And then there’s spelling…

We have been all over the place regarding this subject.  Builder has always been very good with words.  The complexity and creative flow of his thoughts amaze me.  However, when it came to actually writing, spelling, or placing words on paper…nope.  It wasn’t that he couldn’t; there was just so much frustration involved.

As mentioned in the previous post, Handwriting – Language Art Series, the physical act of writing was a very real struggle.  And yet, when he answered questions verbally it was astounding the detail and complexity of his thoughts.  I didn’t want to lose this simply because he had to write it on paper.  In light of all this, here is our journey thus far:

Spelling

Past:

Just like handwriting and grammar, I knew anything to do with spelling needed to wait a while.  Since there was a natural dislike for this area, I wanted Builder to have his own desire to know how to spell.

I waited and watched for the signs that he was ready, and or needed to start on the spelling trek.  It came somewhere in his 2nd-grade year.  I noticed that he wanted to make lists or one-word labels on some of his drawings.

More and more I was getting the question, “How do you spell…”.  

At this point, I knew we needed to head in the direction of a more intentional way to spell.  For a while, he simply grabbed a tablet or phone and asked Siri.  These items are rarely located in the same place twice in our house.  The inconsistency of being able to find a device caused this strategy to quickly go by the wayside.  Not to mention Siri didn’t always understand him!

The next thing we tried was All About Spelling, a program written by Marie Rippel.  Builder really liked the physicality of moving the tiles to spell and (with his personality) loved actually learning the specific spelling rules.

We purchased the Level 1 Materials and the Basic Spelling Interactive Kit.  This provided us with everything needed to take the plunge into our spelling learning journey.

Builder did well with the approach of All About Spelling.  Though, I did notice that by the end of the Level he had a little burnout from the program.  In light of this, we just stepped back and took a break.  He had learned enough that he could spell the general CVC words, and a few more.

The All About Spelling Level 1 curriculum took us most of his 3rd-grade year to complete.

Present:

After taking a break and now starting in 4th grade, I feel it is time to again tackle this aspect of writing.  As Builder heads into the upper elementary years and nearing the middle levels, I would like him to be able to gain an independence in learning and in schoolwork in general.

Side Note: This is actually a hard thing for me to say as a natural teacher type.  I want to be in there with him sharing all of my knowledge, helping him learn to the best of his potential…etc. etc.  However, my ultimate goal is to grow an independent learner.  My desire is to help him learn how to lead himself into further growth and learning.  Sigh.

In all honesty, I left the thought of spelling on the back burner.

When Builder saw Princess start All About Spelling Level 1 this year, he decided he would like to continue with Level 2.  I thought this was a good idea, and believe it will work well for him.  Unfortunately, we haven’t had the extra in the budge to purchase Level 2 yet.  This caused some discouragement in me.  I tend to fall into the trap of thinking that the perfect curriculum is exactly what I need and there is no other way to do it.

Truth be known, many times I don’t want to put the energy into creating something when someone out there has already done such a good job!

I was asked if the curriculum was really needed.  Well, no, but…pout.  So once again, I backed off the thought of spelling for a few days.  Then, when I was ready to be a big girl (eye roll to myself) I thought back to how I learned to spell.  Because truth be known, I have no idea or remembrance of all the spelling rules in the English language.  About the only spelling rule I remember is, “i before e, except after c”.

Then it clicked, I always learned how to spell by remembering a few letter combinations, prefixes, suffixes.  Beyond that, I would try to find the smaller words or chunks inside the words I was learning.

So for example, instead of memorizing or sounding out 6 letters of “middle”.  I knew how to spell “mid”, then just remembered the “dle”.  That way I was only remembering two chunks, instead of six individual letters.

When this came to me, I knew it would resonate with how Builder learns.  To add to this part of the story, I have recently published my first book (future post!).  The kids have really enjoyed seeing that process and, of course, both want to publish a book of their own.

Builder chose to write a Minecraft book, explaining all things Minecraft.  This is actually how we moved into learning about writing expository pieces.  It has enabled the learning of topic sentences, followed by supporting sentences, detail/example sentences, and then closing sentences.

It occurred to me that the place he really needed to know how to spell was in that Minecraft book.  You have to know how to spell to write.  So, we have incorporated our spelling lessons into the writing process of his book.

I sit with him as he types and listen to him sounding out words.  When he is stumped or unsure, I speak the word, pointing out or emphasizing the smaller word he may know.  Then, he normally gets it from there.  Or, we talk about the particular “vowel team”, or chunk, etc. that will help to remember that word.

It has been a game changer in this realm of spelling.

He actually mentioned two days ago, that he LOVED doing spelling this way and that I should blog about it so everyone would know!!!

Future:

Which leads us to what the future plans may be.  In all honesty, we will stick with this approach for a while.  I do plan to move on to All About Spelling Level 2 at some point in the near future.

Builder made it very clear, though, that he wanted to do both Level 2 and his Minecraft book for spelling!  I love it when you find those strategies that hit the very core of their little learning selves.

And You? ~ What are some spelling strategies that have worked for you?