Any thoughts on DD6 and spelling?

[Lovedtodeath]

Don't tell me to switch to AAS!:tongue_smilie:

She does really well with phonetic words, including shave, lunch, chess, etc. The problem is when we have a sight word list. She has been working on the same list for two weeks and still does not have them down. She past the test for the first list, then asked me to spell one of the words when she was writing a letter. I have had her jump to the letters on the floor, build the words out of foam letters, trace the letters with her finger while saying the word and the letters, and copy the words on paper 1-3 times everyday. (Though honestly, last week we only did the copying and skipped one day). Today, I gave her sentences to copy with the words in them. Here they are: there, where, were, what, said, does.

Should I move on to more phonetic words (some of these will come up as phonetic words anyway) and then come back to them? Or keep at it next week until it sticks? Any approaches I am missing?

[Ellie]

Don't tell me to switch to AAS!:tongue_smilie:

She does really well with phonetic words, including shave, lunch, chess, etc. The problem is when we have a sight word list. She has been working on the same list for two weeks and still does not have them down. She past the test for the first list, then asked me to spell one of the words when she was writing a letter. I have had her jump to the letters on the floor, build the words out of foam letters, trace the letters with her finger while saying the word and the letters, and copy the words on paper 1-3 times everyday. (Though honestly, last week we only did the copying and skipped one day). Today, I gave her sentences to copy with the words in them. Here they are: there, where, were, what, said, does.

Should I move on to more phonetic words (some of these will come up as phonetic words anyway) and then come back to them? Or keep at it next week until it sticks? Any approaches I am missing?

Well, see, I just don't believe in sight word lists.

I would just move on. In fact, I wouldn't even do spelling with her yet. Next year is fine. Let her copy words she doesn't know yet, or just tell her how to spell them.

Why don't you want to try AAS? (although personally, I would recommend Spalding instead of AAS, anyway).

[Lovedtodeath]

Well, see, I just don't believe in sight word lists.

I would just move on. In fact, I wouldn't even do spelling with her yet. Next year is fine. Let her copy words she doesn't know yet, or just tell her how to spell them.

Why don't you want to try AAS? (although personally, I would recommend Spalding instead of AAS, anyway).

I will move on if she doesn't get the test tomorrow. I am doing spelling now b/c we never finished phonics. She reads between 3-4th grade level and hates phonics work, but loves phonics based spelling (I know, fine line). AAS is slow moving and expensive compared to the Spalding based program that I already have.

[OhElizabeth]

Carmen, if you're using HTTS, are you using the dictation sentences? Some kids learn best when things are put into context, not isolated. My dd is like that, and all the isolated practice in the world makes no difference. She could totally understand the rules and why's, then totally forget the spelling! But she'd see some word she thought was interesting in a sentence (grouse?) and remember that. And what I finally realized with her was that she needed context. So I have her write a lot more, do more dictation, etc. Your dd asked the spelling, and that's a terrific sign, even if it bugs you, because it means her brain is turned on and thinking about what she knows and what she doesn't. Keep that, nurture it! Don't discourage it or make it hard to get the answer or have it turn into 40 push-ups following, hehe.

She's young enough that it's probably something that will just come with time and experience, practice, etc. But try giving her more context and see what happens. This context thing has been true for my dd in math, in history, etc., so it's a realization on my part that impacts how I teach her in every subject, not just spelling.

[Lovedtodeath]

I have not been using the TM lately. :blush5: I probably should check there, huh. It is confusing to me that the TM is written for all grade levels and has information from all 4 workbooks all out of order.:willy_nilly:

[suzf242]

My dd is also 6, also a great reader. We also quit phonics. For spelling, we don't do any lists. I just have her do copywork for 5 minutes every day. We do it out of the Bible, but of course, you could use whatever you want.

I am very strict about how she does the copywork -- she has to look at the word in the Bible and memorize the spelling. When she turns to write on her paper, she cannot look back at the Bible again.

I will sometimes ask her if she can spell some of the longer words, just for fun, and she seems to remember a lot of them.

We have only been doing this for about a month. She loves it, though. We are putting together a book of her copywork. She has about 5 complete pages done, and she likes to just pick up the book and read through it.

Take care,

Suzanne

[matroyshka]

My thought is she's 6, don't sweat it yet. I don't start with spelling till 2nd grade. Before that, I just made them sound out whatever word they would ask me to spell for them, but if it were a tricky word, I'd explain it to them with the terms used in Reading Reflex - like if they wanted to spell "would", I'd say, what's the first sound? "w". Okay, what's the next? "oo". Oh, in this word the sound picture for the "oo" sound is "oul". What's the next sound? "d" Okay, that's how you spell it!

The really great thing about this method is that there are virtually no sight words in the English language. Almost everything is actually phonetic. :)

We start Sequential Spelling in 2nd, where I continue to reinforce with the terminology above, and point out spelling patterns as they come up. I've never had any of my kids memorize a spelling list - I've never been convinced it's really useful. YMMV.