Effective Spelling Strategies
Children often have difficulty with spelling. The English language is comprised of many spelling rules. Trying to remember whether to choose they're, their, or there, or figuring out how to translate a sound to print, can be overwhelming for a child.
If your child is in grades K-3rd, they probably receive spelling words every week. Hopefully, they're doing a great job. But, for those of you who have children with trouble, I wanted to give you a few effective spelling strategies.
Let's face it; every child is not a spelling bee champ. I was that child in school that had trouble with spelling. I would have to study the entire week to pass my test. I would often scowl at the girl in front of me because she looked at her paper .5 seconds before the assessment and always made a 100. How? If I had effective spelling strategies, I could have passed my test without getting frustrated trying to memorize words only to forget them later.
Hopefully, your child's teacher sends home a spelling list that has a phonetic pattern. Spelling is more than memorizing words, writing them ten times, or using them in a sentence. Spelling is about understanding that words follow the rules and when you know those rules, spelling will become much more manageable.
Here are a few strategies to assist you when you're working with your child:
Look for "special sounds." (bl, cl, fr, ee, ea, tr, ly, le, str, br, sh, ai), etc. Have the child circle the special sounds in words. This will help them decode the word when they are spelling it. For example street –> /str/ /ee/ /t/
Follow the rules. A spelling list should follow the rules for the English language. The teacher should have reviewed spelling rules for the list that week—for example, i before e except after c. I love to use this page as a reference.
Look for words within a word. For example, become—> (be)(come).
Identify if a word is built with prefixes and suffixes —> (un)stable—-> un /st/ /a/ /b/ /le/
Break the word into syllables —> midterm —>mid/term—> /m/ /i/ /d/ /t/ /er/ /m/
I hope this helps you.
If you still need assistance, please visit jordanlewisconsulting.com and download our Read to Succeed Curriculum Workbook or decodable books in our store.