Teaching Kids to Spell For Dummies

Tracey Wood

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780764576249
• eBook ISBN: 9781118069974
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Methods for Reading

Filled with enjoyable spelling activities and exercises The fun and easy way? to help your K-5th grader become an A+ speller If you want to make spelling easier for your child or boost spelling skills and confidence, you've come to the right place. Veteran reading specialist Tracey Wood gives you tips, games, exercises, word lists, and memory aids to help your child build solid spelling know-how. Her techniques are fun, fast, and effective, and best of all, they're not boring! Discover how to
* Mix spelling practice with reading and writing
* Spell short and long vowel words
* Make spelling easier with word families
* Gain insight into "sight" words
* Break spelling into syllable chunks

Part I

Understanding the Basics of Good Spelling

In this part . . .

**IN a DROPCAP**

You’re going to help a child spell better. Do you need to focus on single letters? Do you need to know about phonics? Do you need a new dictionary? Part I answers all of these questions and much more. It tells you why chunks of sound are key, what a good eye is, and why you need to encourage your child to always “have a go” at spelling unfamiliar words.

Chapter 1

Thinking Like a Spelling Teacher

In This Chapter

Introducing the cornerstones of good teaching

Getting ready, getting set

Making an early start

Busting through the jargon

G reat teachers take care of all kinds of kids. They climb aloft to reach the highly strung, fix their acts for the divas, and tread warily around kids who rule their parents with iron fists. They seem to have every kind of book and brainstorm at their fingertips and manage to serve it all up with a generous dollop of Zen. What’s their thing? Can anyone else get some of it? Can others do effective work without piercing their tongues and going back to college to learn it? Of course! This book piles you up with easy, practical strategies and awfully shrewd insights. Although you may not get the whole Zen thing, and, of course, you miss out on tongue piercing, you nevertheless get a down-to-earth spelling plan. And to add to all that, you get quick yet constructive stuff to do while chugging the kids off to soccer or coercing a cart of chicken noodles and ice cream (you made the mistake of shopping with the kids) through that traitorous slowest-of-all checkout line.

For now, though, don’t worry too much about the details, because this is your introductory overview.

In this chapter, I start you gently on your spelling journey by taking a look at learning principles, which are otherwise known as all that stuff that great teachers have on their minds before they even get your child to take his coat off.

Understanding How Learning Works

Great teachers are nice people. They know that your child learns best when he’s happy and actively engaged, so they find cool kid things for him to do. They’re flexible. They try to think from your child’s perspective and inject fun into every activity. And they see your child and everyone else’s pretty much as family — quirky, often difficult, and excitable for sure, but family nevertheless. So, you’re asking, what, specifically, do great teachers advise? Read on.

Showing and practicing

You can’t just pile information onto your child and expect it to stick. Instead, you need to help him become active and involved in learning — as soon as possible. To help you do that, here’s a three-step guide for getting your child actively engaged:

1. Show your child what to do.

2. Give your child plenty of assistance as you practice whatever it is you’re doing.

3. Watch and applaud whenever your child independently engages in a learning activity.

Sharing

Sharing also is an important part of learning. Your child thrives on your company, attention, and (deserved) praise. Whenever you can, join in your child’s learning. When he’s figuring out spellings (that is the entire idea, right?), h...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : Understanding the Basics of Good Spelling
• Chapter 1: Thinking Like a Spelling Teacher
• Chapter 2: Understanding the Reading, Writing, and Spelling Mix
• Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Pieces and Parts of Spelling
• Part II : Getting Easy Words onto Paper
• Chapter 4: Spelling with Short Vowels
• Chapter 5: Blending Letters Together
• Chapter 6: Choosing ch (and sh, th, ph, and wh, too)
• Part III : Coming to Grips with Long Vowel Sounds
• Chapter 7: Putting a Firm Pen on Bossy e
• Chapter 8: Taking Charge of Words with Two Vowels Together
• Chapter 9: Writing y Instead of a, e, or i
• Part IV : Using Word Families
• Chapter 10: Getting Into Word Family Mode
• Chapter 11: Guiding Her Pen to Bigger Word Families
• Chapter 12: Spelling Sight Words: A Different Family
• Chapter 13: Being Vocal about Silent Letters
• Chapter 14: Spelling Some Letters “Softly”
• Part V : Spelling Words in Chunks
• Chapter 15: Cheerfully Chunking Sounds
• Chapter 16: Finishing Off with Suffixes
• Chapter 17: Spotting What’s in a Contraction
• : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 18: Ten Word Families
• Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Correct Your Child’s Spelling
• Chapter 20: Ten (or More) Group Activities That Rock
• Chapter 21: Ten Spelling Games for Car Trips