Spelling advice for a good reader in "1st Grade"

[abh413]

My 1st grade daughter reads pretty well (2nd & 3rd grade readers). We haven't done spelling yet other than ETC books (if you count that). We used OPGTR for phonics & loved it. I'm really, really struggling with choosing a spelling program. Please help.

 

 

I want something easy to use... open & go/minimal prep. She learns fast. I do not want a bunch of manipulatives. What do you recommend? TIA!

[Amateur Actress]

SpellWell is fun with varied activities and minimal prep/parent participation.

 

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/literacy/spelling/spellwell/about-the-program

[Lori D.]

If the student seems to be a natural speller, or an average speller/non-struggler who doesn't need additional phonics work or special helps to support weak spelling skills, and is a student who learns via workbooks or writing, all 3 of these are open-and-go and require little parent involvement:

 

Soaring With Spelling; one book per grade, and covers grades 1-8. Here is level 1. Six words per lesson for level 1 and increases by 2 words per level so that level 8 covers 20 words per lesson. Words are grouped by vowel pattern or same word ending or prefix; some levels also include homophones and other special words. Each lesson is scheduled for 5 days, for a pre-test, worksheet practice pages, and a final test.

 

Natural Speller is a "one-stop-spelling-shopping" (lol) for grades 1-8. Under 100 pages, yet it covers all your spelling needs, plus some extras. It lists words by "word families" and students practice by the looking-writing-spelling method (which are done on any notebook or paper, as Natural Speller is not a workbook), but you can easily incorporate additional or substitute practice methods. The word lists also include commonly abbreviated words, homophones, calendar words, and commonly used foreign words.

 

The appendix also includes 1-page each instructions for teaching:

- dictionary skills
- grammar skills
- building vocabulary
- making plurals
- possessives
- prefixes and suffixes
- syllable rules
- capitalization rules
- punctuation rules
- two-page section of words by category (abbreviations; calendar words; color words; contractions...)
- 10-page section for grades 7-8 on Greek and Latin roots and words

- spelling rules 

 

Spelling Workout. Words grouped by vowel pattern, word ending, or other pattern. Spelling is practiced through writing the words and through the workbook pages, which include crosswords and a proof-editing exercise. Here is the Cathy Duffy review.

Edited September 3, 2016 by Lori D.

[knitgrl]

My 1st grade daughter reads pretty well (2nd & 3rd grade readers). We haven't done spelling yet other than ETC books (if you count that). We used OPGTR for phonics & loved it. I'm really, really struggling with choosing a spelling program. Please help.

 

 

I want something easy to use... open & go/minimal prep. She learns fast. I do not want a bunch of manipulatives. What do you recommend? TIA!

 

When my daughter was in 1st grade, she was a great reader and poor speller. We ended up with All About Spelling, which does have manipulative tiles, but at this point (she's in 2nd grade and we are finishing up the first book) we hardly use the tiles. I will use the tiles to introduce a concept, but for all the follow up, we just do the lessons on the white board with a marker. The book is totally open up and go. I think you could use it without the tiles. And since it is a non-consumable, it will work for ore than one kid.

 

[abh413]

If the student seems to be a natural speller, or an average speller/non-struggler who doesn't need additional phonics work or special helps to support weak spelling skills, and is a student who learns via workbooks or writing, all 3 of these are open-and-go and require little parent involvement:

 

Soaring With Spelling; one book per grade, and covers grades 1-8. Here is level 1. Six words per lesson for level 1 and increases by 2 words per level so that level 8 covers 20 words per lesson. Words are grouped by vowel pattern or same word ending or prefix; some levels also include homophones and other special words. Each lesson is scheduled for 5 days, for a pre-test, worksheet practice pages, and a final test.

 

Natural Speller is a "one-stop-spelling-shopping" (lol) for grades 1-8. Under 100 pages, yet it covers all your spelling needs, plus some extras. It lists words by "word families" and students practice by the looking-writing-spelling method (which are done on any notebook or paper, as Natural Speller is not a workbook), but you can easily incorporate additional or substitute practice methods. The word lists also include commonly abbreviated words, homophones, calendar words, and commonly used foreign words.

 

The appendix also includes 1-page each instructions for teaching:

- dictionary skills

- grammar skills

- building vocabulary

- making plurals

- possessives

- prefixes and suffixes

- syllable rules

- capitalization rules

- punctuation rules

- two-page section of words by category (abbreviations; calendar words; color words; contractions...)

- 10-page section for grades 7-8 on Greek and Latin roots and words

- spelling rules

 

Spelling Workout. Words grouped by vowel pattern, word ending, or other pattern. Spelling is practiced through writing the words and through the workbook pages, which include crosswords and a proof-editing exercise. Here is the Cathy Duffy review.

