I decided to talk about Spelling, instead of Dinosaur Week - which is wrapping up tomorrow. So in a couple of days I'll post about Dinosaur Week and our vacation. Today, down to work!
Depending on your state Spelling assignments and tests may begin in kindergarten or 1st grade. When I was in school we did not start until 1st grade. Same with 2 of my nieces. However, my other niece started in kindergarten. These are all different school districts within the same state.
We started half way through kindergarten. Truthfully, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee were not ready at the start of kindergarten. Back then they were still struggling with their letters. They had their numbers down beautifully and were starting to get the concept of addition, but letters and spelling were a whole other animal.
One day I was frustrated with how far behind they were with their letters - Optimus Prime especially - and was debating what to do. They were finally starting to get memorization down but they had no concept of beginning sounds (like a-ah-apple, b-ba-book, etc.) no matter how often I reviewed it with them. They would remember what the letters sounded like but they could never apply that to a word. They couldn't figure out which one was correct: a-ah-apple or a-ah-book, likewise b-ba-apple or b-ba-book. I was beginning to think that they would never learn how to read (okay, slight exaggeration - I was beginning to think that it wouldn't be until 2nd grade that they learned) so I decided we needed a drastic change, something that was above them that they would probably fail at horribly but that they would hopefully pick up along the way until it became second nature. Maybe, just maybe, I thought, their problem was they were just bored doing letters day after day and nothing else. I saw the success of making them do addition day after day, over and over when they clearly did not get the concept at all for the first couple of months, followed by them getting it only vaguely for the next few months. It had taken time and perseverance but they had FINALLY gotten basic addition down and were maybe ready for subtraction. So I figured, why not throw Spelling Units into the mix?
The first Unit, which was the easiest, was a total failure. However it helped me to gauge what would and would not wok for them. For starters, 10 words was way too many. Future units were cut down to 5 words. Secondly, it took us far longer than 1 week to get the 5 easiest words down - it actually took about a month. It was painful, it was long, it was repetitive, but it worked. We still struggle with the spelling lists - some words they get down no problem, others we are still working on 2 months later - but now they can actually spell some words on their own and they can recognize most of their spelling words when they see them.
So, now on to what we did and tips for you.
Our First Try:
Spelling lists of 5 words (3-5 letters long) which they practiced writing every day we did schoolwork. We would go over how the words were related and they would write the words three times each. These units lasted at least 4 weeks each.
Our Second Try:
Spelling lists of 5 words (3-5 letters long) which they practiced writing 4 days a week. We would go over how the words were related and they would write the words three times each. This was followed by a weekly quiz on just those 5 words on the last day of schoolwork for the week. These units lasted 2-3 weeks each.
Third Try (and the system that we currently use):
Spelling lists of 5 words (3-5 letters long) which they practice writing 4 days a week followed by an extra spelling activity. We go over how the words are related and they write the words three times each, then we do the extra activity. This is followed by a weekly quiz on the last day of schoolwork for the week. The quiz is 10 words long - the five words they just learned plus any easy words from the previous units that they still do not have down or only have down so-so. There is also a "Bonus Word" which is a harder word (6 letters long) pulled from previous lessons. Once they have those down I'll change our Bonus Word plan, however we still have 2 words that we are using as Bonus Words so I'll worry about that later. These units last 1 week each.
Now, onto our Spelling Units!
Unit #1* - Our Family Part 1
Optimus Prime**
Bumblebee**
Scooby-Doo**
mommy
daddy
Unit #2* - Our Family Part 2
boy
girl
baby
Last Name** (which became our first Bonus Word)
family (which is our second and current Bonus Word)
Unit #3 - "-am" Words
ham
jam
ram
yam
clam
Unit #4 - "-ad" Words
mad
sad
bad
pad
glad
Unit #5 - Animals Part 1
dog
cat
cow
bird
fish
Unit #6 - Animals Part 2
horse
goat
pig
duck
animal (which will become our 3rd Bonus Word when we get there)
Unit #7 - "B-" Words Part 1
box
bat
bear
boat
belly
Unit #8 - "-ad" Words
bead
read
toad
road
load
We should be done with Unit 8 by the end of the month.
I went with themes. Either words that rhymed (Units 3 & 4) or words that went together (Units 5 & 6) or words that began the same (Unit 7). Truthfully, they seem to do better with the words that go together instead of rhyming words. As for words that begin the same, we haven't gotten that far yet.
Lastly, what are the extra spelling activities that we do?
Activity #1 is a block activity. I'm not sure if I can describe it clearly. There are boxes shaped for specific letters and there are words that fit into these boxes. The best I can do for you is send you here. They will make these activities for you. All you have to do is type in your spelling list and they do the work for you.
Activity #2 is a fill-in-the-blank activity. I write a sentence, and give them 2 options from our unit to put in the blank. I try to use the words we have already learned in the sentences as well because they always get excited when they realize they can read a word on their own.
Sample: _(Bears/Boxes)_ live in the woods.
Activity #3 is a crossword puzzle. I just write these up on my own. However, right now for the clues I'm just giving the answers. They have never done crossword puzzles before last week and right now I'm just getting them used to the concept.
Activity #4 is a word search. These I also type up on my own, however there is a program here that does it for you. I don't use this program since they also started doing word searches last week and the easiest word search on the site is still a bit above them. I use a 7x7 grid (they use 10x10 or 15x15) with words just going left to right or top to bottom (their words go in all directions).
This just about sums up how we do our Spelling Units. Next Quarter I'm going to add extra sheets to our Units, so I'll be posting about that soon. I'll also have up the Units for the next Quarter soon. I'm almost done writing them up. I hope you found the information helpful.
* Units #1&2 were the initial unit that was 10 words long. In the end I had to break the unit into two so I listed it as two separate units here.
** Real words not printed.
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