Oh the Weekly Spelling Test - so many kids dread it!  Every week I would give my 2nd graders a list of words to study through the week on Monday and then on Friday, we'd take the BIG test!  

Some students were super successful and even looked forward to the test.  Others seemed to immediately need to go to the bathroom - anything to try and get out of taking it.  There just never seemed to be a fun or engaging way to give the test and since it was a grade level expectation - I couldn't get out of it either.  I wanted ALL of my students to be successful and learn to be good spellers.  I could see the link between the good spellers in my classroom and success in reading and writing, but it wasn't until I became a dyslexia therapist that I learned a better way.  I cringe just thinking about all those weekly spelling tests - yikes!

Now - when I give spelling words to students to spell, I use a very different process.  The results are significantly better than ever and I would NEVER revert back to the "old - tried and true" method.  Here are the steps that seem to really help students connect the sounds in the word with how to spell them.

Spelling WORD Dictation Procedure:

• Look and Listen - first I ask students to look and listen to me.  When I have their attention, I give them the first word - speaking very distinctly and enunciating the word.
• Echo - next, I ask the students to echo (repeat back) the word.  This ensures that they have heard it as well as gives them the opportunity to "feel" the word as their mouth makes it and to hear the word made by their own voice.
• Unblend the word - together, we "unblend" the word.  This means that we break the word apart into the individual sounds of words.  So - "cat" would be /k/ - /a/ - /t/  and "that" would be /th/ - /a/ - /t/.  Have the students put up a finger for each sound or touch a finger on the desk for each sound to engage a tactile sense to the process.
• Name and Write - encourage students to softly, spell the word as they write it.  Again - this engages multiple senses into the spelling process.
• Check and read - have the students review the word, check it over (code it - if this is a process you have taught and use in your teaching) and then read the word aloud.

Continue using this procedure for the rest of the spelling words.  You will be amazed at the improvement and bump in spelling scores your students achieve.

After I finished the word portion of the test, I would then move to dictation of sentences.  This was intended for students to show how they could move spelling from the word level to the sentence level.  I hate to admit that I would try to be as creative as possible and cram as many of the spelling words into a sentence as possible.  It became a contest with my teaching team to see who could come up with a sentence with the most spelling words in it.  What a HUGE mistake!  Little did we realize the TORTURE we were subjecting our students to every week!  My poor kids!  It would take six or more times of repeating the painfully LONG and complicated sentence before they could get it written down.

Here's a much BETTER process!

• Short sentences - make the sentences SHORT.   Your goal should be for your students to be able to write the sentence with no more than two repetitions.  If they can't - its TOO long!
• Remind them of the components in a sentence!     "A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with punctuation.  It includes a subject and a predicate and is a complete thought."

Try this instead:

• Look and Listen - same as above - you need their attention and they should be watching you say the words in the sentence.
• Recite the sentence for the students - enunciate and speak very distinctly.  Your voice should clearly indicate the punctuation - a statement, command, question, or exclamation.  
• Echo - students echo the sentence.  This gives you a chance to ensure that they heard you correctly.
• Recite the sentence again.
• Students write the sentence.
• When they are finished.  Recite the sentence again so they can check their work and make any corrections before you move on to another sentence.

When you know better - you do better!  Right?  That's what Maya Angelou would say!  Now I know better and my students are benefiting from what I've learned!  I can PROMISE far GREATER success than with a more traditional method of delivery for a spelling test AND far LESS anxiety on the part of your students!

Try it and SHARE!
I'd LOVE to hear what you do for spelling assessments and if you try the procedure I've described (it works SO well for my dyslexic students), I'd love to hear how it worked for you!  Submit a comment - or send an email!

Here's the chart pictured above if you'd like to print it out and use it as a procedural reminder!

Learning the alphabet and singing the ABC song is something almost every kindergartner learns to do - often before they start their first day of school.  It's so cute - especially when they get to LMNOP, right?  As parents and teachers, we feel so proud and are assured that our child/student is quickly on the road to reading and writing success!  Boy, are they SMART!

Singing the ABC's is really just singing a song much like Jesus Loves Me or Happy Birthday.  It helps - but is it enough?  Children need to achieve automatic recognition of letters and then must connect the sound it makes (and distinguish the situation in spelling to know which sound the letter will make) in order to read and spell with confidence and accuracy.  

