How does spelling go at your house?

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Just want to see how others do spelling for the young elementary age who don't need phonics anymore.

 

Dd gets her list on Monday, I call the words out and she writes the one she knows, I help on the ones she does not, those get a star next to them and we go over spelling rule.

Tues. she rewrites the ones that have a star in cursive (handwriting practice).

Wed. she writes sentences for half the words.

Thurs. she writes sentences for other half.

Friday test

[Shellydon]

My kids do the pages in Spelling Workout. 1 page a day.

[nukeswife]

We use All About Spelling, so it's a bit different.

 

Usually it goes sort of like this

Day 1 of the Step: Review any cards from the AAS box under the review tabs, this includes phonogram, sound, key(rule) and Words from past lessons.

Begin the step in the TM, sometimes there is word analysis, or a concept review. We work for 15 minutes then stop.

Day 2 of the step: continue with teaching from TM, this is usually the new teaching part, and the spell with tiles part (sometimes they use a whiteboard instead of the tiles),again we work for 15 minutes.

Day 3 of step: Spell on paper (they spell the words on paper) and then we do dictation phrases (if in level 1 or 2) and sentences. Again this takes 15 minutes

Day 4 of step: if we haven't finished the step we do it this day, that means we'd finish up and dictation sentences not finished the day before.

 

After that we start the next step.

 

Sometimes a step only takes 2 days because we work through the items quicker if they know the material well, or catch on quickly. Sometimes we have to stretch it out for more than 4 days because they are struggling with it. The key is that we only work for 15 minutes and then we're done with spelling for the day, no matter how much or little we've gotten through and just pick up the next day where we left off.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

tried doing it the way our curriculum (abeka) says but kiddo's such a spelling smarty-pants that he doesn't think he needs to study :glare: the words so I will show him the page we'll be working with all week and he will have to do the exercises from the book (fill in blank-find the mis-spelled word etc) and then one day I'll say ok time for a test and he does it-either typed out on the computer or written out--but if he does miss any he has to write that word 3xs .....so far he's done pretty well....he's been a really good speller from the start-he's had practice with texting LOL I tell him don't text it if you can't spell it....

[Mrs Twain]

I use Spelling Power. It is very similar to your method except that it adds a practice sheet for all of the misspelled words. The practice sheet is one of the best parts of the program IMO. The method goes like this: the kids say the word, spell it and say it, spell it and say it with eyes closed, write the word very large on a white board (sand box), then test themselves without looking at the word. They repeat this process if they don't get the test correct. It works very well!

[SorrelZG]

Either as needed or through copywork/dictation.

[mom31257]

I use ACSI spelling (older editions) with Big IQ Kids Premium.

 

Each week he uses the ACSI lists on website, doing a lesson daily.

 

From the ACSI student book, I choose activities that I think are fun or useful, but I rarely have him do the entire lesson for the week.

 

I haven't used the teacher manual much at all, but I just noticed a couple of weeks ago that there are dictation sentences containing most of the words. I've been using those because I've never done any dictation with the kids. He is actually doing very well with it.

[...................]

This year we used Rod and Staff Spelling for my 2nd grader. It's OK but not great.

Day one- do the 2 workbook pages

Days 2-4- write words 2x each while saying aloud

Day 5- test

 

My ds used Calvert in which all of the practice is online. It worked extremely well because the program adjusts to student need.

 

Next year we are going back to ACE for both kids. I prefer ACE because:

 

1. Self taught

2. A longer test only every 3 weeks, with checkups in between

3. Includes dictionary skills, work on homophones, homonyms, etc., phonics and phonemic awareness, and more.

4. Later on it teaches Word Roots

 

So to me, it's a completely all inclusive Word Study and Spelling approach, and I don't see a reason to use anything else again.

 

I also tried Seqiential Spellinh which was effective for my struggling speller but he got to the point where he nearly hated it- almost in tears. And it's a Lot of work for me! My teaching time is better spent elsewhere especially since AcE does the job without me at all!!

[Mommee & Baba]

My kids do AAS. We do it 3x a week. With dd8.5 we can spend 20-30min and complete a full step. With dd6.5 we can spend 15-20min and she's had enough, so we pick up where we left off the next day.