 

These look great! Thank you!

[abh413]

When my daughter was in 1st grade, she was a great reader and poor speller. We ended up with All About Spelling, which does have manipulative tiles, but at this point (she's in 2nd grade and we are finishing up the first book) we hardly use the tiles. I will use the tiles to introduce a concept, but for all the follow up, we just do the lessons on the white board with a marker. The book is totally open up and go. I think you could use it without the tiles. And since it is a non-consumable, it will work for ore than one kid.

 

 

I've looked at AAS multiple times over the last year. It looks great but it seems to have too many parts for me.

 

Do you know if it's possible to use it with just the teacher's manual? I've read (in here) about others using it without the tiles but I wasn't sure if buying just the teacher's manual is enough.

[Jackie]

I found AAS to be painfully slow for my fast learner even after we completely ditched the tiles.

 

My kid learns well with patterns, so we then used Sequential Spelling. The full program is seven years long, but I knew we would never stick to it for that long. The version for adults is essentially the same as the long version, but with far less repetition and therefore meant to be completely finished in two years.

 

If you like the idea of AAS without all the tiles and cards, you could take a look at the book How to Teach Spelling. It has all the rules, plus lots of words that use them and sentences for dictation. However, it is not scripted for you, so somewhat less open and go, but much easier to set the pace at whatever works for you. And all in one book for everything.

[knitgrl]

I think for most things, you could just show the example by writing it out on the white board. They do "segmenting" sounds in the earlier lessons, so you might need to get creative in presenting that without tiles, maybe you could substitute buttons and write letters out on index cards if it seems like your child needs it, but for the bulk of the lessons, I think you can use just the teacher manual.  The cards seem more like a convenience at this point, too. Although the text on the reproduced cards in the teacher's manual is a bit small. I can see where the cards might become more useful later on, but for Level 1 you can probably get away with skipping them; I don't really use them much right now, though I did more so at the beginning.

 

However, I am just finishing up level 1, and have not experienced level 2 yet. At any rate, I think it's a reasonably priced curriculum, with or without the tiles, and my daughter's spelling has greatly improved. She is retaining much more than she did with a previous spelling curriculum.

[MotherGoose]

How does she feel about workbooks/ writing? If she's okay with them, I would get spelling workout or something similar and get spelling done quickly. All about spelling is a great program, but it definitely takes more time than other programs, and if your child can do workbooks and learn spelling quickly, well, there are other things on which I'd rather spend my time :)

[Ellie]

My 1st grade daughter reads pretty well (2nd & 3rd grade readers). We haven't done spelling yet other than ETC books (if you count that). We used OPGTR for phonics & loved it. I'm really, really struggling with choosing a spelling program. Please help.

 

 

I want something easy to use... open & go/minimal prep. She learns fast. I do not want a bunch of manipulatives. What do you recommend? TIA!

 

Spalding. I promise it is easy to use...once you have studied the manual (Writing Road to Reading). Each day you just pick up where you left off, doing pretty much the same kinds of things. It teaches children to read by teaching them to spell--a two-fer--while simultaneously doing penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing. It's a whole English course in one fell swoop. :-)

[knitgrl]

Spalding. I promise it is easy to use...once you have studied the manual (Writing Road to Reading). Each day you just pick up where you left off, doing pretty much the same kinds of things. It teaches children to read by teaching them to spell--a two-fer--while simultaneously doing penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing. It's a whole English course in one fell swoop. :-)

 

I've read that Spalding is the best out there, but dear Lord. I checked it out of the library and tried reading through it and you're supposed to spend 4-6 hours on language arts a day. And it really helps if you take the 6-week course on how to teach it. It looks like a tremendous amount of work to learn the whole thing, easy as it might be to implement once you have done so. I do not have that sort of fortitude.

 

[Syllieann]

You could look at reading lessons through literature. I found the spell to read approach to be great for this situation. I use a different spell to read, but if rltl had been published I would have done that. Its method is based on Spalding, but it's all in one book for each grade (including the reader) and open and go. It would cover phonics/spelling, and handwriting.

[ExcitedMama]

I've looked at AAS multiple times over the last year. It looks great but it seems to have too many parts for me.

 

Do you know if it's possible to use it with just the teacher's manual? I've read (in here) about others using it without the tiles but I wasn't sure if buying just the teacher's manual is enough.