So - how does that happen?  When you incorporate multiple senses into each practice, it's like multiplying the reinforcement and learning.  You magnify the pathway and connection created in the brain so learning is more efficient.  Some children learn quickly and with secure mastery.  For others, it can take 500 - 1500 times!  If you practiced the alphabet with students EVERY day during the school year - that would only be 180 times.  

Here are some activities you can implement to REALLY help children achieve mastery of the alphabet sequence and letter name:

1. RECITE the alphabet while touching and naming each letter.  You can print the alphabet on cardstock or paper and laminate it to their desk or hand out laminated alphabet strips (teachers love laminating!) when you practice.  It's important to look at the letter, touch it, AND say it all at the SAME time.  It really fuses it altogether.
2. SET THE LETTERS IN ORDER using simple alphabet letters, like the magnets you can find for the refrigerator - from beginning to end in sequence.  This means to find the letter, A, and then add B, etc. until you get to Z.  Name the letters as they are placed.  Once a child has mastered the uppercase letters, work on a lowercase set.
3. Use KEYWORD Cards to connect the letter name with the sound it makes.  Introduce the cards a few at a time and then they can be reviewed in random order as you continue to add new cards.  As a teacher, you can choose the cards that match the letter introduction sequence you use with your Kindergarten curriculum.  In first grade, you can present them much faster because you are reinforcing what was learned in Kindergarten.  In presenting the card, you can cue the child with the letter name, then the keyword, and finally the sound.  It would sound like this - a - apple /a/

Because every teacher needs access to quick resources - here's a link for durable alphabet strips and chunky letters.  They are inexpensive and will really LAST!

Here's a FREE resource for KEYWORD Cards - you'll note that the SHORT vowel sounds, HARD consonant sounds (c and g) and X in the final position (box) are used to help you create a SOLID FOUNDATION of literacy for children.  NOTE:  Print the file on cardstock and cut in 1/2.  Be careful about laminating this resource because of the glare created when using with a group of students.

Watch for additional installments!  Teaching children to read, write, and spell is a HARD job and the 3Word Nerds are excited to share the secrets we've learned through dyslexia therapy training with YOU!

What's in a name?  That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. - William Shakespeare

There are many names we give to the most frequently seen words in print.  Some call them High Frequency Words, Sight Words, Instant Words, Fry Words, Dolch Words, Common Words, etc.  It doesn't really matter what you call them, it is very important to teach them - reteach them - practice them - learn them - memorize them.

These are the words that we need to recognize immediately and be able to spell automatically because we see and use them most often.  The 300 most frequent words make up about 65% of the words in print - Edward B. Fry - 1000 Instant Words.  Check it out for yourself.  Find a piece of writing - even this blog post - and count all the high frequency words you find.  I know you'll find more than half are those common words on Fry's list.  So the importance is clear and it is embedded in every ELA curriculum.  The trick is how to teach them so students REALLY learn them.

Many feel that the High Frequency/Instant Words are irregular and there is no other way to teach them other than by rote memorization.  It's hard to infuse fascination and high engagement to teaching them.  Unfortunately, that was my method and thinking throughout the years I taught 2nd grade.  I viewed it as boring - and I'm sure my students felt that way, too.  They were just words included on the weekly spelling test - another set to be memorized for Friday's test.  Since then, I've learned that most of the "sight" words ARE regular and you can teach them along with the rules of decoding and encoding (reading and spelling).  Learning that most words fit a pattern or rule helped the spelling of it make sense.  Connecting the sense and organization reinforce the word and embed it more quickly and permanently.  

Here's a quick example.  If I asked you to memorize a string of numbers - say seven.  You could do it for the short term.  But the numbers would be quickly forgotten.  However, if I attach meaning to those 7 numbers - say, the phone number for your best friend, you would certainly remember them for a very long time.  Think about the things that you remember - clearly.  There is meaning and emotion and great value attached to that memory.  That is why you remember the details.

Now, I'm not suggesting that Instant Words connect with intense feelings (unless it is frustration at struggling to learn them!).  However, if you help students make sense of the way the words are put together and they understand the pattern, they will remember them much better.  

So no matter the label you place on them - Fry Words, High Frequency, Instant - it doesn't really matter.  They can all smell sweet and learning them can be easier with the rules.  

Follow our blog to learn more about the rules of spelling and engaging ways to make teaching reading and spelling more effective and meaningful.