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Spelling
Spelling
Spelling is a highly complex task that is gradually mastered over a period of time as an individual becomes acquainted with the properties and purposes of written language. Spelling involves the use of strategies, which may vary according to the words being attempted and the knowledge that the writer has acquired through experiences with words.
Faye Bolton & Diane Snowball
"My experience has been that teachers who have the strongest reading-writing classrooms turn out the best spellers."
-Regie Routman
Richard Gentry (1982) described the developmental stages learners go through in learning to spell as: 1. Prephonemic Spelling. Children scribble, form letters, and string letters together but with no awareness that letters represent phonemes or speech sounds. Children can, however, create meaningful messages through their exploration. Prephonemic spelling is typical of preschoolers and beginning kindergartners. 2. Early Phonemic Spelling. There is a limited attempt to represent phonemes with letters (i.e., using one or two letters for a word"m" for "my" or "nt" for "night"). This stage is typical of many kindergartners and beginning first-grade children. 3. Phonetic Spelling. The child uses letters for phonemes (i.e., "lik" for "like" or brthr" for "brother"). The child represents most phonemes, understands the concept of a word, but may not quite be reading fluently yet. Many ending kindergartners and beginning firstgraders are at this stage. 4. Transitional spelling. In this stage, children are internalizing information about spelling patterns. The words they write look like English words. For example, the child may write "skool" for "school" and "happe" for "happy." Rules are not always employed correctly. With continued reading and writing practice, children integrate more spelling rules and patterns. This stage usually includes first through third-grade children. 5. Standard spelling. At this stage, children spell most words correctly. This stage usually occurs by the middle to the end of third grade or in fourth grade. Children are ready to learn to spell homonyms, contractions, and irregular spellings and to internalize the rules that govern spelling.
Read a lot and enjoy reading Are committed writers Have a fascination with words Use what they already know about words to figure out new words View spelling as a mostly logical system that makes sense Integrate sound, visual, and meaning knowledge Use a variety of strategies, including utilizing relevant resources Care about correct spelling and self-monitor (are on the lookout for errors) Assume responsibility for proofreading and editing Take pride in doing their best work
What teaching strategies will help create and support an effective spelling program?
Understand and support children as they invent spellings for words they may not have
yet learned to spell. Inventing spellings allows children to engage in thinking about words and to demonstrate their acquired skills. Teach spelling as part of the whole curriculum. Capitalize on opportunities to have children write and spell in situations other than the spelling lesson, such as in math, science, and social studies lessons. Have children write frequently. Children invent and refine spelling by using the skills they acquire when they write. Spelling practice occurs through free writing, such as labels, lists, signs, plans, stories, songs, recipes, and letters. It is important to remember to make the writing activity purposeful. Adjust expectations for correctness, memorization, and writing mechanics to fit the children's level of development and to make allowances for inexperience and mistakes. Respond to children's writing in ways that help them discover more about spelling. In the response (or feedback), build interest in words, make word study fun, answer questions about spelling, and teach spelling skills. It is important to help young writers develop a positive spelling consciousness.
Invented Spelling
Donald Richgels from Northern Illinois University discusses what invented spelling is and isn't, and presents ways to support this beginning effort.
Sound Symbol
Teach students the sound-symbol match of consonants and short vowels in a writing/ spelling format. Use the McCracken method in Spelling through Phonics as a way to introduce students to the process of spelling. In first grade, students should be taught to divide their chalkboards into four parts.
The teacher pronounces (dictates) words that illustrate the focused lesson. Students write each of the four words in the specified quadrant, and then they erase the words in the order specified by the teacher. (This procedure promotes a reading/searching task.) The lessons move in the following progression. Initial consonants
And so on
The progression continues until all the short vowels have been taught. At this point, or perhaps earlier, the teaching/practicing can also include:
Four- and five-letter examples using initial and/or final blends and digraphs
By the end of first grade, students who learn this process of demonstrating their knowledge of the very reliable consonants and short vowels will be able to spell more than three hundred words. Please keep in mind these tenets about the short-vowel process approach.
