Dictation sentences in 1st grade? Advice?

[ally]

Just had a question for you all. My son is in 1st grade in public school. He was adopted last year from China. Instead of spelling tests each Friday. His teacher gives them dictation sentences. She gives them 5 sentences but only requires him to do two. He has yet to get them correct this year. I have him copy them for 4 days at home to prepare him. It just seems like a pretty difficult task for the first semester of first grade for most kids much less an ESL kid. Here are the sentences for this week:

Did you see the flag over the school? The red sled went down the snowy hill. Who made the black clip fall off the desk? They saw four purple plums in the tree. The boy was glad to play with us.

 

Are you doing dications with your 1st graders who are beginner readers? Maybe I'm wrong and this appropriate for 1st grade.

Thanks for your help.

[blondeviolin]

I think that's a bit much. Basically he is being asked to memorize how to spell a series of words. My oldest takes dictation sentences from AAS, but only with words that she has mastered through her spelling curriculum. SWB even says that first graders should be expected to properly copy sentences I first grade, not dictation.

 

BUT, I don't agree with starting spelling until a child is at least an emergent reader.

[momtoamiracle]

I use K12 for phonics. We do dictation of one or two sentences, and only words that he's learned. They combine phonics/reading with spelling. So when they learn the blend "sc" then they learn words like scat. Last week it was the digraph blend "shr" so he learned "shrimp". THe sentence for that day was "The shrimp is hot."

 

 

that seems too much for a first grader, in my opinion, and near impossible for an ESL student. Can you talk to the teacher about letting him just do copywork?

[renmew]

Private school second grade teacher here, and, yes, that sounds like a bit too much. The first grade teacher at my school goes with the standard list of related words and gives them one short dictation sentence to practice, which is made up of a spelling word or two and a high frequency word.

 

Talk to the teacher about cutting it down to related words only and maybe one sentence.

[hellen]

I think that would be a challenge for my second grader. I agree that it is too hard for most first graders.

[ally]

Thank-you all for replying. This is a veteran teacher so I am a bit surprised that she thinks this is developmentally appropriate. This little guy is my #10 and so I've been down this road a time or two. I ramp up the academics slowly for my kids but expect a lot from my middle and high schoolers. I was beginning to think maybe I was wrong in thinking it was too much for even a regular 1st grader.

[ally]

Thank-you all for replying. This is a veteran teacher so I am a bit surprised that she thinks this is developmentally appropriate. This little guy is my #10 and so I've been down this road a time or two. I ramp up the academics slowly for my kids but expect a lot from my middle and high schoolers. I was beginning to think maybe I was wrong in thinking it was too much for even a regular 1st grader.

[Walking-Iris]

That is a developmentally inappropriate way of teaching spelling. I wouldn't even rely on dictation alone to teach spelling. They need a foundation in phonics. Copywork is okay for 1st graders, not dictation imo. And spelling needs to be sequential and phonetically based.

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

I am a promoter for dictation at a young age. My background: Coming from Germany, I grew up with a very low tolerance towards spelling mistakes. By the end of first grade we were required to write a one page story (50 words) through dictation. One mistake would automatically get you one grade lower, including punctuation!

 

It is very important though for the teacher to only include previously learned words, and practice new words and rules the week before.

 

I know this sounds very harsh, but through practice most of us were able to excel!

I am sorry that your little one is having trouble and hope that he can catch up soon!

[kdownie]

I have a first grader and this is certainly beyond what she does each day. She usually does 1-2 sentences (usually copywork, not dictation) a day. When I do dictate sentences to her, it is 1-2 words that we are currently learning the spelling rules for, along with very "easy" words for her to spell. That teacher is expecting an awful lot!

[sleeplessnights]

Is the trouble that he's spelling the words wrong, or that he can't remember the words in the sentence? If he can't hold the words in his head, maybe you could practice at home by slowly building them up. I would work on practicing the spelling of the words individually also. It does seem a bit much for first grade, but if the words are age-appropriate, it's probably doable.