[Chelli]

We use Apples and Pears spelling. We set the timer for 15 minutes and do as much of the level/lesson as we get to that day, then pick up at that point the next day. Easy-peasy! It's been the best spelling program we've used BY FAR for retention and ease of use. And I've used a lot of them :D

[Jayne J]

We use the free Zaner-Bloser spelling lists. I give ds the list on Monday and we discuss the rule and underline or circle where it appears in the word. Tuesday he copies them. Wed. and Thurs. he reviews them himself. Friday is test day. Missed words are written out three times each and added to next week's word list. DS is pretty much a natural speller and has only carried words over a handful of times this year.

[ekfk]

I use Spell and Write and Spelling Workout. My child does one page of each per day. Each section has 10 spelling words. Then I test her every few weeks to see what she does and doesn't know. We practice the ones she doesn't know every day until she has memorized them.

[Alice]

We tried Spelling Workout and I though it was a good program but ds hated it. This year I switched to Spelling Power. I don't love it, but ds likes it much better and it's working ok with much less drama on his part. What he hated about spelling was having to study the same words over and over again, I think it seemed like busy work to him. What he likes about Spelling Power is you only study the words you miss, you only do it for 15 minutes a day and it's very little busy work.

 

How it works it that each day he takes a "test" where I read the word and he writes it. I then immediately spell it. If he gets it right, we move on. If he misses it, he has to rewrite it correctly. We stop after 5 minutes, three missed words or the end of the list, whatever comes first. He then studies any missed words for 5 minutes. Then we can do a spelling related activity either with his words or something else (this week we reviewed ways of forming plurals) for 5 minutes. It's relatively quick and pain-free. We do it four days a week. There are frequent built in review lists.

 

What I don't like is that I don't think it does a great job of presenting the rules for spelling. So not good if you are looking for a comprehensive program that really covers the rules but good if you are looking for a no-fuss program.

[Chrysalis Academy]

We ditched Spelling Workout after a couple of months. Dd hated it. Now she keeps a spelling notebook where she has to copy down 5x words she misspells in her writing. I will give her quizzes on them periodically, and if she continues to miss them the "practice task" will get more onerous. This method has two benefits: she is learning to spell words she actually uses, and she's checking her writing a little more carefully before telling me it's done! ;)

[Jim]

We use The Phonetic Zoo from IEW. It's easy to do. Once a new spelling rule (jingle) is discussed ds does it himself every day. It takes about 15 minutes. If he is having trouble with a rule I will review it with him briefly every day or if I see the rule at work in another subject I might point it out.

 

We've seen a huge improvement in his abilities since this time last year.

 

 

Jim

[Mommy22alyns]

We use Spelling Power. I dictate the spelling rule and she copies it down. I dictate a word and she spells it back to me. If she gets it wrong, she writes it down correctly to do "the steps." When she fills up her page, we stop and she does the steps with any incorrect words. Often she misses nothing.

[Embassy]

For my 4th grader:

 

He does the Rod and Staff spelling workbook on his own. He usually does the week's lesson in one sitting - sometimes two. I test him on the words for the week about a week later. Sometimes I test several weeks at at time. Any missed words I put on a list.

 

I also test him on words from Webster's Speller. I test 25 at a time and each word missed goes on a list.

 

Any misspelled words in his everyday writing go on the list too.

 

When the list reaches about 15 words I enter them into Spelling City and he practices them until he reaches 100% accuracy on the test.

 

At least that is what we are doing right now. He probably does some spelling twice a week.

 

My 2nd grader still does phonics and does the same as my 4th grader, but he doesn't do words from Webster's Speller.

[Tracy]

We work on lists of 20 words per week out of SWR. On days 1-4, we spend about 5 minutes first thing in the morning reviewing phonograms (drills, games or written quizzes). Later in the morning, I dictate 5 words for her to put in her log. In the afternoon, we quiz those 5 words plus others that she previously struggled with (either in the current list or past lists). On day 5, I give the test on all 20 words. I make note of words she misses and add them to future quizzes.

[SewingMom2many]

We use Spelling Workout and SpellingCity.com

On the first day of a unit, we go over the words and talk about what they mean which sometimes takes us a while depending on how in-depth we get. We do a page each day until the unit is finished with one day in the middle of that spent at SpellingCity.com (I enter all the words for the units before we even start the book. After that we just move on the the next unit. I don't do spelling tests.