There is no need to memorize short-vowel words where every letter is heard. Therefore, do not send these words home for memorization. Include some examples of the learned pattern on the weekly test. These examples will not have been memorized, but they may have been rehearsed during the process dictation practice.
Generalizations
Teach the generalizations that are most useful to spellers. Some educators believe that there are no generalizations beyond the short-vowel patterns and "heard" consonants that can be taught. In reality, there are some helpful ways of grouping words for spelling consideration that will help students learn the thousands of words within our language. Blake and Evans in Elementary English, Volume 47, Number 2, stated: "One view for teaching spelling is that each word must be memorized separately. Another view is that children should be taught methods which help them learn a system in spelling words without having to commit each of the many thousands of words to memory individually. As part of the process, there are various rules which aid the speller. These rules state various generalizations, which give clues as to how a word is conventionally spelled. By knowing a given rule, a child may have a good clue as to how a word is spelled. However, English spelling is extremely complex. Many exceptions are encountered for almost any rule. These exceptions are seldom haphazard, but usually follow other rules. However, a child would have to learn an extremely large number of rules if he were to rely on them. Consequently, a compromise must be made between learning enough rules to give a system for spelling, but not so many that the learning of such rules becomes a burdensome task. Thus, the selection of which rules are most useful (i.e., those that do not require too many subrules to explain the exceptions and which are applicable to a large number of words) puzzles both teachers and researchers. Rules with Wide Application These rules have been validated by research as having wide application. Other rules may exist which may be more helpful and should be used instead, if deemed appropriate. 1. Words ending in "silent" e a. A one-syllable word in which the vowel has the long-vowel sound followed by a consonant sound often ends with a "silent" e (examples: make, write, hole, use). This rule is generally true for the final syllable of a polysyllabic word (examples: mistake, invite, before, perfume). Words with some other vowel sound usually do not end in a "silent" e (examples: hit, hat, help). b. In some one-syllable words or in some final syllables, the long-vowel sound is sometimes spelled by a combination of two vowels without a final "silent" e (examples: feed, coat, unload, repeat). 2. Spelling the i sounds as i or y a. When the sound, either long or short, comes at the beginning or in the middle of a word or final syllable, the letter i is usually the correct letter to use (examples: ice, advice, bring, admit). This rule does have two exceptions: system, mystery. b. When the i sound, long or short, comes at the end of the word, it is usually spelled with a y (examples: fry, why, defy, rely, ready, many, very).
3. Spelling the ai sound as ai or ay a. When the long a sound occurs in the medial part of a word, it usually is spelled ai (examples: train, bait, tail, retain, explain, entertainment). b. When this sound occurs at the end of a word, it is usually spelled ay (examples: day, hay, bay, pay, anyway, holiday). 4. Words ending in ful a. If the ful is a suffix, it is spelled with one l (examples: beautiful, powerful, wonderful, graceful, careful). 5. Spelling the k sound as c or k a. The k sound is generally spelled with a c before the vowel a, o, and u (examples: camel, company, custom, scale, scare, scuffle, delicate, acorn, difficult). b. The k sound is usually with a k before the vowels e and i (examples: kettle, kid, sketch, skill, blanket, unkind). c. When the k sound follows a long vowel sound, the k is usually spelled with a k (examples: awake, duke, hike, joke, creek, leak, soak, crook). 6. Spelling the Q followed by u. In English words, q is always followed by u 7. Adding suffixes to words ending in y a. When final y is preceded by a consonant, the y is usually changed to i before adding any suffix that does not begin with i (examples: relied, reliable). When the suffix begins with i, the y does not change (example: relying). b. When y is preceded by a vowel, the y does not change when adding a suffix (examples: played, staying). c. Another way of saying the above two points is that when adding a suffix, change y to i except when: (1) y is preceded by a vowel; (2) the suffix begins with i. d. Exception: When adjectives of one syllable end in y, retain the y before ly and ness (examples: spryly, dryness). e. In one study, this generalization applied to about 80 words of the 1600 studied, and only 3 exceptions were noted. 8. Adding suffixes to words ending in "silent" e a. If the suffix begins with a consonant, generally retain the "silent" e (examples: lonely, settlement). b. If it begins with a vowel, generally drop the "silent" e (examples: lovable, moving, movable, caring, arguing, guidance).
