spelling with young kids question

[hollyh]

So I'm wondering if it is necessary for kids to physically write words in order to learn spelling skills. Well, obviously they don't have to. However, I am wondering if there are any studies that show that the physical act of writing the words cements it in any stronger than say, using an app or letter tiles does.

 

I'm doing AAS with my little one who is a writer, but I hate using her "writing time" to do spelling. I would rather just have her use other means to show proficiency, but don't want to miss out on an important skill for cementing it in her little brain. I'm thinking we could easily fly through the lessons if we didn't do the dictation or writing aspect and only had her spell them with an app or type them.

 

Thoughts?

[kdownie]

We use AAS in our home, and if my dd can easily spell the words using tiles or whatever she chooses (she often prefers tiles to physically writing), then I just go ahead with the next step. I think, for us, it matters that she has the rule or concept of whatever is being taught in that step.

 

We don't do a lot of writing at this age (first grade) and like you, I hate to spend that on spelling sentences.

 

Whether or not there are any studies done on it I'm not sure.

[Nart]

I would love to see any research about physically writing vs. just using tiles or dictating. In my son's case (he just turned 6), he can spell words correctly when using the tiles but then will make mistakes when writing spelling words, and will make more mistakes when writing sentences. He is halfway through AAS 2 and it has been this way since we started. I think it is the extra effort in forming words, leaving spaces between words, remembering to capitalize, and remembering the punctuation. I am going back to Step 1 and having him write all the sentences again. I dictate 8 a day so it will take us 10 lessons to get through the review, but I think it will be useful.

[ElizabethB]

I alternate between oral and written and magnetic letters. My daughter did more written because she liked to write more than my son.

 

Some of my remedial students seem more helped by oral spelling than written, some by written than oral. I mix it up to cover all my bases! With tiles, there might be some confusion in letter order in things like sh and ch and or and ar. My son, when he was learning ar and or, when given a choice of about 10 letters that included a, o, and r, made ra and ro for or and ar at first, I would make sure with things like this that the student was able to produce the correct letters on their own.

 

I used to think that my daughter learned math facts written than oral, but when I actually started comparing the two, she learned equally well with either method, she just enjoyed reading and writing more than oral work. She also liked the RS games, those were helpful. I also like my phonics concentration game for young students.

 

[weederberries]

My personal opinion is that it depends on the child. If writing is a struggle or undesirable and the purpose of the lesson is being served otherwise, you're doing just fine. If she can write the words when she uses them cross-curricula, then I don't see a problem. It would also depend on learning styles. Some kids just need to write them again and again, some need to build them with tiles, etc. My oldest child would have cried to do the same writing that his little brother happily ploughs through.

 

After completing Alphabet Island Phonics and developing 2 phenomenal spellers (I love that I just got the red spelling squiggly under 'phenomenal'), my older students have moved to a new spelling curriculum that touts some research in word shape. There is a wide variety of activities each week, but the first activity offered, without fail, is sorting the words by shape. The list of words sits opposite a column of boxes and they must match the words with the right shaped box. For instance, "frog" has a tall box, two short boxes and a long box. According to the teacher's manual, their research suggests that matching word shape helps them visualize each word and is, therefore, a crucial part of their study. I can see how that might translate to an importance of writing.

 

Lisa

[Tracy]

While I can't point you to specific research, there is tons of research out there that shows that when we learn something in more than one way, we learn it better. We have auditory, visual and kinesthetic means at our disposal, and writing would be kinesthetic. Anyone who writes something, in addition to seeing or hearing it, will learn it better. The question becomes, Do we need the additional kinesthetic means of learning spelling? I would say only if the visual/auditory mode is not working sufficiently. I was always a natural speller and never needed to write out words to remember them. But I use SWR with dd7, and she definitely does a lot better if she writes her words. For her first year of spelling (at 5yo), spelling was the only writing we did. The following year, we added WWE, and that was a struggle in terms of stamina. This is the first year that she can truly handle both.

[duckens]

I have no knowledge of specific studies that suggest a writing-spelling word connection, but I recently heard about brain research that links remembering information to physically writing it out. The researchers questioned how this would reflect in our increasingly digital world, where kids type at an earlier age.

 

The adage is to learn a word, one must

read it 5 times

hear it 5 times

write it 5 times

spell it 5 times

 

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Why not do a mixture of writing, tiles, and aloud spelling?

 

You could do:

5 words written

5 words tiles

5 words aloud

 

or

 

1/3 written

1/3 tiles

1/3 aloud

 

or

 

whatever variation works for you and your daughter.

 

This is why we homeschool: to do what works for us! :party:

[TGHEALTHYMOM]

I am so tired of losing pencils! Here we are again... and can't find a single one~ it is a conspiracy. I will win this battle.

 

I am using Alphabet Isand right now with 3 children. We use Spelling Power from about 3rd grade and up.

 

Sequential Spelling did help my oldest son who had struggled with spelling.

 

I do use video's, magnetic letters and words, sidewalk chalk, dry erase boards, chalkboards, painting, and of course flash cards and some games ( working on more games)

 

I don't have time to evaluate each child to see how they learn best and I do believe the research that every child from birth to about 4th grade need more hands on learning.

 

We have bought way too much in math games, manipulatives, and settled on unifix cubes, some MUS, Teaching Textbooks 3-7 and Family Math for grade school. Saxon is working for younger ones who want to write some answers as well.

 

We listen to Grammar songs, Geography songs, and Multiplication songs.

 

I have found it better to use different methods together rather than bouncing from one to another completely.

 

For example: I am paying my 13 year old dd to teach her 2 sisters in 100 easy lessons so I can do Alphabet Isand.