Spelling trouble

[Janeway]

My daughter was using TGTB. Before that, in charter school, she was using a Riggs phonics program. This upcoming year, she will be using Spelling Workout E (1994 edition), IEW for writing (an outsourced class), and Beowulf Grammar. She struggles with both spelling and grammar. Since she likes to write so much, I was pretty shocked to start the year of spelling work out last week and find that she misses close to half the words on the pretest and still misses half of those words on the post test.  

I hate to spend the money on an entirely new spelling program. I could just try to up my game and you spelling tiles and other activities in Phonics markings and everything else with the spelling work out. But I’m wondering if there are other programs I should be considering. I do not need anything for the reading writing or grammar at this point.

 

[LauraClark]

We use dictation day by day. It's free (an old curriculum). I was finding that my oldest was not retaining words from his spelling lists, but he seems to retain them from the dictation. Each day I dictate his new sentences, he fixes any mistakes he makes and rewrites the words missed, and I have him write his new words for the next day. On Fridays there are review words-I make a silly sentence using as many as I can. Fridays are their favorite day.

[Dianthus]

We used Spelling Workout for the first time this past year and it is now my favorite spelling program.  It's just under $20 for the student and teacher books at rainbow resource. You didn't list your dd's age. My ds10 was not a great speller but has been very successful with this. I have him recite and spell words aloud at the beginning of the week. He does the pretest then writes any missed words 5x and the other words 1x. Every day, he copies the word list, 1x in cursive and 1x in manuscript. I think forming the words both ways requires him to think about the spelling more. Sometimes I'll have him spell words with bananagram tiles. If he misses words on the week end test then I have him write the words 5x and copy the words to the end of the next lesson so they are practiced for the following week. He began the year missing half of the words and ended with missing 0-3. 

I do not do the last exercise in each lesson with proofreading misspelled words because i don't think it's helpful to see rhe words wrongly spelled.

Eta: my ds10 enjoys this program and gets the workbook out and does the daily exercise and writes his words the first thing in the morning. I think he is very pleased by his success with it.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Dianthus

[bensonduck]

Apples and Pears has made a huge difference for my struggling speller. 

[BusyMom5]

I also had the best success from Apples and Pears (I think I have a few teacher manuals in the to sell pile). 

Some of those depends on why she struggles with Spelling.  Is she focused?  How much practice is she doing?  Does she need more?  What about copywork or dictation? 

I have one that has always struggled with Spelling.  She spells banana wrong!  Shes grown now, and uses Google,  spell check, or asks on anything she isn't sure about.  She could never remember rules for Spelling,  and just spells how she feels- throw a few extra Ns or Ss in a word?  Add an extra A or E?  I or E- who knows, just pick one.  Looking back,  A&P worked best bc it was slow and repetitive.   Other programs she would memorize for the test, then forget a week later.  I am also a fan of copy work and dictation, reviewing words from previous weeks.  DD is a great writer, despite her lack of Spelling ability!  I have made it a non-issue.  Shes not good at it, never will be, but she can use tools to help her.  We did Spelling through 7th grade- lots of programs. 

 

[LauraClark]

1 hour ago, BusyMom5 said:

Shes not good at it, never will be, but she can use tools to help her. 

And you might be surprised as she gets older. I was a terrible speller (memorized it for the test and instantly forgot), but I took typing in 10th grade and suddenly I could remember words. It must have something to do with muscle memory-when trying to remember how to spell a word I pretend to type it. So, who know?! Maybe she'll find her own unusual way to remember how to spell ;). I taught my kids typing earlier in hopes it would help them too, but I haven't noticed any change with them.

[Ellie]

On 7/9/2022 at 7:51 AM, Janeway said:

My daughter was using TGTB. Before that, in charter school, she was using a Riggs phonics program. This upcoming year, she will be using Spelling Workout E (1994 edition), IEW for writing (an outsourced class), and Beowulf Grammar. She struggles with both spelling and grammar. Since she likes to write so much, I was pretty shocked to start the year of spelling work out last week and find that she misses close to half the words on the pretest and still misses half of those words on the post test.  

I hate to spend the money on an entirely new spelling program. I could just try to up my game and you spelling tiles and other activities in Phonics markings and everything else with the spelling work out. But I’m wondering if there are other programs I should be considering. I do not need anything for the reading writing or grammar at this point.

 

I think Spalding and its look-alikes (such as LOE and AAS) have the most success in teaching children to have good spelling skills; I, of course, always think Spalding is the best. ::cheeky grin::

What you could do is begin to make spelling more of a Thing; that is, correct it in all of her written work, and, if she's motivated by grades, include a spelling component grade to everything. If she is misspelling words in her writing assignments, then that will bring down her writing grade. Sometimes children will make spelling mistakes because they don't think it matters, KWIM?

Also, when she misspells words, is there a common skill that she misses?

[formerelemteach]

I highly recommend RocketSpelling.com for your situation. You could just sign up and take the free trial, create an account for your daughter, and the site takes it from there. There are instructional videos and practice levels that feel like a game, and the site collects all the data so you can see where her strengths and weaknesses are.

Even once your free trial is done, you can use their coupon code of FAMILY25 to get 50% off. Could take care of everything for you.

[bensonduck]

On 7/9/2022 at 5:30 PM, LauraClark said:

And you might be surprised as she gets older. I was a terrible speller (memorized it for the test and instantly forgot), but I took typing in 10th grade and suddenly I could remember words. It must have something to do with muscle memory-when trying to remember how to spell a word I pretend to type it. So, who know?! Maybe she'll find her own unusual way to remember how to spell ;). I taught my kids typing earlier in hopes it would help them too, but I haven't noticed any change with them.

That reminds me of when I watch the National Spelling Bee and the kids are finger typing the words as they spell them - clearly muscle memory is a huge part!

[pmeilaen]

On 7/9/2022 at 9:18 AM, LauraClark said:

We use dictation day by day. It's free (an old curriculum). I was finding that my oldest was not retaining words from his spelling lists, but he seems to retain them from the dictation. Each day I dictate his new sentences, he fixes any mistakes he makes and rewrites the words missed, and I have him write his new words for the next day. On Fridays there are review words-I make a silly sentence using as many as I can. Fridays are their favorite day.

I also used this for four of my five children.  It is excellent.