayres list based on the varying abilities of multiple students. I also do not think I need a generic teacher record or the CD since I have only 1 child per grade. Am I missing something?

 

IMHO, the Spelling Assessment Manual is worth it. About 1/2 of the info in there is for a classroom environment, but the rest provides you with eight 50 word Morrison McCall Tests and the dictated sentences for each word. If all you use is one MM Test all the years that you test the Ayer's list, you will not have an accurate assessment of what your student has retained. Rather, they will just have memorized those 50 words. Also, there are some great record keeping forms for the early use of the phonograms. The table lists all the phonograms down one side of the page and columns across for you to date the OPR & WPR, noting which phonograms are missed. For me this was invaluable to assess where we needed to review.

 

The bummer about the manual is that shipping for the book is around $12. Rediculous for a 52 page manual! But, I'd still buy it again. I've been using it for 4 years now and will continue until my ds finishes.

 

HTH,

Jennifer

[Guest]

Thanks for the valuable information.

 

Was the Spelling Assessment Manual very useful? I have a copy of the 50 Morrison Mccall Words and I am starting at the beginning of the Ayres list in WRTR with my 4 year old. Reading about it on the Spalding website it sounded as though it was more for determining where the "classroom" should start the Ayres list based on the varying abilities of multiple students. I also do not think I need a generic teacher record or the CD since I have only 1 child per grade. Am I missing something?

 

If your search old threads you will see that it is one resource besides the WRTR book that Ellie also recommends getting. Since I will be buying two of the TG's, I don't need it because it is included in the TG's.

[Pata]

Thought I'd come back to this thread now that I've got my head wrapped around it all :). I agree with Jen that 5 words per day is more than enough to teach. As for the rest, here's a blog post I just wrote about it. (Ellie, please tell me if we are not on the right track!)

 

Oh, here are some online spelling assessments that you can download for free. Just scroll down to the section that says spelling, there are two possibilities there.