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When do you start teaching spelling?


StaceyinLA
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I started in second grade with my twins and then started completely over in third. They were both decent readers, but it felt like spelling didn't start to stick for them until the amount of writing picked up - which following FLL's and WWE's quality over quantity approach meant that wasn't until later.

 

I made no secret about my intention to follow this "start in 3rd" plan with my younger dd, but she requested spelling in second do we have it a go. Nothing like a little self-motivation to set somebody up for success. Or at least slow progress.

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So far, I've started 3 of my kids on spelling in second grade (newly 7 years old).  One of them was a strong reader but hated writing, one was an okay reader and loved to write (but has awful handwriting), and one was a struggling reader who loved to write and had lovely handwriting.  The kid who was a strong reader doesn't really need much spelling instruction because he usually just remembers how words are supposed to look.  The two who had a harder time learning to read have had a rough time with spelling as well.  In all cases, the words they were learning to spell were much easier than the words they were reading.

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Honestly, my DD almost 5, is spelling. Not using a formal spelling program. She reads cvc and cvcc words well. So she sounds out the word and spells it to me. Maybe 2 or 3 words. Only done orally and just when I think of it. Which is a few times a month, maybe.

 

A formal program won't happen till 1st or 2nd grade.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is it depends on the kid and where their at.

Edited by Mommyof1
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We have an advanced early reader, who loves to write and likes words. He can read on a 4th grade level currently. He's completed the Kumon books on pre-writing, and basic handwriting exercises for Spalding style letters. One of his activities that he enjoys is to spell phonograms and high-frequency words.

 

Because he knows phonics well, has good (for his age) handwriting and loves to write words, we plan to start spelling with him in Kindergarten and to allow him to go at his own pace.

 

We are considering different spelling programs now. We like Spelling by Sound and Structure (by Rod and Staff) but not how religious it is, so were thinking of using Practical Spelling instead.

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With my oldest, I started spelling in 3rd grade.  She was reading fluently by the end of 1st, but for reasons I can't remember, I didn't start spelling in 2nd.  Or else I did try, and it went really badly (she was a reluctant writer at the time, and also really horrible at spelling), and I waited till 3rd to try again.  Oh, I think it was because I was doing LiPS with her in 2nd - hoping she could spell better once she could hear and manipulate phonemes better.

With my middle, I actually did the whole "teaching reading through spelling" thing.  She was an eager writer, and reading was coming slowly and with difficulty, and I ended up doing a kind of makeshift Spalding spelling that worked to pre-teach her reading words, starting halfway through 1st and continuing till spring of 2nd.  It worked great wrt teaching her to read, but the spelling part didn't stick at all.  (Although to be fair, I was working at a reading pace, not a spelling pace - we did 36 words a day, focusing on one or two new phonograms, and reviewed every word at least once, and upwards of half a dozen times for troublesome words.)  Anyway, she was reading fluently by spring of 2nd, and I started spelling-for-spelling once we quit doing phonics, starting back at spelling words with consonant blends.

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We use A beka for phonics and spelling is built into the lessons through dictation. I start with that so they are spelling words as they learn the phonics rules and continue to practice writing words with those special sounds as we go. Around lesson 70 in A beka phonics 1 I introduce Spelling You See B. My twins started A beka 1 in K so they are doing Spelling You See B right now and my DD who was in 1st last year did all of B and is now in C. This system works well for us. They are all good spellers for their ages.

 

I don't love random lists of words this young because it focuses too much on memorizing words and regurgitating them. They may or may not stick based on a child's memory. I love SYS and A beka phonics because it is based on phonics rules and special sounds. This makes sense to my kids and they enjoy it. I also like the copywork for committing the words to memory. If all I had were lists though, I probably wouldn't start until 3rd.

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We just started AAS for our second grader.  Although, it wasn't really motivated by spelling.   I guess we lagged behind her on teaching her phonics for reading.    She was reading ahead of the program , or more accurately our implementation of it.   So, this is to teach her the phonics that she missed out on.   Her daddy and even more so for me, missed out on phonics by being early readers.   If I haven't heard a word before, and if it isn't super-duper easy, I really can't pronounce words.   As in, people that love me laugh at me because of HOW wrong I am.   
 

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After the child is reading well enough that a phonics program is obsolete, and after having done enough copywork that letter formation is fluent and easy, and the child can write a few sentences in one sitting.

 

We started halfway through 2nd grade. The first level of AAS took us a few weeks, and we're moving through subsequent lessons pretty quickly now too.

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Reading well, but I do a bit of spelling as part of phonics, and since I know all the rules so well, I tell them to my children during phonics practice even though they bounce off the brain of a K or young 1st grade student.

 

For example, as much information makes it to the brain if they spell 1 word or sound out 5, so I do a bit of both.  I did more spelling with my son because he preferred less words, near the end of a phonics lesson I would say, "Do you want to read 15 more words or spell 3 more to finish up?"  Ironically, my daughter is the better speller and I had to do spelling longer and more frequently with my son than my daughter...  

 

(But she also learned to read easier and sooner.)

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I start when reading and writing are fairly decent.  We use All About Spelling and it starts with CVC words which is why writing is usually what tips the scales.  My son(1st grade) is struggling to form letters right now although he reads CVC words great so we haven't started spelling.  My older girls, I was able to start at the 1st grade level.  The first 10 lessons were actually pretty easy for the girls, but they were able to get used to how the program worked, and they spent more concentration on forming the letters vs how to spell the word.

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We use Explode the Code in K, and that includes some spelling, so technically spelling instruction starts then.  More rigorous spelling starts in 1st when we begin AAS.

 

ETA: Both of my older boys were reading around a third grade level when they started AAS in first.  We were still finishing up the upper level EtC books and then moving on to Wise Owl Polysyllables, but more or less they were done with phonics.

 

Wendy

Edited by wendyroo
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