happypamama Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 For a variety of reasons, I do not want to add a formal spelling program, but I think my DD, 5th grade, needs a bit of work on spelling of complex words. She does read but strongly prefers audio books to print ones, so she's getting the vocabulary and all from those, but she's not seeing the printed words much. I've been keeping a list of the words I'm seeing misspelled in her work and am wondering what the best way to work on those is. If you don't use a formal spelling program, what do you do with words your children misspell? I could have her copy them 5 times each or so, once a week. I could also go over them with her, a few at a time, spelling-bee style, each day. Just wondering what the rest of you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 For a variety of reasons, I do not want to add a formal spelling program, but I think my DD, 5th grade, needs a bit of work on spelling of complex words. She does read but strongly prefers audio books to print ones, so she's getting the vocabulary and all from those, but she's not seeing the printed words much. I've been keeping a list of the words I'm seeing misspelled in her work and am wondering what the best way to work on those is. If you don't use a formal spelling program, what do you do with words your children misspell? I could have her copy them 5 times each or so, once a week. I could also go over them with her, a few at a time, spelling-bee style, each day. Just wondering what the rest of you do. Well, if you think the overuse of audio books is part of her issue; I would cut out some of the audio books. In their daily work here at our house, if they believe a word is misspelled when they write it, they circle it and continue on with their paragraph, sentence. After they complete the work, they are asked to use the dictionary to look up the word's spelling and correct their mistakes. After they correct the word, they write it on their on going list of misspelled words kept in their binder. I will then look at their work and circle any other words misspelled and ask them to correct those as well. It makes them comfortable using the dictionary as well. I will then review the words at the end of each week and discuss their spellings. We don't do formal spelling tests typically but if I see words that are just continually misspelled I will announce there will be a spelling test of a set list of words and make them practice them. So far, it works pretty well for us and they are self correcting their work before I even see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted August 11, 2012 Author Share Posted August 11, 2012 Well, if you think the overuse of audio books is part of her issue; I would cut out some of the audio books. I don't really think she overuses them, though that's a good idea to keep in mind. She's just much more of an auditory learner, I think. DH is the same way; he listens to hefty audio books in the car and soaks them in, whereas I'm not at all auditory, and my mind wanders listening to any audio books. We've tried a variety of things, and I think the answer is that she's going to prefer to listen to literature rather than read it herself, and if we take away all audio books, she'll just self-limit her exposure to literature, which I don't want. In their daily work here at our house, if they believe a word is misspelled when they write it, they circle it and continue on with their paragraph, sentence. After they complete the work, they are asked to use the dictionary to look up the word's spelling and correct their mistakes. After they correct the word, they write it on their on going list of misspelled words kept in their binder. I will then look at their work and circle any other words misspelled and ask them to correct those as well. It makes them comfortable using the dictionary as well. I will then review the words at the end of each week and discuss their spellings. We don't do formal spelling tests typically but if I see words that are just continually misspelled I will announce there will be a spelling test of a set list of words and make them practice them. So far, it works pretty well for us and they are self correcting their work before I even see it. I like that idea a lot, and she does seem to like using the dictionary, though she doesn't necessarily think to look up something before she writes it. I'll give that a shot -- have her look over her work and look up anything she was uncertain about, and then I'll look for any others and have her look them up. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Do you require a certain amount of reading each day? I'd have her read for 30 minutes, and then let audio books be in addition to that. My kids love all kinds of things on audio, so you don't have to limit that, but just have a reading requirement. The personal dictionary is a good idea too, especially for words she commonly misspells. Then she can check her papers for those. If you notice patterns in her misspellings, you might see if you can help her with that pattern. You can also incorporate dictation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted August 11, 2012 Author Share Posted August 11, 2012 Do you require a certain amount of reading each day? I'd have her read for 30 minutes, and then let audio books be in addition to that. My kids love all kinds of things on audio, so you don't have to limit that, but just have a reading requirement. That's what I do -- I require a certain amount of reading every day, and she has to stick with a book until it's finished. Aside from that, she can listen to as many audio books as she wants, or read parts of books (starting and not finishing them is a big issue with her), or reread old favorites, or none of the above, as she chooses. (I require a certain number of pages, rather than a certain amount of minutes; this child is easily distracted and tends to dawdle, so she responds better to quantity rather than time.) The personal dictionary is a good idea too, especially for words she commonly misspells. Then she can check her papers for those. If you notice patterns in her misspellings, you might see if you can help her with that pattern. You can also incorporate dictation. I haven't noticed any patterns as of yet, but I've really only started taking notice recently and am looking for patterns. We just started WWE (level 4; I figured a little easy but a solid foundation would be good for her) this week, and that's what prompted my original post, because of the dictation. It was taking her a while to write her dictation, and I got distracted by one of the other children and took my eyes off of her briefly; during that time, she misspelled a word. So I know I need to be vigilant there, but having her check her own work and then using the dictionary sounds like a really great idea. Hopefully that will start to give her a feel for whether or not something looks right. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 What we do is take the book Natural Speller, use the word list from there, add those he misspelled that week, and plug them all into Spelling City.com. I do this every other week. The other weeks I use CM style dictation and spelling, using words from his readings and such. What I would add in your case, since your dc is an auditory learner, is to have her sound out the letters, clap each syllable, etc. Have an informal Spelling Bee once a week :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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