Megawords, REWARDS, or Spelling through the Morphographs

[jg_puppy]

Would someone be willing to help me compare these programs? I am looking for something for my 7th grader. She can read fairly well, but she still guesses at many longer words. Spelling is one of her week areas.

Janet

[julikins]

I'm using Megawords for my daughter who is much like you describe your daughter. Spelling is my daughter's weakest area as well. My DD is in 5th and did Megawords 1 this year. She loves it, says it's her favorite subject. I was thinking that she wasn't getting much from it since I didn't see it necessarily carrying over to her other writing. BUT, I did do a test with her last list where at the beginning of the list before ever seeing the words I had her spell each one. This last list at 105 words and she missed 30. After all the lesson exercises (I think about 2 weeks worth of exercises), she only missed 14. That's a little over 50% better. So she is improving. Now I need to work on seeing her carry over what she learns in spelling (as well as grammar) into her writing.

 

So would I recommend it? I'm not familiar with the othe programs, but I've decided to stick with Megawords all the way through and make it a priority to work through editing skills in her writing to help her put it into practice not just in the workbook.

[ElizabethB]

Marcia Henry's Words is also a good deal for the price. The samples are from early on. It says from 3rd to 8th grade, but the words at the end are high school level Greek and Latin words. It combines phonics, spelling, and word roots.

 

I would also give her my nonsense word test (New Elizabethian Test) on my reading grade level test page, if she has trouble with those, I would play my concentration game for a bit and purchase We All Can Read, 3rd Grade to Adult. If you have taught phonics, all you should need is the student book. He has some samples online that also have good practice with nonsense words.

 

I would also have her work through the spelling rules and syllable division rules and exercises on my how to tutor page, links 5 - 7 at the end. On this same page are links and explanations on how to use Webster's Speller, that is also useful for working with longer words.

[Lori D.]

Would someone be willing to help me compare these programs? I am looking for something for my 7th grader. She can read fairly well, but she still guesses at many longer words. Spelling is one of her week areas.

Janet

 

 

Megawords teaches syllabication rules and vowel patterns; both are helpful with spelling, and learning syllabication can be helpful in breaking large words down into component parts to help with reading. Megawords can be used starting in grade 4, and is ideal for middle school and into high school, as many of the words are great vocabulary words.

 

Rewards is geared towards improving reading, but it looks like it would also lap over into helping spelling. Rewards teaching the strategy of looking for prefixes, suffixes and vowels; say the parts of the word, then say the whole word, then "make it a real word". The program teaches how to identify prefixes, suffixes, and vowel combinations. Rewards is a remedial reading intervention for middle school/high school.

 

From what I understand of Morphographs, the technique is to break syllables/words into units (prefixes, roots, suffixes) and learn the patterns of words and their spelling by putting together the 500-600 morphographs learned. Morphographs is designed as a remedial spelling intervention program for older (middle school) students, although I would think that learning those "units" could also be helpful in breaking large words into component parts for reading.

 

 

Our DS is very much a visual-spatial learner (VSL), and deals with mild ("stealth") dyslexia, which, in the Language Arts areas, mostly manifests as struggles with spelling and the act of writing (he dictates great writing, but getting if from his brain, down his arm and onto paper either via writing or typing... something goes *piff*...). He was a bit of a delayed reader, and through all 12 years of homeschooling him, he also would sometimes "guess" at a word while reading if it was longer -- though that grew less and less frequent over the years.

 

We went with Megawords, because I liked the clear rules and helpful exercises to teach syllables and vowel patterns. I didn't feel we needed the reading improvement focus of Rewards, and I didn't like the idea of so much memorization with Morphographs -- seemed too much like "sight words" rather than learning the reason "why". Also, at the time, Megawords was a far cheaper, but more importantly, it was longer lasting (8 books, which take about 6 years to get through), so we would have a much longer practice time.

 

Throughout our homeschooling journey I researched and implemented various elements that I think helped DS with spelling, and as a side benefit, strengthened his reading as well. So, while I think Megawords helped, it was not the only thing. Here's our (long) journey:

 

What helped most with the Reading was daily out-loud reading together. All the way through high school. We did it "popcorn" style ("you read a page, I read a page"). The added benefits were learning vocabulary in the moment, in context, and being able to discuss/analyze as we read. It also forced DS throughout the years to practice focusing on words and really reading rather than guessing. Up until high school, we sat side by side, and used a blank index card under the line being read to prevent distraction and to mark the place -- for some students it works better if the index card rests just ABOVE the line being read. Also, using a colored transparency on the page can help reduce the glare and reduce the "jumping around" of the letters if the student deals with dyslexia/mild "stealth" dyslexia.

 

In grades 3-5 we used the simple, visual worksheets from Mary Pecci's Word Skills (sample), which covered roots and endings, prefixes, suffixes, and syllabication rules, plus alphabetizing. DS seemed to understand the principles, but they just didn't transfer over into his own spelling and writing. For spelling in grades 1-5 we went through Spelling Workout, Spelling Power, Natural Speller, Sequential Spelling, Tricks of the Trade/How to Teach Any Child to Spell, the SWR 70 Basic Phonogram cards, and even spent a year just dumping spelling programs and focusing on memorizing about 200-300 basic sight words and most commonly used words -- I was a little desperate at that point, as nothing was working.

