When I was in elementary school, teachers handed out a list of 15-20 spelling words on Monday and gave spelling tests on Friday. Although my father patiently quizzed me on my words each evening after dinner, I never felt particularly confident on test day.
I attended elementary school back in the 80’s. Our desks were always set up in straight rows, and whomever sat behind you checked your test as the teacher announced the correct spelling of each word aloud. If I was lucky, the person behind me would miss some of my mistakes. If I was unlucky, some cute boy, probably named David, or some popular girl, probably named Jennifer, would get to see what a ding-dong speller I was.
A different way to do spelling:
In my last post I talked about how, as a student teacher, I worked with a supervising teacher who integrated writing into every subject-including math. I had 3 years of substitute teaching under my belt at that point and had given my fair share of spelling tests along the way. Those tests looked a lot like the tests I took when I was a kid, but not Kris’s. Her spelling tests were different.
Kris individualized her instruction whenever she could, and she did not believe in assigning the whole class the same set of spelling words. She still gave spelling tests, but some kids had 10 or more words and other kids had 5 or fewer.
Kris believed it was much more meaningful for a child to practice words he or she already uses when speaking and writing then a generic list of words provided by a publishing company.
Here’s how it worked:
Kris and her paraprofessional each met with 3 or 4 small groups of students each day as part of the normal writing block. As the children worked on stories and essays, the adults made note of any words a child almost spelled correctly. The adults not only addressed the misspelled words and worked with the child to fix them, they also added words to the list that the child specifically requested. For example, a child who just got a new pet might want to add that pet’s name to the list. Selected words were written in a designated area of the child’s writing notebook. After a few days, the list of “almost correct” words became the child’s spelling list. If appropriate, a few vocabulary words from math, science or social studies were added to the list as well.
Once a child had a new set of words, he or she practiced those words while completing a rotating assortment of spelling themed assignments. A week later, Kris and her parapro gave the kids their spelling tests during small group writing time.
Example of “almost correct” words:
- This one sentence gives us several “almost correct” words to put on a spelling list: hermit, crabs, line and shells.
Homemade Spelling Words:
You can easily reproduce this method at home. Collect a list of “almost correct words,” and when you get 5-10 words, they can become your child’s spelling words. Choose activities where the child can practice spelling the words correctly and, in about a week, have a spelling test.