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Need a good Spelling curiculum for 2nd grade


NatYoung17
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We've been using Modern Curiculum Press so far (Spelling workout A & B)but my DD doesn't seem to retain all her spelling words... she will do ok during the lesson & test at the end, but once we get to the Review lesson (every 6th lesson) she gets almost half of them wrong... She doesn't seem to be a natural speller and I dont know if I need to switch to something else or give her more practice? I just don't know how to get it to "stick"- I'm a natural speller & never had problems with it, so I real;y don't know how to help her with this... I'm also a stickler when it comes to spelling, so this does really bother me...:-(

Any advice will be much appreciated! Thanks!

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Is it possible for you to weave her spelling words into your other daily work? As a way of reinforcing her use of them? For example would it help if you chose five of her previous spelling words each day to use in her journal writing. If it is repetition she is needing, you could also make flash cards for each spelling list and give her a quick test on five words a day.

 

If she could have the opprotunity to continue to use the new words, it could help in solidifying them in her long term memory.

 

Hth,

Renee

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Spelling Plus has been working for my son (5th grade though). He needs constant review and that has helped a ton with his spelling. We practice the list words as suggested in the book, lots of dictation (review) and once every 6 weeks we do a review week of words he missed on post test and words that he has forgotten (I find these while doing dictation). I also have his list words in at spelling city for him to review almost daily. We spend 30 minutes a day/4x a week on spelling doing all of this and I have seen great improvement in his spelling (during spelling and outside of spelling in his writing). I got the Spelling Plus from Rainbow Resources and it is for grades 1-6 (I think), so it was inexpensive. The book did a great job of explaining spelling to me and getting me to understand why what we were doing wasn't working and what I needed to do to make spelling stick with him. It is written for the classroom, but we haven't had any problems using it at home. My other son is a natural speller and I don't go to all this work with him, but I use many of the ideas for this book to do his spelling.

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How to Teach Spelling (and the workbooks that go with it, How to Spell) are my personal favorites. Spelling Power worked well for my bad speller, BUT I had to tweak it a LOT. HTTS has been un-tweaked so far and I am using it with four kids now. It has built in dictation, which I think is the key to learning to spell. Dictation makes you spell the words in context, and reviews previous words at the same time. HTH and good luck! I am a natural speller and my first two were definitely not, so I know it is a steep hill to climb when it comes natural for you.

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DD8 (almost 9) is not a natural speller. We have started AAS, and at first I was wondering if it fit, as her spelling wasn't carrying over to her writing, but slowly, slowly, slowly, I am finally seeing results. Perfect? Definitely not.

 

What I think is helping so much is the review sections with the box and the curriculum itself builds upon itself, and she is constantly reviewing the rules (she's not good at memorizing) in dictation AND there is review of rules and concepts every lesson. We are only on level 2 with her, still going slowly and reviewing. We work 20 minutes a day, 4 days a week, and she is spelling better!

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We are enjoying AAS, and I would highly recommend it.

 

I was wondering if doing some more kinesthetic activities would help your daughter instead of purchasing and starting another curriculum. Having her spell her words while she's s jumping rope or spelling them out with pipe cleaners or pretzel dough or having her alternate standing and sitting as she says each letter. She may just need a little different sort of review. ~HTH

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I have seen great improvement with Sequential Spelling this year for my 4th grade dyslexic. You can get the first lessons and the intro information on the website to try it out. It says to start it with children reading at 2nd grade level. It is based on word families. We used AAS for 2 years and needed something from a different approach.

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dictation, which I think is the key to learning to spell. Dictation makes you spell the words in context, and reviews previous words at the same time.

:iagree:

I was wondering if doing some more kinesthetic activities would help your daughter instead of purchasing and starting another curriculum.

:iagree:

Dictation is key, as is reviewing the spelling words in visual, verbal and kinesthetic ways. You can use letter tiles or magnets to spell the words, or make the letters with playdoh. You can see and say the words and so on.

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We are using Spelling Plus and the Dictation book that goes with it. I spent less than $20 total on Amazon.com. it is really helping my son. He is a pretty good speller, but for the words and rules he struggles with, the repeated use in dictation helps tremendously!

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I'm probably in the minority here, but I loved Rod and Staff spelling. If your DC is a natural speller I would use the next grade up, and if they struggle a bit, use it on grade level.

 

Here's an excerpt on the description of their spelling program:

 

34 weekly lessons. The Grade (2) Spelling workbook offers exercises for 12 words in each of the 34 weekly lessons except the review lessons. Each 2-page lesson has 2 main parts.

Part "A" serves to strengthen the pupil's understanding of the meaning of the new words as they work with synonyms, antonyms, definitions, picture clues, context clues, and categories of words.

In Part "B," pupils work with phonetic patterns as beginning and ending sounds, long and short vowels, consonant blends, digraphs, double consonants, and so forth. Part "B" teaches word structure as syllables, plurals, verb forms, and suchlike.

The lessons were quick and painless and my DD loved them.... her retention of the spelling words she had each week was wonderful as well.

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AAS has worked wonders for us!! I love that they use the letter tiles to illustrate the spelling rules and it makes it more interactive. I love that they get to review only the words and phonograms that they need to review and yet also have a few times per level when they practiced even the mastered cards so I caught things that they had forgotten over time. I love that they practice spelling the ten words for each step twice and have extra words so we do those spelling bee style. I love that they get to focus on just one concept per step and can master that. I love that they get to apply what they learn in the phrase and sentence dictation. I love that they are learning the why behind how things are spelled and not just memorizing for a test. I really don't think there is anything else I could ask for in a spelling program- and we've tried several, including SWR. All these factors combined have led to longer term retention in spelling for my daughter who is NOT a natural speller. I am definitely seeing progress and much greater consistency in applying what she has learned in her own writing.

 

stm4him

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I've homeschooled 19 years. Just switched to ALL About Spelling. The great thing about using it with your young one is that if they would happen to have a reading issue such as dyslexia, this will help tremendously. Found out one of my son's has an issue hearing the sounds from doing this program. Highly, highly recommend it.

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