Spelling

I imagine that some of you might have some questions about spelling after visiting our classroom this week. First I would ask that you read these two articles that do a really nice job of explaining how we teach spelling.

Why is my Kid Allowed to Make Spelling Mistakes?

Teacher to Teacher: Helping Children Become Better Spellers - What Parents Can Do

Spelling is taught in many different ways throughout our school day. Students do use invented or temporary spelling for words that they haven't learned yet when they are writing. We have a laminated word card that each child has on their desk or work space that they use to look up commonly used words in order to check their spelling. We also have a word work lesson 3 or 4 times a week where we talk about how words work and various spelling rules and strategies. Then during our reading groups we work on learning to read and write sight words that appear in the books that we are reading. Sight words are those words that you should know on "sight" and not have to "sound out". We also have several Exploration Stations that do word work activities and finally Ms. Wendy and some of our parent volunteers work with students one on one or in small groups on learning to read and write sight words. You will see a sight word booklet in your child's chair pocket. Ms. Wendy uses this booklet to track what words each child is working on with her or a parent volunteer and the students can use this booklet during writing time to help them spell their sight words correctly. You can ask your child to bring their sight word booklet home at any time to see what words they are currently working on - just be sure to help them remember to return it to school the next day so they can refer to it. If you still have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.