What to get child for him to look up proper spelling?

[ExcitedMama]

Ok the only answer that sounds right is a dictionary, but is there a kid friendly version? DS has taken to writing stories and letters when he is by himself. He's doing great with reading and spelling but he is trying to write more advanced than he has learned in spelling, so he does things like realy. I want to encourage him but I also want him to have a resource to look things up. I really wish there was a spelling version of a calculator I could give him! Any recommendations on this?

[Guest]

The internet?

[Elizabeth 2]

Like this?

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NOMRZY/ref=s9_top_hd_bw_bkSU1_g229_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=85GJYQ31071SWX71D2ZX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=292b4114-d7c1-40ef-b679-ca7e8cd04bcd&pf_rd_i=11072581

[Rachel]

An elementary dictionary would help. Also keep a notebook or note card with words he commonly misspells. Write them down as you come across them.

[Rachel]

Like this?

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NOMRZY/ref=s9_top_hd_bw_bkSU1_g229_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=85GJYQ31071SWX71D2ZX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=292b4114-d7c1-40ef-b679-ca7e8cd04bcd&pf_rd_i=11072581

That's really neat!

[OneStepAtATime]

Electronic spellcheckers are helpful for this. Just make sure they have a pretty complete dictionary and an easy to use interface.

[lllll]

nm

Edited October 5, 2016 by Cathi

[HomeAgain]

We have found that a large print dictionary works best here.  It includes about 90% of the words that the standard dictionary has, but is in a kid-friendly sized font and thicker pages.

[MerryAtHope]

Ok the only answer that sounds right is a dictionary, but is there a kid friendly version? DS has taken to writing stories and letters when he is by himself. He's doing great with reading and spelling but he is trying to write more advanced than he has learned in spelling, so he does things like realy. I want to encourage him but I also want him to have a resource to look things up. I really wish there was a spelling version of a calculator I could give him! Any recommendations on this?

 

Is he wanting to look things up? Otherwise...it looks like from your signature that he's only 6, is that correct? I'd just let him write and have fun with it. He'll get there with the spelling. 

[J&JMom]

If you have an iphone or ipad, use SIRI to look up the word. My kids ask her "what does ____ mean?" and she pulls up the definition entry and reads it out loud.  Very user friendly, IMHO.

 

[EKS]

Either let him use a word processor and spellchecker, have him ask someone, or allow it to be misspelled until later.  If he absolutely must look up a word for spelling, get him an electronic dictionary.

 

I vote for allowing things to be misspelled and NOT correcting them unless he wants to.  Your child wanting to write on his own is a gift.  I'd be very careful about doing anything that might make it less fun for him.  I promise that he will learn to spell in time.  And if he doesn't learn to spell well, it won't be because of this.

[KrissiK]

Is he wanting to look things up? Otherwise...it looks like from your signature that he's only 6, is that correct? I'd just let him write and have fun with it. He'll get there with the spelling.

I was going to say that, too. Unless this is something he is asking for, don't worry about the spelling. The editing process shouldn't be combined with the creative process. And I have never made my kids look up the spelling of words. That never made sense to me anyway. How can a person look up a word to see now it's spelled if they don't know how it's spelled? I always spell words for my kids if they ask.

[Jess4879]

We have an app called Spell Better.  It's free and it is awesome. :)  The kids put the word in, spelling it the best they can, and it brings up suggestions.  They can click on the word to hear it pronounced, define it, etc.  And did I mention that it's free. :) 

[Ravin]

We have that Amazon doohickey that sits in your living room and responds to voice commands. My kids can just ask, "Alexa, how do you spell ___?" and she will spell it for them.

 

Having her spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" was entertaining to them for an annoyingly number of repeats.

[ExcitedMama]

Is he wanting to look things up? Otherwise...it looks like from your signature that he's only 6, is that correct? I'd just let him write and have fun with it. He'll get there with the spelling.

The kids have quiet time in the afternoon in their rooms and lately DS just wants to write and show me his letters and stories. He always wants to know how he did and what is wrong. He's a great natural speller and about 2 weeks from being done with AAR4 and doing great with AAS. Of course there are so many words he hasn't learned yet like why really has two l's and why its spies not spys. I absolutely encourage him and he loves to show me what he's done. When he's writing and I'm in the same room we work on sounding anything out he's spelling which has really helped, like he knows would/could now just from that, but obviously when he's by himself I can't help and I'm trying to discourage his constant running out of his room to ask me how to spell something.

[alisoncooks]

Love the electronic and app recommendations on this thread! My 10 year old has a dictionary, but sometimes her phonetic spelling is soooo wrong that she has no chance of finding it in a dictionary.

[lllll]

nm

Edited October 5, 2016 by Cathi

[fairy4tmama]

We have this Spelling Dictionary for such purposes but we also use google voice command on what ever device is handy. It is mostly my 11 year old that I have use the book.

[ExcitedMama]

So does he know how to look words up in a dictionary or a speller-type book, as young as he is?

 

I can see where it would be wonderful for him to satisfy his curiosity about how a word is spelled. I guess the trick is to find a way to do that without frustrating him. And the only way to know that is to figure out how HE would best like to look up the words, I suppose.

We have this Spelling Dictionary for such purposes but we also use google voice command on what ever device is handy. It is mostly my 11 year old that I have use the book.

Ok I've never tried multi quoting so hopefully this works!

 

I have no idea if he will be able or interested in using a dictionary. For the most part he can pretty easily sound out the beginning of a word but he can get stuck in the middle so if he chose the right letter to look something up I'm not sure if he'd be able to find the right word or get frustrated. Plus he still doesn't always hear the difference between L and R and will write crose when he means close which I'm not sure a dictionary could fix. That's why I wish there was a cheap hand held thing I could get him that would say crose is not a word. I don't trust him with a device unattended to give him a spell check app, I think he'd for sure start playing games. Looking at the different online options reminded me that I must have had something similar as a kid and I think it could play hangman. It's too bad that there isn't a cheaper one out. It's like they only make the toddler version but not a useful one for an older child.

 

I actually bought that book last night! Plus a child's dictionary. I'm still not sure if he'll use them for spelling but I figure it certainly cannot do any harm to start showing him. He asks what some of the words mean on his AAR sheet everyday so I figure instead of just telling him I can have him start looking it up.

Edited September 16, 2016 by ExcitedMama

[Junie]

Some of my kids have done well with this visual dictionary.  It arranges words by topic.  So, for instance, if you want to spell spaghetti, you go to the food chapter and look for the picture of spaghetti.