It is just a teacher's manual so the student would then make the words with tiles or write it down on separate paper. It does have a card component, it's a system of words and sounds to memorize, and the tiles. I think it's a great program and super easy to use. It's very systematic and goes through rules that make it easy for the student to remember. My DS seems to be a natural speller so we dropped the tiles and I just read him the lesson and then dictate to him. Each lesson has a short lesson, then spelling is done with words, phrases and sentences. Every day we do a little of the lesson so on day 1 he writes out the words, day 2 might be more words if there were a lot, day 3 is phrases and then 4 is sentences. I keep a running list on my phone of any words he gets wrong to keep going over until he has them down. It's a great handwriting lesson and practice on keeping thoughts in his head when he's doing sentences so it's like beginning dictation. It sounds confusing with all the pieces but it's super easy and we only do about 10 min. a day. He used to whine about writing so much but his stamina has really improved and our last lesson he wanted to keep going and do sentences. Then on his own he wrote letters to send to all of his cousins and was very proud. Highly recommend it!

[Ellie]

I've read that Spalding is the best out there, but dear Lord. I checked it out of the library and tried reading through it and you're supposed to spend 4-6 hours on language arts a day. And it really helps if you take the 6-week course on how to teach it. It looks like a tremendous amount of work to learn the whole thing, easy as it might be to implement once you have done so. I do not have that sort of fortitude.

 

No, if you were *teaching in a classroom,* and Spalding could take three hours (p. 124 of the 4th edition of the manual, Writing Road to Reading). It helps to take course *if you are teaching in a classroom.* I don't know where you read that the training course is six weeks. If you were teaching in a classroom, and you wanted to be a certified Spalding teacher, there are several courses that need to be taken, but even the first basic course is only 10 days (that's for teachers; homeschoolers never need to take that long a course).

 

I would not recommend something to homeschoolers that would be that much work. :-)

 

This is how you do Spalding:

 

You begin by teaching the 26 single-letter phonograms, first the ones that begin with circles, then the ones that begin with lines (there's a script); review those daily as you add new ones.

 

Teach the next phonograms until your dc knows the first 54; same process as teaching the first 26 phonograms; do daily written and oral drills (many children can learn four new phonograms each day).

 

Begin teaching the words in the Extended Ayres List (script for the first few, but you don't need a script after that, because it's the same methodology). Continue teaching the phonograms until all 70 are learned; do daily written and oral review.

 

That is all.

 

Everything you need to know is in the manual. Most homeschoolers prefer the fourth edition (the fifth and sixth editions--especially the sixth--refer endlessly to the teacher guides, but the teacher guides are *not* necessary, and they don't add any new information regarding the method; they are mainly scheduling and goal setting and whatnot, things which homeschoolers do not need).

[knitgrl]

No, if you were *teaching in a classroom,* and Spalding could take three hours (p. 124 of the 4th edition of the manual, Writing Road to Reading). It helps to take course *if you are teaching in a classroom.* I don't know where you read that the training course is six weeks. If you were teaching in a classroom, and you wanted to be a certified Spalding teacher, there are several courses that need to be taken, but even the first basic course is only 10 days (that's for teachers; homeschoolers never need to take that long a course).

 

I would not recommend something to homeschoolers that would be that much work. :-)

 

This is how you do Spalding:

 

You begin by teaching the 26 single-letter phonograms, first the ones that begin with circles, then the ones that begin with lines (there's a script); review those daily as you add new ones.

 

Teach the next phonograms until your dc knows the first 54; same process as teaching the first 26 phonograms; do daily written and oral drills (many children can learn four new phonograms each day).

 

Begin teaching the words in the Extended Ayres List (script for the first few, but you don't need a script after that, because it's the same methodology). Continue teaching the phonograms until all 70 are learned; do daily written and oral review.

 

That is all.

 

I confess it was a year or two ago that I looked at WRTR, so I probably have the specifics all wrong, but the feeling of being overwhelmed I remember quite clearly. :-)  There's a blogger I follow who has totally bought into Spalding, but she makes it sound complicated, too. What you describe sounds do-able. Perhaps once my toddlers are closer to Kindergarten, I will revisit Spalding. Thank you for taking the time to explain it. Without that, I doubt I would have ever reconsidered it. It kind of makes me feel bad for my first homeschooled child because it seems like the youngest sibling is going to get a better education with a much more experienced teacher.

[goldenecho]

All About Spelling is exactly that...open and go.  It teaches spelling rules not random word lists, and teaches in such a easy, logical way.  I love it.

[Ellie]

I confess it was a year or two ago that I looked at WRTR, so I probably have the specifics all wrong, but the feeling of being overwhelmed I remember quite clearly. :-)  There's a blogger I follow who has totally bought into Spalding, but she makes it sound complicated, too. What you describe sounds do-able. Perhaps once my toddlers are closer to Kindergarten, I will revisit Spalding. Thank you for taking the time to explain it. Without that, I doubt I would have ever reconsidered it. It kind of makes me feel bad for my first homeschooled child because it seems like the youngest sibling is going to get a better education with a much more experienced teacher.

