My story about becoming a Word Nerd started about 15 years ago. My first 14 years of teaching were in the 1st grade classroom. This is where I learned the importance of building a solid foundation for reading and spelling for my students. However; there were always a couple of students every year who struggled and couldn't grasp the spelling/reading connection. This sent me on a journey to becoming an Academic Language Therapist. A BIG part of this journey started with Susie Word Nerd! Why has this become my passion? Seeing students struggle to read & spell brought back many memories of my own struggles in school. School was hard. It seemed easy for everyone else. I thought I was stupid. It wasn't until I was in college that I realized I was smart & capable, I just learned differently. I did not want one of my students leaving my First Grade class feeling the way I did growing up. My passion to accomplish this grew every year I taught. I had a great desire to know more about how to help my students, especially those who struggled the most, with reading and spelling. This is where Susie Word Nerd comes into my story. During my seventh year of teaching, I met Susie. She and a couple of other teachers on our fabulous first grade team were Certified Academic Language Therapists. I would listen to them teach & wanted to know how I could learn all the different rules and strategies that helped with the reading and spelling successes of their students. I couldn't wait to begin my training to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist. It is so fulfilling teaching students the rules, patterns and strategies of the English language to help set a solid foundation for spelling & reading! My two college aged kiddos & my husband are my biggest encouragers. They sometimes roll their eyes when I offer more information than they wanted about the spelling of a word or a spelling situation! But, they are always sure to tell me how proud they are of 3Word Nerds, the curriculum and my passion to help students. I hope you will hang out here and check out all we have to offer! Be sure to like our FB page so you can keep up-to-date with our sale offers & freebies!! Also, we love to share interesting info about words, the spelling/reading connection and more -
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Have you ever wondered why contestants at the Scripp's National Spelling Bee ask for the origin of a word they've been asked to spell? The origin of the word makes a big difference in the spelling of the sounds that make up a word. For example, the digraph - ch - has three sounds: /ch/ as in church, /sh/ as in chef, and /k/ as in school. The /ch/ sound is part of Old English while the /sh/ sound comes from French. The /k/ sound is Greek. Teaching students the spelling options that connect to the sounds that make up a word really helps with both spelling AND reading. Teaching a little history to accompany the word - well that helps paint a word picture to strengthen it even more.
What’s my story?
Over my 20 plus years of teaching, I have realized that the way a child becomes a better reader and speller is when that child understands the patterns of our English language. What has taught me this and why has it become my passion? As a child, I remember struggling with reading and writing. It would have been wonderful to know the things I know now – the strategies, the patterns, the rules, and the flow of our amazing language. As a teacher, I utilized many strategies to help my elementary students become better readers. I felt I needed to know more. How could I really help them? My answer came when I began training to become a dyslexia therapist. I truly began to see how to teach reading and spelling in a meaningful way. I learned that children didn’t have to memorize their spelling words, they could learn the pattern and then they would know hundreds of words. This would help them to read the words as well. As a mother, I was able to use this approach to help my children before they started their formal education. How fun it was to hear them read their first words. I think it was about this time, I became a Certified Word Nerd. I love words! I love knowing the patterns and why a word is spelled the way it is. I appreciated knowing that 85% of our language can be explained through rules or patterns. That was freeing to know! My students would only have to memorize 15% of the words – Wow! My engineer husband of 30 plus years listens to my reading discoveries, watches me write curriculum to help children; and although he doesn’t always understand my word nerd excitement, he has always encouraged me and been my biggest supporter. I am looking forward to helping my new granddaughter read. Of course she needs to get a bit older first, but I can read to her now! I am thankful to be a part of the 3 Word Nerds. I have found two other ladies that share my passion for Words. Come along for the ride. I hope you will stay around awhile and learn from the three of us. We are nerdy about words, but I think if you give us a chance you will catch what we have. As you begin to share these patterns and rules with your students and you see the understanding in their eyes, you will call yourself a Word Nerd too! |
AuthorA certified WORD NERD - Christian, wife, mother, and dyslexia therapist/teacher here to share what I've learned about making the Spelling/Reading Connection! Archives
July 2018
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