 

Honestly, I just don't think DS's brain was wired and engaged (matured) into spelling before he turned 12yo. I saw an incremental step forward each year not long after his birthday from the time he turned 12 until now (currently 19yo). So, in looking back, I really don't think ANY program would have "stuck" until his brain was ready to receive/"get" it.

 

Along about grade 6, I discovered our DS is a VSL, and realized I needed to make sure to include a mnemonics (visual picture / storytelling) method of learning vowel patterns. We went through the Stevenson Blue Spelling Manual (very quickly, since he was several grades beyond it, but so we could really GET the vowel patterns), and then I improvised from there. Lots of whiteboard work using different colors to show the vowel patterns, and drawing little pictures and telling little stories to learn the vowel patterns.

 

Also from Stevenson, I got the idea of the visuals and stories and doing a lot of whiteboard work with different colors to remember things like dropping the "y" and anding "ies" to make plurals, etc. From Sequential Spelling, which we had tried along about grade 3-4 (but DS just wasn't "there" yet), I got the concept of a root word/syllable and adding on to create a larger word, so I created a lot of worksheets for DS to work on that -- how to add endings, and how to see prefixes. We also used the Sequential Spelling idea of building bigger words from smaller units on the whiteboard a lot.

 

Also from Stevenson, we got the idea of practicing spelling words through the dictation of short sentences with several spelling words in each. DS would spell each word aloud as he wrote, which really helped him strengthen his weak auditory-sequential skills (and spelling is ALL about correct sequence). This tied in a little later (along about 7th) when I heard Andrew Pudewa's talk on Spelling and the Brain, and how spelling is a very sequential activity, that visual learners often struggle with because they see all the letters at once, and are random processors so that order doesn't matter to them -- both of which go against being able to spell correctly, which requires seeing/saying/writing one letter at a time and in a very specific sequential order. That is the whole concept behind IEW's Phonetic Zoo spelling program -- listen and strength the auditory-sequential skills which leads to better spelling, plus teach phonetic patterns and rules.

 

About this time, I also discovered Carol Barnier's How to Get Your Child Off the Refrigerator and On To Learning. Her ideas are great -- but mostly geared for grades K-3 or 4. But I did incorporate her "Toss It" idea (tossing a beanbag back and forth as part of your drill to keep the student alert and ready for their turn) with Pudewa's idea of out-loud spelling practice -- so I would say the word, say it by syllables, then spell the word, and toss the beanie animal to DS. Then he would say it, say it by syllables and spell it back to me. IF he misspelled we IMMEDIATELY stopped, I wrote it on the whiteboard correctly, spelled it correctly 3 times pointing to each letter while DS watched, then he had to spell it correctly 3 times pointing to each letter as he said it, and we left that word on the whiteboard and each time he spelled it he had to look at it to spell it to over-ride and re-imprint the correct spelling over the misspelling.

 

By 7th grade, we had started using Megawords daily (about 10 minutes to do 1 worksheet a day). I created an individualized word list for DS, using the building-from-a-small-word idea of Sequential Spelling and using phonetic patterns from the ABCs and All Their Tricks, and then we worked with words, and practiced the spelling list in several ways each day for about 15-20 minutes a day

- whiteboard (about 3x/week)

- toss it out loud spelling (every day)

- choice of one other way of spelling

- dictation (towards end of week, once he was really getting the words)

 

Other choices included a tactile method:

- write big with finger on table top (using whole arm), saying each letter as he wrote it

- write on whiteboard, saying each letter as spelling, then "unwriting" by using fingertip to go over each letter and say it while spelling and "unwriting"

- write with finger in tray of sand or cornmeal

 

By 9th grade, we were able to drop down to just the Megawords, individualized spelling list, work with words once a week, dictation once a week, and only the out loud/toss it practice of words.

 

Just before 11th grade, I discovered Dianne Craft and we implemented some of her suggested nutritional supplements (one 5-HTP in the morning, and a fish oil in the evening) and the "writing 8s" exercises daily, both to improve connections between brain hemispheres. We also were using Callirobics to improve handwriting difficulties. All of those things seemed to also have a mild improvement on the spelling, although maybe it was just getting older and those portions of his brain were finally maturing...

 

I do wish I had had a bit more energy (and a more willing student) for us to have tried to incorporate the visual picture method that Dianne Craft describes, and that is also in Jeffrey Freed's Right Brain Children in a Left-Brain World (great specific tips for math, reading, writing and spelling for middle school students). BUT, the key to those ideas working is that the *student* creates the images / stories that will connect for THEM. I just could not push that boulder up the hill. I mention it, though, in case it might be the very thing that connects for you.

