The three most important things to learn about spelling from Words Their Way: 1. Spelling is NOT learned through visual memory. If you rely on traditional spelling lists and memorization, students will not transfer spelling to actual writing. 2. Spelling is developmental. Spelling should be taught to a child's developmental level and when it is not, spelling will NOT transfer. This is why whole class spelling lists only work for some students. 3. Spelling generalizations will transfer when students compare and contrast words and develop their own generalizations. Rules are only really useful as a mnemonic once students already have some understanding of how words work.
This is a passionate area of interest for me. We are better teachers of spelling if we as teachers have a better understanding of orthography and how words work. Jennifer L. Palmer, Ed. D. Instructional Facilitator National Board Certified Teacher Magnolia Elementary (home school) 901 Trimble Road Joppa, MD 21085 410-612-1553 Fax 410-612-1576 "In every child a touch of greatness!!' Proud of our Title One School Norrisville Elementary 5302 Norrisville Road White Hall, MD 21161 410-692-7810 Fax 410-692-7812 Where Bright Futures Begin!! ________________________________________ From: mosaic-bounces+jennifer.palmer=hcps....@literacyworkshop.org [mosaic-bounces+jennifer.palmer=hcps....@literacyworkshop.org] on behalf of Renee [phoenix...@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 10:29 AM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Words Their Way What I did with my 2nd & 3rd grade students is have a print-rich environment which gave them many resources to look at words and spell them correctly. Anything that was visible was basically a "no excuses" word that needed to be spelled correctly. I did not do a word wall, but instead had lists of "category words" here and there..... math words on the wall above the math materials, people words on a cabinet door, "thematic" words near the categorized book bins, etc. I also had laminated lists of high frequency words that just stayed on all the tables. I think I had the "first 50" on one side and the "second 50" on the other side. They were not allowed to misspell these words in their writing. I did some "whole class" word work on a regular basis, looking at patterns or chunks, but the whole spelling list thing just got dropped somewhere along the line, and my life was oh, so easier! Regarding phonetic spelling (a term I used in the 90s instead of the dreaded and misunderstood "invented spelling"), I had no problem with this. What concerned me more was when students continued to write things like "gril" for "girl" which indicated to me that they were NOT using phonetic structures to help them spell. Renee On Jun 10, 2012, at 10:04 PM, Francie Kugelman wrote: > This year I focused on recognizing correctly spelled words and words > that > were spelled correctly in context in a sentence. I created > differentiated > spelling lists from the Treasures basal reader program: Approaching, On > Level, and Beyond. The answer guide to the multiple choice tests were > all > the same for the three levels. > > It was a long and arduous process creating the weekly lists (25 words > for > each level, many were repeats.) I had two teacher friends pitch in > and we > shared the work. > > One aspect I liked about a written spelling test where you circle the > correctly spelled word for that sentence is I no longer had to give the > traditional spelling test on Friday. Absentee students could take the > test on Monday. I never entered the scores, but would note which > students > needed extra help with studying and spelling. There is no report card > grade for spelling, but I believe correctly spelled words hand written > in > an essay are important. Students who struggle with spelling need to > learn > some spelling patterns so they stop spelling phonetically. > It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated. ~ Alec Bourne _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