c. Exception: Words that end in ce and ge generally reverse these two rules when the suffix begins with a or o (examples: noticeable, changeable, courageous; also in a few other words such as dyeing, argument, duly, truly, wholly, judgement). d. One study showed that these rules applied to 300 of 1600 words studied, There were only three exceptions on the list. 9. Doubling the final consonant when adding suffixes a. Words ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel usually double the final consonant before adding the suffix (examples: chopped, setting.). This rule also applies to longer words when the last syllable is accented (example: forgotten). b. One study showed that this rule applied to 74 of 1600 words studied. There were four exceptions, three of which ended in the letter x, which was not doubled. 10. There are seven ways to form plurals: a. By adding s (Most words follow this rule.) b. By adding es when the pronunciation requires it, such as s, ss, ch, sh, x c. By changing y to i and adding es when the final y is preceded by a consonant (This rule is the same aforementioned rule (#7) for adding a suffix to words ending in y.) d. By changing final f or fe to v and adding es (examples: scarves, calves) e. By changing the internal vowels, as in foot, tooth, mouse, man f. A few words are spelled the same in both singular and plural (examples: deer, sheep). g. A few words change the letters ending the word to form the plural (examples: datumdata, radius-radii, gymnasium-gymnasia, phenomenon-phenomena, criterion-criteria). These words are of foreign derivation and are not encountered greatly by elementaryschool children. h. One study showed that of the 1600 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade words studied, there were 767 applications of these generalizations and 31 exceptions. These exceptions included such words as scarf and tooth. 11. Rules for i before e a. The vowel i comes before e except after c and in such words that have a long-a sound as neighbor and weigh. (Exceptions: either, neither, foreign, their, height, leisure, weird, seize) Some teachers use sentences to display these exceptions. "Neither is it weird for foreigners to seize leisure, either." or "Neither has leisure to seize the weird thing." b. In Fitzgerald's basic list of 2650 words, 83 contain the ie and ei combinations; only eight are exceptions to the rule.
12. Abbreviations are followed by a period. 13. Proper nouns and adjectives formed from proper nouns begin with a capital letter. 14. Adding the suffix ly
a. Most words add the suffix ly without change in the base word. b. The exception occurs when a word ends in y or le. (1) If the word ends in y, change y to I and add ly (examples: busily, luckily). This rule is actually the aforementioned rule (#7) for adding suffixes to words ending in y. (2) If the word ends in le, drop the le and add ly (examples: capably, respectably).
Not all children need to learn these rules, but teachers do. A clear understanding of the rules will make it possible to diagnose professionally a child's spelling needs and to select and recognize those rules which will be helpful. When children learn spelling rules, they should probably learn them inductively, with the help of the teacher. A rule taught by rote usually is one of little value to a child as he will seldom apply it. Rules cannot be considered a central approach to the spelling problem, but if they are approached with reasonableness and are derived inductively, they are of advantage to many learners.
Spelling Book
The words in the spelling book have been grouped by process generalization, and many useful high-frequency words are included. There may be instances where the connections of words in the spelling book provide a pertinent list or partial list. Feel encouraged to substitute lists or words if you want to personalize the spelling sequence for your students.
Spalding
The Spalding program begins by teaching a set of phoneme-letter units that are called phonograms. There are seventy phonograms which include the letters of the alphabet plus some multiple-letter units like ea and igh. The letters represent minimal speech units (phonemes), not blends. Learning the phonograms is a straightforward, paired-associates learning task that forms links between the particular phonemes, particular letters, and particular motor/writing movement. In actuality, Spalding is a combined phonics, spelling, and handwriting process that helps the student to weave these components into his/her reading and writing strategies.
