Spelling

I imagine that some of you might have some questions about spelling. 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 word wall and a personal word wall 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 phonics lessons 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 snap words that appear in the books that we are reading. Snap words are those words that you should know in a "snap" and not have to "sound out". We also have several Exploration Stations that do word work activities and finally Ms. Cate and some of our parent volunteers work with students one on one or in small groups on learning to read and write snap words. If you still have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.