- As you work with your child at home on spelling, please focus on the rule, pattern or sound that is the focus of the week. You can practice using some of these activities:
- Ask your child to tell you what the focus is for the week. Your child should be able to articulate the rule, pattern or sound.
- Think about rhyming words and “word families” and ask your child to spell some of them for you.
- Ask your child about the sounds in the words, not just the letters. For example, the word “back” has 3 sounds, but 4 letters. Ask your child to segment the sounds for you. Then you can ask, and how do we spell the /k/ sound in that word? Yes, “ck”, not just “k”.
- Your child will be sorting words into groups in class, but you can do this at home as well. For example, if the word list is focusing on the sounds of “ow,” you might have words like cow, snow, down, blow and flower. Your child should be able to sort this into two groups: cow, down and flower share the same medial sound of /ow/. Snow and blow share the same sound.
*Our goal is to provide a spelling program that teaches children how to spell and then to transfer that knowledge of spelling to their writing (not simply to memorize a list of words).
*Our spelling program this year will be integrated with our new reading materials from Pearson, “Reading Street.” This means that our reading, writing and spelling lessons will be connected for a meaningful and cohesive study of language arts.
*Good spellers do not memorize letters, they hear sounds, learn rules and see patterns in words. 80% of the words in English follow rules. By learning these rules and predictable patterns, students will become more independent writers and spellers and be willing to take more risks with their spelling. We hope to reduce the number of times we are asked “How do you spell......?”
*Our focus will be on:
sounds of the English language;
spelling rules;
spelling patterns.
*Students will be given a pre-test which will decide if they receive the regular or the challenge spelling list. Both lists will focus on the same sounds, rules and patterns.
*Both lists will include several “sight” words which do NOT follow these rules and must be memorized using letter names.
*Students will be tested at the end of the week. The spelling test will be a combination of words from the list, and other words NOT on the list that follow the rule, sound or pattern that we have studied that week. For example, if the students are learning about short vowel sounds with the CVCC pattern, the list may include the word “fast.” The student may be asked to spell the word “last” on the test.
*Students who need more challenge in spelling will be asked to use words in a sentence on the test and all of the words that they write will “count.” Students who need this challenge will need to think about how to spell all of the words in their sentences correctly, just as they should do in their writing. Spelling words in isolation is much easier than spelling words correctly in a sentence.
*Spelling work will be due on Friday when the test will be given.
We recognize that this is a change from last year, but research shows that this type of spelling program results in confident, independent spellers. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions.
Mrs. Cranwell & Mrs. Fontanazza
p.s. The spelling program will also be discussed on Parent Night.