Spelling during lessons vs IRL

[SereneHome]

We are half way through AAS2 with my oldest and he does very very well when I dictate him phrases and sentences from the TM

 

However, it does terrible (well, at least in my opinion) while he writes any other times (notes, etc).  We also doing WWE2 and again, his spelling is not good at all.  I know that in WWE Susan says not to concentrate on spelling during dictations, but I just keep thinking that he is really not applying the knowledge from AAS at all.

 

So, you guys told me before that I am too hard on him. It was in a thread about his math skills.  Am I too hard this time as well?

 

What should/could I be doing with him to improve his "real life" spelling?

 

For the record, I don't think he reads as much as he should, but I don't know if that would or would not help him.

 

Any other thoughts?

[mathmarm]

Depending on the childs age/maturity I wouldn't say anything to him but If he is old enough to do revisions, I would make a list of words he constantly misspells by length and give him the sheet to keep with him during writing for other subjects and have him use his sheet of frequently misspelled words to check/correct words during that time.

 

Using his list of frequently misspelled words, I'd use them as "extra" spelling during AAS--if he's constantly missing a word that he knows the rule for, I would emphasize that word during review.

 

If he's more-rule oriented, then I'd make him a "cheat sheet" of the rules he's learned so far and use his commonly misspelled words as some of the examples.

 

 

[HomeAgain]

We don't use either of those programs, but during dictation I make a short list of the applicable spelling rules to the piece he's writing.  He's allowed to reference the rules as much as he likes before turning in the dictation.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

You can do the dictation "French style" if you want.  First, on a scrap paper or whiteboard, go over any applicable spelling rules.  Any particularly tricky words can be dictated first by themselves, then analyzed together.  Finally, give the full dictation.  

 

I have two very non-natural spellers.  They are making leaps and bounds this year with Apples and Pears.  I'm not saying to change curriculum, I actually think for my oldest it was just a matter of getting older.  My dd, on the other hand, is making improvement simply because this is the first year she's had any spelling instruction.  I only mention it because A&P has sort of a French dictation feel on the dictation days.  Difficult words are first dictated in isolation and corrected, then incorporated into sentences after mechanics reminders are given as well (capitals, punctuation, etc.).    

[SereneHome]

Do you think letting him do some kind of free writing on a regular basis might help?

[FO4UR]

It is normal for a 7yo to struggle with spelling. Completely normal.

 

That said...

 

Do not let him spell words incorrectly if you can help it.  Put any and all tricky words on the board or on a separate piece of paper or on 3x5 cards.  Let him peek.  The act of peeking helps to *teach* the correct spelling.

 

I do an in-between stage of copywork/dictation where I give the kids a copy of the sentences to be dictated.  I let them peek as much as needed, but they cannot actually write unless the copy is covered.  So they have to hold it in their mind for those few seconds it takes to write.  Going from copywork to dictation is a developmental growing thing, and I'd do what was needed to *gently* nudge the child toward dictation.  

[forty-two]

My dd9 is a struggling (but improving) speller.  We do WWE, too, and I do the dictation as studied dictation.  On copywork days, I have her mark up the passage with our spelling program's markings (Spelling You See, in our case) before she copies it.  And on dictation days, I have her study the marked up passage, pointing out any tricky words, before doing the dictation.  Maybe it would help to go over the passage AAS-style (build the words, mark the words, IDK exactly how AAS works) before the dictation.  (Especially because WWE might have words whose phonograms/rules haven't been learned yet in AAS.)

[Kuovonne]

My DD's spelling in regular writing did not improve significantly until after halfway through AAS3.

There were simply too many words that she could not spell automatically yet.

 

I say, keep plugging away at the spelling lessons, making sure to do all of the AAS dictations.

 

For WWE dictations, write a short list of words he might have trouble with on a post-it and place

it where he can see during the dictation. Let him copy the spelling for those words.

If you find that there would be more than 3-5 words, the dictation is too hard.

WWE dictation is not about spelling. It is about holding thoughts in the brain and other mechanics,

such as capitalization and punctuation.

[tm919]

Can you give an example of a WWE dictation he has mispelled and how he has misspelled it? My daughter didn't spell at a second grade level until she was almost done level 4 AAS. I think it takes a while to come together because it doesn't necessarily hit all the most common words first. We're near the end of 5 and I feel like things are finally starting to fall into place.

 

Halfway through AAS 2, she spelled at maybe a kindergarten level. Near the end of AAS 4, she was finally spelling at mid second grade. Now, near the end of AAS 5, she is finally spelling at the level where I don't privately cringe. :p

 

In addition to that, I don't know if there's any truth to that, but I repeatedly hear that writing and spelling are in different parts of the brain (I think I heard it in an IEW lecture among other places?) so until one is really automatic it's hard for a child to do both at once.

 

Edited January 11, 2016 by tm919

[MerryAtHope]

Yes, very normal at age 7. When students are writing outside of spelling time, they have many more things to focus on–content, creativity, organization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, capitalization, what kind of audience they are addressing–it’s a lot to think about at once. I also saw more improvement later--after Level 3, students have about 1000 words mastered, and that seems to be a tipping point (at least they have mastered about half of the words in the sentence they want to write) where spelling in writing starts to get better. They also have a lot more experience with dictations at that point, and with another exercise called the Writing Station, which serves as a bridge between dictation and outside writing. Check out this article on automaticity for ideas on how to help spelling in the context of his writing--but do know that many kids are closer to junior high age before they can put all of these skills together.