4. Employ multi-sensory techniques to help increase memory. Those techniques include screen-wire templates and oral recitation of letters as they are being written. 5. Develop word banks with students that depict words they need often. The constant exposure to these words will help memory. 6. Use the pretest-study-test method. This approach allows students to be very strategic in focusing their study time, and it alerts the teacher about the difficulty level of the week's words. Have the students write the pronounced words and then write them again in the next column by listening to the letter-by-letter dictation. Ask the students to compare the two spellings and write the words that were misspelled on the pretest a third time. This third column of words forms the student's study list for the week. 7. Consider organizing your students for individual practice and testing of words. Decide whether the individual lists will comprise the entire list or a portion of the list. Decide also if the procedure will be utilized every week or only periodically. Students selfdetermine their words with teacher assistance by looking at words being missed in their writing. They learn the words by practicing with a buddy who pronounces the words. They extend the same practice and testing help to their buddy. 8. Teach the students an efficient, multi-modality study method. Most spelling programs promote the method established by Ernest Horn. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Look at the word. Close your eyes and visualize the word as you say the letters. Check to see if you were right. (If not, begin again at step 1.) Cover the word and write it. Check to see if you were right. (If not, begin again at step 1.) Repeat steps 4 and 5 two more times.
9. Teach the students to distinguish between homonyms and to decide from the content which homonym is called for. Miscue of homonyms is the cause of many errors in spelling and, therefore, warrants study.
Developing Interest
Teach students that spelling is a courtesy to the reader. It helps the reader understand and give full value to the writing. Show students an early draft of writing and demonstrate how the wonderful use of words is appreciated and can be polished in the editing stage. Too early attention to spelling can limit vocabulary choice. Applaud efforts to use the best word possible and then initiate efforts to move the word toward conventional spelling. This acknowledgement can be done informally with praise statements and/or more formally with grades or certificates. You may be able to use the poem "Big" by Dorothy Aldis from Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young, selected by Jack Prelutsky. Now I can catch and throw a ball And spell Cat, Dog, And Pig. I have finished being small And started Being BIG!
Ask students what words are they able to spell now that they are "big."
Second 25 Group 1b
or one had by word but not what all were we when your can said there use an each which she do how their if
Third 25 Group 1c
will up other about out many then them these so some her would make like him into time has look two more write go see
Fourth 25 Group 1d
number no way could people my than first water been call who oil now find long down day did get come made may part over
Second 25 Group 2b
great where help through much before line right too mean old any same tell boy follow came want show also around form three small set
Third 25 Group 2c
put end does another well large must big even such because turn here ask why went men read need land different home us move try
Fourth 25 Group 2d
kind hand picture again change off play spell air away animal house point page letter mother answer found study still learn should America world high
Second 25 Group 3b
left don't few while along might close something seem next hard open example begin life always those both paper together got group often run` important
Third 25 Group 3c
until children side feet car mile night walk white sea began grow took river four carry state once book hear stop without second late miss
Fourth 25 Group 3d
idea enough eat face watch far Indian real almost let above girl sometimes mountain cut young talk soon list song leave family body music color
The people Write it down. By the water Who will make it? You and I What will they do? He called me. We had their dog. What did they say? When would you go? No way A number of people One or two How long are they? More than the other Come and get it. How many words? Part of the time This is a good day. Can you see? Sit down. Now and then But not me Go find her. Not now Look for some people. I like him.
So there you are. Out of the water A long time We were here. Have you seen it? Could you go? One more time We like to write. All day long Into the water It's about time. The other people Up in the air She said to go. Which way? Each of us He has it. What are these? If we were older There was an old man. It's no use. It may fall down. With his mom At your house From my room It's been a long time. Will you be good?
