Spelling - An Overview

So, here is how we do spelling in our class.   I will take you through a typical week.

Thursday - Building the Customized Spelling List

Every week, we have one spelling pattern that we are working on.  This week, we are working on words that have consonant blends (words with st, br, sk).  There is a starter spelling list of 8 words.  All kids take a PRE-TEST on the starter words to see what words they already know.

This is an example of a pre-test.....not a real one...but one that I marked up.  You can see on this pre-test, there are 5 words correct and 3 words wrong.

Each student needs a total of 8 pattern words for the spelling test.  The student highlights the 3 incorrect words because they still need to work on those....those stay on the list

Next, they are able to go "shopping" for 5 other words to put on their spelling list.   The shopping list words also follow the spelling pattern, but are more difficult.  Each child needs a total of 8 spelling pattern words....so depending on how they did on the pre-test determines how many words they can shop for.  Between the 2 lists, they should have 8 highlighted words.

THE HIGHLIGHTED WORDS ARE NOW YOUR CHILD'S SPELLING LIST!

 Next, your child selects 4 High Frequency Words.  These are words that every second grader needs to know how to spell.  They are from a master list of High Frequency Words.  Your child chooses the words that go on their list.

Now, your child has a complete spelling list that is built for them.  This PRE-TEST comes home for studying, and your child records their spelling list in their spelling journal.

Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - Spelling Stations

First thing in the morning, your child comes in to work on spelling in a station.  They have a partner that they work with and they can do several different activities to study their words.  The idea is that partners help each other with their words.  Even though they have different lists, the words follow the same spelling pattern.  Partners end up learning each other's lists!

Magnetic Letters!

We can stamp our words.

We use sign language to sign our spelling words.

 We also have 'keyboards' to practice typing our words.

We have different codes and we write our spelling words using secret spy codes.

Wednesday - THE TEST

For the spelling test, spelling partners test each other.  They take turns calling out words to their partner and they are in charge of being the teacher.  The students take this job very seriously!

 I grade the tests and give them back to the students.  Students record their spelling test scores on their tracker sheet.  

They highlight High Frequency Words they got correct on their master list.  

And we start the whole process again.

There are a lot of steps in this spelling program and we are working through them slowly each week.  Each week, your child gets better at building a spelling list that works for them.  As the weeks go on, the process goes much smoother.

The goal of the program is that students have words that are at their spelling level and can become better spellers by working together to investigate words.