[jamajo]

We use The Phonetic Zoo from IEW. It's easy to do. Once a new spelling rule (jingle) is discussed ds does it himself every day. It takes about 15 minutes. If he is having trouble with a rule I will review it with him briefly every day or if I see the rule at work in another subject I might point it out.

 

We've seen a huge improvement in his abilities since this time last year.

 

 

Jim

 

 

Same here. My DD does it independently the CDs. She shares her notebook with me showing me the words she has trouble with...and which lesson she is on.

[delaney]

Phonics Road-the best I have tried and easy to implement.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Spelling Power, completely orally! Two lists a day and review missed words every day until mastered, all orally.

[Love2teach0307]

We ditched Spelling Workout after a couple of months. Dd hated it. Now she keeps a spelling notebook where she has to copy down 5x words she misspells in her writing. I will give her quizzes on them periodically, and if she continues to miss them the "practice task" will get more onerous. This method has two benefits: she is learning to spell words she actually uses, and she's checking her writing a little more carefully before telling me it's done! ;)

:iagree:This is what we do. Any written narrations or answers that are turned in misspelled gets put on her spelling list for the following week. Also, if she has to ask me how to spell any word, she knows that word will be on her next list. In our normal week, she's writing enough that we have at least a 15 word list every week. If not, I look at type of words she's misspelling and come up with more examples to help her. I'm planning to do this through next year (4th grade), then switch to a list of the most commonly misspelled words for upper elementary since she's really a pretty good speller.

[KrissiK]

We use Spelling Workout.

Monday - Pre-test, I read the first page of the lesson with each child, we go over the first exercise, we say-spell-say each word, child writes each word 2x

Tuesday - We say-spell-say each word, child goes over exercise #2, writes each word

Wednesday - see Tuesday

Thursday - see Wednesday

Friday - spelling test

[BakersDozen]

I've used A Reason for Spelling with all of my dc with fabulous results!

 

Monday: Pretest and Word Shapes

Tuesday: Hide and Seek, on-their-own section

Wednesday: Hide and Seek; sentence dictation, proofreading (love this section!)

Thursday: Hide and Seek; optional page from appendix

Friday: Test

 

If my dc get two words or less wrong on their pretest they are allowed to complete the sentence dictation and proofreading then move to the next lesson the next day. My 7yo did 3 lessons this week which was really exciting for her.

[PhotoGal]

We use AAS. I also ask them to spell words from a list of common words. If they get it right, we go to the next word on the list. If they get it wrong, we write it down on a list and practice it. The list has about 5 words that are "active" at any given time. A couple times a week I quiz them on their words. If they get it right 5 times in a row it "graduates" off the list and we find a new word to work on.

 

I want to start adding in words from their writing. I have noticed that sometimes they spell a word correctly during spelling and then write it incorrectly in a story. It is so frustrating! I guess I should have them write the word in a sentence when we check them.

[warneral]

I use AAS and we have zoomed through the first 3 levels doing it nearly 4x a week, 1 lesson per day. Recently I added in Spellboard iPad app to test any problem words and now I'm doing AAS 2-3 times per week. I love having the spelling rules to remind them about when I find a spelling error in daily writing. It is a tangible way to help them get to the source of the issue.

[Classically Minded]

We do two programs, SWO and AAS. Right now we are in SWO C and we do 2 lessons each week like this:

 

Day 1 - Test new words; She reads the lesson, goes over rule and does the workbook pages.

Day 2 - Test list and save trouble words in back of book for her to write 5 times each.

Day 3 & 4 - repeat of the above but with the new lesson

 

After we get about 10 lessons of trouble words, I put them in Spelling city for her to play games with and then we retest trouble words once or twice a week. I don't take them off the trouble word list until she masters them.

 

With AAS, we are in AAS 2, we had put it away for a while but she loves it so much we started doing it again last month. We do 2 steps each week right now, taking longer on whatever she needs help with. Here is how we do it:

Day 1 - Review box; new step lesson; test

Day 2 - Review box; dictation

Day 3 & 4 - repeat above with next step

[Rivka]

We use AAS. Four days a week, I set the timer for 18 minutes and we do some combination of:

 

- review of previously missed words

- new teaching about spelling rules

- spelling words with tiles

- spelling words on the white board

- sentence dictation on paper

 

The sentence dictation is my favorite part of AAS. It's such a great review of all the levels, and it also trains her memory.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Thanks all.

