Need help with spelling, too!!!

[lovinmomma]

My dd7 is in ps and brought home her progress report for the first quarter and her score for spelling was horrid. Very very bad. Her reading score was above average 95%. She is a great reader. She spells very phonetically. She doesn't really understand any rules as to WHY she should spell things certain ways. She's basically trying to memorize each word instead of actually understanding it. I'm wondering if taking her through AAS or SWR or something would help her to understand how and why to spell the correct way. When we study at home she gets the words correct, but her tests are often very bad when they come home. She also reverses bs and ds still and confuses c and k.

[Ellie]

Poor baby. :-(

 

Doing SWR (or Spalding :D ) would definitely help, if she can bear spending that much time learning at home after being in school all day.

[Walking-Iris]

Ask the teacher what her spelling plan is for the year. If the teacher is the type who pulls out words from a reading selection that may or may not have any relation to each other phonetically then you may be in for some trouble all year.

 

If however the teacher gives spelling words from word pattern lists then you're looking at a reading problem.

 

I believe that when teachers give words that will be encountered in a story (or words that are all of one type--body words, house words, etc) as spelling lists and don't teach any sort of spelling rules in relation to phonics and patterns then they're essentially asking children to memorize the look of certain words.

 

Pretty much a recipe for disaster imho.

 

In that case then yeah you may have to do quite a bit of phonics and spelling afterschooling.

[SnMomof7]

Definitely AAS would help understand rules - you could do it in around 15 minutes. My DD is much the same - awesome reader - spelling...erm, not so much. AAS helps, big time.

[lovinmomma]

Ask the teacher what her spelling plan is for the year. If the teacher is the type who pulls out words from a reading selection that may or may not have any relation to each other phonetically then you may be in for some trouble all year.

 

If however the teacher gives spelling words from word pattern lists then you're looking at a reading problem.

 

I believe that when teachers give words that will be encountered in a story (or words that are all of one type--body words, house words, etc) as spelling lists and don't teach any sort of spelling rules in relation to phonics and patterns then they're essentially asking children to memorize the look of certain words.

 

Pretty much a recipe for disaster imho.

 

In that case then yeah you may have to do quite a bit of phonics and spelling afterschooling.

 

If I posted a couple of her spelling lists could you help me understand which her teacher is doing? I'm not quite understanding what you are saying. lol

[lovinmomma]

Poor baby. :-(

 

Doing SWR (or Spalding :D ) would definitely help, if she can bear spending that much time learning at home after being in school all day.

 

I have SWR, but I sold my Spalding book. :(

[lovinmomma]

Definitely AAS would help understand rules - you could do it in around 15 minutes. My DD is much the same - awesome reader - spelling...erm, not so much. AAS helps, big time.

 

I'm wondering if the markings in SWR would get her to slow down and think about each word, but I REALLY love AAS and how open-and-go the program is. 15 mins. a day is a piece of cake.

[lovinmomma]

Lesson 1-

1. plus

2. glue

3. blink

4. plot

5. glad

6. blend

7. plan

8. block

9. plum

10. blast

 

Lesson 2-

1. drip

2. drum

3. gray

4. grin

5. tree

6. trip

7. grow

8. truck

9. try

10. dress

 

Lesson 3-

1. park

2. kick

3. bark

4. hook

5. stick

6. dark

7. book

8. took

9. stack

10. track

 

Lesson 4-

1. land

2. fast

3. just

4. stuck

5. spend

6. hand

7. pond

8. lost

9. stand

10. story

 

Lesson 3 she got practically every word wrong. She had absolutely no idea when to use ck and when to use k. Lesson 4 she did the best, but I really think that was simply because we went over the words at least once per day and she had memorized them.

[lovinmomma]

.

[Carrie12345]

Those lists are totally AaS compatible!

 

They go over ck v. k very well (as well as all other tricky c and k stuff!)

