Dictation question

[bethben]

I understand dictation and getting it from quality literature, but what about words that are beyond spelling capabilities? For example, if I took a passage from Winnie the Pooh to dictate to my 2nd grader (he can read it just fine), the spelling would be WAY over his head. Do you just stick to dictation within their spelling level? How do you correct the spelling? This whole part of dictation has always had me stumped.
Beth

[Beth in Central TX]

For dictation, I followed the guidelines set out by Jessie Wise here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/copywork.php

I mostly used selections from The Harp & Laurel Wreath. Here is an example of a dictated sentence they have for the early years: "It was morning. It was time for Father to go to his work."

I'm not sure what sentence you were trying to dictate, but it may have been too complicated for a 2nd grader. FWIW...my boys have been doing dictation for years now, and it is still challenging for them. There are so many skills involved in this one "simple" exercise. They have improved over the years, but I still don't dictate paragraphs at a time as suggested for the logic level students.

HTH!

[LindaOz]

I have my children study their dictation before they write it down. They get to practise any words that they aren't sure of, or that are a challenge, until they feel they are ready to take the dictation. I figure that if the goal is for them to learn the words, then pre-studying the passage can only help them reach that goal.

If they misspell words in the dictation, we erase the wrong word/s, look at the correct spelling and maybe discuss relevant spelling rule, then they write the word correctly back in the passage. We then do the same passage again next time.

HTH.

[OhElizabeth]

In 2nd grade, it's nice to do the passage once or twice as copywork, THEN write it from dictation. Are you doing a spelling program? I use SWR, which has rules and phonogram cards to attack and explain every word. So I use challenging passages but I explain every single word she doesn't know using the spelling approach. It works for us. Try doing the passage as copywork though, and see if that doesn't help.