Spelling Words

We are starting spelling homework this week. Everyone will have 10 words to practise and they will be  tested on them on Friday.

This year the Pohutokawa team has decided not to do karate spelling as it was felt that it was too many words at once, which was a bit overwhelming for parents, kids and teachers.

Here are a few F.A.Q. about spelling

Where do the words come from?
I tested the class on the 'essential word lists' and hi-lighted the words they needed to learn. They will start by sellecting 10 words from list one. If they did not get any in list one wrong then they will choose words from list two, and so on.

On Friday all words that are correct get crossed off the list of words to learn, and any others will roll over to the next week.

There are a few in the class that already know most of the words on the essential word lists. They will work their way through some more difficult lists.

On occasions there might be some topic words, or words that follow a sound pattern we are learning.

As the year goes on there will also be some words from their draft writing.

The more advanced spellers will probably also look at widening their vocabulary by learning lists of synonyms (words that mean the same thing) so that we get more interesting words that 'big' or 'said' in our stories. Some of these words might be easy to spell, the emphasis is on vocabulary.

What is an essential word list?
These are created on the theory that it is most important to learn the words that are most used first.  By the time they get to the end of list four they will know words that make up 75% of all writing.

Why is my child getting the same word to learn?
It may be that they did not get it correct last week.
It may be that although they got it right a while ago they are continuing to get it incorrect in their writing.
It may be that when I went back to re-test them on the words they got wrong at the beginning of the year they could not remember how to spell it correctly, so it went back on the list of words to learn.

Route learning spelling words is a little like learning basic facts in maths, or any other route learning. If it is learnt once and then not used again they will forget. There is little point in learning it once, and then not going back to review it to see if you still remember ;)

How can I help my child learn their words?
Try to find out how they learn the best as it's different for different learning types. I will add more information on different ways of learning words in the following weeks.

If you are able to use technology it is a great motivator and can make spelling into a fun game.

Here are some I've used with my own children

I pad apps: A+ Spelling (they enter their weeks words and record them so they can test themselves. Also has a great 'unscramble' function)
Word: type their words in Microsoft word and then change the font, colour etc
Websites: make your own wordfind with their spelling words puzzle-maker.com