Got some new ideas.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I pull words from a workbook by Spectrum called "Phonics and Word Study". The Workbook is laid out according to the rules of spelling.

 

Monday- Co-op takes all day so they are given flashcards with that weeks words on them. They have 1-2 WS to do out of the book sometime during the week.

 

Tuesday we do a "pre-test" aka write all the words once. Correct any wrong ones. Go over flashcards.

 

Wednesday- same as Tuesday, plus we play "Mother May I" with the words.

 

Thursday-Same as Tuesday with a bit more time spent on flashcards.

 

Friday- is another co-op so we sometimes have a quick test, or skip it if they did good on Thursdays test (meaning 100%).

[kandty]

Great thread!

 

For my youngest using AAS we do spelling 3-4x a week. We just work through the steps. We get 1-2 done a week. On Friday we review. For review we go through the cards and do dictation from current step or past steps.

[raceNzanesmom]

We use All About Spelling. We go through about 20-25 minutes of the lesson. Stop, then pick up where we left off the next day. Some days we get through a lot in that amount of time, other days not so much.

[Walking-Iris]

I've always used Sequential Spelling. The first book I divided in half to use with my ds in 1st and 2nd. He's completing the entire 2nd book this year for 3rd. He loves it and asks to do it first thing (he especially likes that this year we have the revised student book so there's extra games to do everyday). I give him the words from the list in the teacher's book after telling him what phonetic pattern we're working with. Sometimes I use the word in a sentence or I ask him to come up with the sentence. I stress proper handwriting. If he struggles with a word then I remind him of a rule he may have previously learned or show him a new one. I haven't had to do the color coding of the words very much this year as he's getting very good at hearing the patterns and just knowing how to spell it right away. If it's a tricky word or pattern then we talk about it and I break the word into patterns with my colored pencils for him. If the word is unfamiliar (and that's what I like about the program---the built in vocabulary lessons) then we either talk about it or I have him look it up in a dictionary. Then he does the activity (word search, fill in the blank or writing his own sentences, working with homophones etc.). I occasionally use the bold words in the list to give him random oral "pop quizzes". So far I'm confident that every word he's encountered in this program has been retained. Spelling took longer when he was younger, but now it's a quick 10 minutes of our day.

[In the Rain]

We use AAS too. I'm pretty flexible about how long we work on it each day. The main thing I do a little differently is combine lessons for my oldest dd. She very quickly memorizes rules, and then gets 100%. I like to teach a few lessons in quick succession, giving her several rules to remember. I spend a little longer on dictation, pulling from all of the lessons covered.

[tmagee]

My DS8 is a pretty natural speller thus far, but this is roughly what we do with AAS:

 

M - review phonograms/rules as needed, begin (and sometimes complete) lesson

T - review as needed, continue with lesson. I don't think we've needed longer than 2 days per lesson, but I could be mistaken.

W - I give him a typed list of the spelling words for the lesson we've been working on. He has to highlight the phonogram we've been studying (if applicable), and then cut them out and arrange them in alphabetical order.

TH - plays on spellingcity.com with the week's spelling words. I don't know that he needs this, but he finds it fun and I like that it builds familiarity with the words. Plus, it's independent ;)

F - test

 

I think we could move faster if needed, but we're enjoying this pace and his brother will begin AAS 1 in the fall, so then I'll have one more doing the spelling lessons. I like to keep it manageable so I don't feel like I'm having to cram quite so much in.

[mytwomonkeys]

my son uses AAS, so i just follow the script and go at his pace (about one lesson per week).

 

 

my daughter uses dictation plus. here's a typical week:

 

M: Write spelling words 3x

T: Write spelling words in alphabetical order

W: Choose 6 of your spelling words and write 2 sentences using them.

TH: Test with dictation (about 10 sentences)

F: Test with dictation (about 10 sentences)

[Sctigermom]

We use soaring with spelling. It's 1 page a day. Day 1 is a pretest, days 2-4 have activities to help get you familiar with the words, and day 5 is the test.