 

I don't trust most people who write about how they do Spalding. Or who write books or whatever that tell you how to do Spalding. Most of the time they have totally missed the boat.

 

You would not be the first person to feel overwhelmed when reading the manual for the first time. :-) Thank goodness that I had a couple of good friends who did Spalding and who took the time to 'splain some things to me. I try to pass it on whenever possible. :-)

 

There is always a difference between what the firstborn gets and what the baby gets. It all works out. :-)

[Shred Betty]

All About Spelling is exactly that...open and go. It teaches spelling rules not random word lists, and teaches in such a easy, logical way. I love it.

^+ 1

 

My dd7 is a great reader and a poor speller. We started AAS a few weeks ago and I'm seeing big strides already. things are really getting organized in her mind. It's both of our favorite curriculum so far, so I'm really wanting to try AAR also.

 

We started the summer with spelling workout A and the random spelling word list book she filled out simply did not seem to be teaching her anything except how to correctly copy a word... Granted I did not use the teaching manual but All About Spelling is light years better for both of us!

[Lori D.]

... We started the summer with spelling workout A and the random spelling word list book she filled out simply did not seem to be teaching her anything except how to correctly copy a word... 

 

Yes, I really did not want to disparage a curriculum in my post above just because it did not work for us, because it may be the very thing that works for someone else, BUT... that was our experience with Spelling Workout A and B -- seemingly random word lists, copying words into the exercises, and no learning. It was a disaster for DS#2 who is a spelling struggler with mild LDs, and DS#1, an average speller, did not progress in spelling that year. He also did not progress with Spelling Power, which is another program that feels random in word selection, and does not really explain vowel patterns or syllabication.

 

From what I see on these boards, Spelling Workout and Spelling Power can be a good fit for natural spellers; for average spellers who need to be taught phonetic patterns and spelling rules, or for struggling spellers who need specialized instruction, these programs are not usually a good fit.

[JudoMom]

I like Rod & Staff spelling. Definitely open and go, the exercises require thought, and it only requires me to give a spelling test once a week.

[tm919]

^+ 1

 

My dd7 is a great reader and a poor speller. We started AAS a few weeks ago and I'm seeing big strides already. things are really getting organized in her mind. It's both of our favorite curriculum so far, so I'm really wanting to try AAR also.

 

We started the summer with spelling workout A and the random spelling word list book she filled out simply did not seem to be teaching her anything except how to correctly copy a word... Granted I did not use the teaching manual but All About Spelling is light years better for both of us!

Agree, All About Spelling minus the tiles works fine for good readers who will move quickly. I did 1 step a day until I got to levels 3-5, where we went progressively slower. Oddly we are back to 1 step a day at the end of level 6. 

 

About the teachers manual only thing, I think you at least need the word banks too. The other stuff, like the cards, you can make your own for rules, etc. & just keep a list of words they need to review.

 

Pretty much my constant refrain for using AAS and AAR with my kids who go through the levels quickly is: They are so expensive to use this way, but worth it for my peace of mind.

[Bluegoat]

We hated Spelling Workout, it really seemed pointless.

 

We've had good results with Sequential Spelling, and it is dead easy.  And cheap.  Just the paper version.

[goldenecho]

Agree, All About Spelling minus the tiles works fine for good readers who will move quickly. I did 1 step a day until I got to levels 3-5, where we went progressively slower. Oddly we are back to 1 step a day at the end of level 6. 

 

About the teachers manual only thing, I think you at least need the word banks too. The other stuff, like the cards, you can make your own for rules, etc. & just keep a list of words they need to review.

 

Pretty much my constant refrain for using AAS and AAR with my kids who go through the levels quickly is: They are so expensive to use this way, but worth it for my peace of mind.

 

Yeah, with All About Spelling we don't do the tiles either, except at the very beginning.  We just practice with the word cards and when he seems to get most of the words in a set right we continue on and just review a few of the words he's previously missed through the week when we're not having a new concept spelling lesson, until he gets them down.

 

[calihil]

I have been using Dictation Day By Day for several weeks now with my 7 year old and so far we both really love it. It's in the public domain so it's free, I just printed it and put the pages in page protectors in a binder. I write the day's sentence on a white board, she copies it into her notebook, then we go over the underlined new words (and those spelled similarly). Takes 5 minutes. On Friday I have her spell the words on the white board. She's been a slow reader but she's picking spelling up really quickly.