Spelling? 7 y/o girl

[mom2one]

My daughter can't spell to save her life. She wrote a "paragraph" to describe a photo the other day and this is how it went:

 

"Won day ter wus a snow man. Won day it meltid away. The and."

 

I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. (I kept a straight face to her, though.) Obviously we need to do some work. When she was in PS last year she struggled with the spelling tests the teacher sent home. She finally got to the point that she was able to memorize the list but it didn't cross over into anything else. If she needed to write the same word that was on her spelling test somewhere else, she would misspell it.

 

She is reading very well (at the end of 1st grade the PS teacher said she was reading at about a halfway through 2nd grade level) and if I give her a list of some misspelled words along with one that is correctly spelled (eg BOK BUK BOOK), she almost always can pick out the correct spelling, but if I asked her to spell book she would get it wrong.

 

So, what I'm asking is, is this totally abnormal or is it all part of the process? I know we need to do something to work on spelling, but I think giving her a spelling test every week would be a waste of time and energy as she can't seem to retain it. Any suggestions for a spelling curriculum that might help her catch up?

[Brooketopia]

My girl is the same. It was painful.

 

We switched to All About Spelling this year and it has been amazing to watch her progress.

[MomatHWTK]

I'm using a phonetic approach to spelling. Resources that I combine (over three kids who all sit in on the lesson) are:

Spelling for Writing: Student Activity Book 5 (ERIC free resource)

Phonics Toolkit (Currclick)

General phonics instruction (I'm using the toolkit flashcards plus some from Sparklebox)

 

I use a dry erase board to write out various words, sounds, etc. and discuss how they are used with the kids. I have use Sequential Spelling in the past and it did work for my oldest, but I've had to streamline. If I use SS, I still have to set aside time for phonics and I'd rather combine the two in one lesson.

[Clear Creek]

My middle child was spelling like that at the beginning of 2nd grade. A year of phonics helped with that (we used R&S), as did writing all of her spelling words in the air as she spelled them aloud every day. She is still a mediocre speller, it just doesn't come naturally to her. She is most definitely her father's child :D.

[KristenR]

I don't know if my oldest would have been a fabulously speller naturally or not but we started All About Spelling and it has lead us to some pretty amazing results. Again, maybe my girl would have been good at it anyway. But all I know is she loves her AAS lessons and I like giving them. It's been a win-win for us.

[zarabellesmom]

No suggestions, just letting you know my 7 yo would have written the same. We are slowly working through AAS, and are midway through level two. I am hoping (and expecting) she will improve. She is an amazing reader. I'm not sure why the two can't go hand in hand.

[Tanikit]

Your daughter is not doing too badly for someone who has probably been taught to spell as she hears the word when spelling independently and then made to learn lists at other times. She does seem to confuse vowel sounds which needs some work (one is usually spelt wun by phonetic spellers and "end" should be spelt correctly if she is hearing the "e" sound) All about spelling should work well. To her credit she used the "ow" and "ay" sounds correctly in snow, day and away.

[dbmamaz]

Its pretty normal for young kids to not know how to spell. Just add a spelling curriculum but dont make a big deal out of it. She should be praised for writing, and then work on spelling separately. (ok, yes, i've been reading my bravewriter Writers Jungle . . . ok, except she says dont use spelling, just use copywork, but i plan on using spelling)

[Tracy]

I love SWR. But any similar program that teaches explicit phonics would probably work for you. Spalding, PR, AAS, LOE. There are probably more, but those are the ones that I know of.

[mom2one]

Thanks everyone. I'll check out your suggestions. I'm just happy to know that there are other kids who have struggled like this. I tend to start obsessing about certain things when it seems like she is way behind.

[kpnick in nc]

My seven yo spells like that. We pretty much wasted a year going through Spelling Workout A. Zero retention. This year we've started Spelling Power, and I am loving it.

[StartingOver]

Kids now are taught to write, write, write in ps with no regard for spelling. I hear constanty about school districts dropping spelling all together. Inventive spelling, or spell it as it sounds, gets stuc in a childs mind and is difficult to correct once they have written words wrong over and over again. I also recommend All About Spelling, learn the rules yourself so you can point out errors to her. Move at her pace, and good luck undoing it all. Sigh