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
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