[MomatHWTK]

Looks like she is introducing blends and consonant pairs. Not much helpl with spelling, but there is a "theme." ;)

[kitten18]

Lesson 3-

1. park

2. kick

3. bark

4. hook

5. stick

6. dark

7. book

8. took

9. stack

10. track

 

Lesson 4-

1. land

2. fast

3. just

4. stuck

5. spend

6. hand

7. pond

8. lost

9. stand

10. story

 

Lesson 3 she got practically every word wrong. She had absolutely no idea when to use ck and when to use k. Lesson 4 she did the best, but I really think that was simply because we went over the words at least once per day and she had memorized them.

I can see why she did better on Lesson 4, IMO those words (except story) easier to spell phonetically.

Lesson 3 is harder unless they've studied r controlled vowels.

 

Do you have AAS? I would try that.

[Crimson Wife]

I would definitely go with something like AAS, SWR, Spalding, Logic of English, How to Teach Spelling, Apples & Pears, or another rule-based program.

[PookieMama]

I would definitely go with something like AAS, SWR, Spalding, Logic of English, How to Teach Spelling, Apples & Pears, or another rule-based program.

 

Did you say you actually have AAS? If so, definitely try that. There is a rule to help her know when to use k vs. ck. I am wondering if the teacher is explaining any rules or just expecting the children to figure them out from the spelling lists. We use How to Teach Spelling (rules-based with workbooks and dictation), but I might consider AAS if we were doing afterschooling. It might be a fun bonding time for you and your dd.

[lovinmomma]

Did you say you actually have AAS? If so, definitely try that. There is a rule to help her know when to use k vs. ck. I am wondering if the teacher is explaining any rules or just expecting the children to figure them out from the spelling lists. We use How to Teach Spelling (rules-based with workbooks and dictation), but I might consider AAS if we were doing afterschooling. It might be a fun bonding time for you and your dd.

 

I have SWR. Can't remember if I still have level 1 of AAS or not. Off to find out :auto:

[lovinmomma]

I'm convinced that she is going to need further help from me to actually understand the "why" behind the words that she is spelling. Now to decide what to use. Probably SWR or AAS because I own the first level of AAS and I also have SWR. I prefer AAS because it is so open and go. I'm a single mom and I work full time, so 15 mins a day that I don't have to plan sounds do-able. But I'm not sure how I will afford later levels (can't pay my bills right now) so for that reason SWR sounds good, too. :confused:

[MomatHWTK]

Can you list the words that she spelled incorrectly from each list? That might help the Hive pinpoint the difficulties she is having. And be sure and tell us what this coming week's list is!

 

Here's a free resource:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/taylor/taylor81.html

 

Be sure and click through to the spelling rules page as well. I just put all the spelling rules together on flashcards to use with my kids.

Edited September 16, 2012 by MomatHWTK

[Walking-Iris]

It looks like there's a pattern to the words. Although imo it may be easier for children to learn word families together instead of various mixed sounds. Park and dark and bark are word families. In a program like Sequential Spelling you would learn park and then you would learn parks, parked, parking. Dark would lead you to darkening. The student learns the syllables in isolation (prefix, suffix, endings) and can easily make the jump from dark to darkening in two lessons. Adding hook and book to lists with the word pattern ar and ack doesn't make much sense imo. Sounds to me like the teacher may have vocabulary controlled "readers" that generate her spelling list. I personally believe that in addition to spelling rules, children need to have their ear trained to hear each phoneme and syllable and be able to spell what they hear.

 

If she missed words like stack or kick from your lesson 3 list then maybe she needs more help with phonics as well. She's possibly attempted to memorize the look of the words rather than sound out st-ack. Only phonics based spelling programs are going to help with understanding. You can practice spelling the letter names s t a c k all day but unless a child understands that those letters translate to the sounds st-ack there will be more spelling issues in the future.

 

I'd definitely have a pow wow with the teacher and work on her phonics and spelling daily at home.