 

 

I shared this over-long personal journey with you to say several things:

1. every student is different -- it takes time and perseverance to discover what works/doesn't for each

2. to encourage you to continue your research and see if you can pinpoint what *exactly* is the issue for your student, so you can best help her -- even things you discover late in the game, you can still work to improve

 

Once last thing: DO consider getting some testing done -- especially to rule out problems such as visual tracking and eye divergence. That can make reading painful for students -- and would be one explanation of why a student would skip big words or guess at them. You'd of course want routine testing for need of vision correction (glasses), but also for dyslexia (or mild "stealth" dyslexia). A middle school student who still "guesses" at words may very well have some "hidden" issue that you would want to get addressed sooner rather than later.

 

BEST of luck! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Pen]

:ears:

[jg_puppy]

Thank you to all that responded. This has been great and it will take me some time to sift through all of this.

 

I know that my daughter doesn't have any vision issues. Our regular eye doctor does check for those things. Her brother is dyslexic. I have considered "stealth" dyslexic, but I think she is truly just a VSL learner. She is 12 and I have seen a lot of improvement in her spelling on basic words this year. I don't think we was ready to tackle larger words until now.

 

I had her read some of the words in one of the sample books posted above. When she knows I am asking her to read or she is being "tested" she can read words like "superstitious, extraordinary, experimentation, photosynthesize, etc" When I have had her complete a reading test she always scores in the high school or past high school for reading words. But the other day when I asked to check the box of a food item to see what temperature to put the oven on she was confused because there were two temperatures. Until I made her slow down and really look at the words she didn't see the difference between conventional and convection. This is just one example that I have noticed recently. There have been others as well.

 

She learned to read very quickly using sight words in K before I started homeschooling and reading about phonics instruction. She never went through the typical C-A-T = cat stage of reading. If I would tell her the sound of a vowel combination one time she would have it. I know she knows the basics of phonics well, but she could probably use a refresher of the advanced phonics rules. I think one of the largest problems is that she skims when she is reading. I don't think she is getting the visual picture of the words. She finally has basic words down. She needs help breaking longer words down into chunks and to stop guessing based on the beginning of the words and the context clues around the word.

 

Now to go back and reread all of the wonderful advice that as been posted on this thread and check out all of the links. Some of the things that at first glance might not be a good fit for my daughter seem like they would be a great idea for my son.

Janet

[ElizabethB]

Based on your update, I would definitely recommend something with nonsense words. There is nothing else that works as well for students that have any degree of guessing habits from sight words taught in school.

 

I would also have her take the MWIA part II on my testing page, it measures the speed of reading sight words vs phonetically regular words.

[jg_puppy]

I had my daughter take the MWIA part II word list test. She had the same speed on both lists, but made more errors on the phonetic list. (3 on the holistic and 9 on the phonetic list) Some examples were fog for the word frog, lunch for the word launch, clam for clamp. I also had her read the nonsense sentences from the New Elizabethian Test. She could read most of the words, but didn't like the test. Her comment was that she felt like someone who has never read English trying to read English for the first time. I am still thinking about what to do next. I do like the looks of the book We Can All Read. How long does it typically take to get through that book?

 

[ElizabethB]

I had my daughter take the MWIA part II word list test. She had the same speed on both lists, but made more errors on the phonetic list. (3 on the holistic and 9 on the phonetic list) Some examples were fog for the word frog, lunch for the word launch, clam for clamp. I also had her read the nonsense sentences from the New Elizabethian Test. She could read most of the words, but didn't like the test. Her comment was that she felt like someone who has never read English trying to read English for the first time. I am still thinking about what to do next. I do like the looks of the book We Can All Read. How long does it typically take to get through that book?

 

 

That is an interesting score...while the pattern of missed words is normal, most students who read both passages at the exact same speed miss no words on either test and are good readers who do not guess. (They also typically read at least 1 or 2 grades above grade level.)

 

However, people with guessing problems due to sight words miss more phonetic words than holistic words and make those type of errors. The fog/frog is very common. Another common error is squirrel for squeal.

 

For someone with sight word guessing habits, nonsense words are very difficult at first. With my students, I like to remediate them quickly with a lot of nonsense words and eliminate all outside reading until they quit guessing. This is because the Dolch sight words are 50% of any running text, so if you do any outside reading, you are running into words that trigger the guessing habit/looking at words as a whole. The more outside reading you do and the less intensively you remediate, the longer it takes.

 

I do not currently have my copy of "We All Can Read," it is currently loaned out. However, looking at the index online and guessing from when I last had the book a few months ago, I would think it would take 2 to 3 weeks to work through the book if you worked hard at it. I would do two 30 minute sessions daily, only doing the nonsense word portions and any spelling rules. (I can't remember if there are spelling rules or not in his book.) While I like the book, I usually use my own methods instead, although I do recommend it and loan it out for others to use, as you can see by its loan status!

 

While waiting for "We All Can Read" to arrive, you might want to have her try my online spelling lessons, they have nonsense words and focus on spelling rules. You could also do the syllables in Webster's Speller, syllables function as nonsense words. On my how to tutor page, the links at the bottom show how to teach syllables and rules (#4) and have a link to the Speller (#12). The spelling rules are in link 5. You will probably also find the syllable division rules and exercises helpful (6 and 7.)