Give them to me. Then we will go. Now is the time. An angry cat May I go first? Write your name. This is my cat. That dog is big. Get on the bus. Two of us Did you see it? The first word See the water. As big as the first But not for me When will we go? How did they get it? From here to there Number two More people Look up. Go down. All or some Did you like it? A long way to go When did they go? For some of you people
dairy dear decorate didn't doctor does early Easter easy enough every everybody favorite February fierce first football forty fourth Friday friend fuel getting goes grade guard half Halloween handkerchief haven't having hear heard height hello here hospital
hour house instead knew know laid latter lessons letter little loose loving making many maybe minute morning mother name neither nice none o'clock off often once party peace people piece played plays please poison practice pretty principal
quarter quit quite raise read receive received remember right rough route said Santa Claus Saturday says school schoolhouse several shoes since skiing skis some something sometime soon straight studying sugar summer Sunday suppose sure surely surprise surrounded swimming
teacher tear terrible Thanksgiving their there they though thought through tired together tomorrow tonight too toys train traveling trouble truly Tuesday two until used
vacation very wear weather weigh were we're when where which white whole women would write writing write you your you're
Examples
jay hill ship cat ham bag back bank sick bell pot ring cap sunk pail rain feed my pout rug mop pin pan best pink low new more bed cab cob sock cake line knight swim duck gum say Bill dip fat jam rag sack sank Dick sell not sing map junk jail pain seed by trout bug cop tin man nest sink slow few sore red dad job rock lake nine light him luck bum pay will tip bat dam tag Jack tank pick fell hot king tap bunk nail main weed dry scout hug pop win ran pest rink grow chew tore fed jab rob lock make pine right Kim suck hum day fill skip rat ram wag black blank quick tell dot wing clap flunk sail chain need try shout dug top chin tan rest link show grew store led lab Bob dock take fine night rim truck drum play spill trip sat Sam sag track drank chick yell got thing trap skunk tail plain freed fly spout tug hop thin Dan test drink snow blew score Ted crab knob block brake shine fight brim buck plum
Have-a-Go
This instructional technique adapted from Australia (Jo-Ann Parry and David Hornsby, Write On: A Conference Approach to Writing) is based on the concept that children, like adults, can usually identify a misspelled word even if they cannot spell it correctly. After choosing misspelled words from their writing, students attempt to "have-a-go" at standard spellings until they can meet with a teacher who helps them identify/confirm their spelling decision and guides their thinking throughout the process.
Peer Help
Students will often ask a peer when they don't know how to spell a word and have tried several sources. Students quickly learn who the good spellers are and seek them out. We need to encourage collaboration as an important spelling strategy.
Minilessons
This is direct instruction through modeling/demonstration to provide opportunities for student observation, participation, and practice. The lessons are based on the instructional needs of the students. They may occur as whole class or one-to-one when the teacher conferences with a child.
Personal Dictionary
Once a student has the standard spelling of a word, the word may be recorded into his/her personal dictionary. Students add words they want to spell and that teachers expect them to spell. High-frequency words may also be recorded. Encourage the students to keep the dictionary handy while writing to be used as a reference.
Spelling Games
Spelling games, whether they are commercial, teacher-made, computer-generated, or student-made, can be used to reinforce and develop standard spelling in an informal setting.
Conferencing
A teacher can reinforce standard spelling patterns or rules while conferencing with individuals or small groups of students as part of the writing process.
Spell check
Computer users know how helpful the spell-check features is. They also know how necessary it is to have some background spelling knowledge to get the word close enough for help, close enough to determine the accuracy of one of the choices, and close enough to determine that the original word is indeed accurate, just not within the spell-check word bank.
Have - A - Go
Copy Word 1st Try 2nd Try Standard Spelling
Professional Resources:
Bean, Wendy, & Bouffler, Chrystine. Spell by Writing. Heinemann. Gentry, J., Spel is a Four Letter Word. Heinemann. Gentry, J., & Gillet, Jean Wallace. Teaching Kids to Spell. Heinemann Mccracken, Robert & Marlene. Spelling Through Phonics. Pegus. Parry, Jo-Ann, & Hornsby, David. Write On: a Conference Approach to Writing. Heinemann. Routman, Regie. Conversations. Heinemann. Routman, Regie, Invitations. Heinemann. Sitton, Rebecca, & Forest, Robert. The Quick-Word Handbook for Everyday Writers. Curriculum Associates.