My last post, “How to Teach Spelling Part I,” discussed the value of effective diagnostic assessments in a balanced spelling program. I provided a link for a comprehensive sound-spellings assessment at TSV Spelling Assessment and suggested that testing students at the beginning of the school year will allow teachers to differentiate instruction based upon the diagnostic results of that test.
As I mentioned, each of the six posts will begin with a brief reflection about the instructional spelling component, follow with a rationale for teaching that component, and finish with some free instructional spelling resources.
The components of each of the six posts are as follows:
1. Diagnostic Assessment 2. Sound-Spellings 3. Spelling Rules
4. Spelling Lists and Tests 5. Spelling Practice 6. Integrated Spelling and Vocabulary.
This week we explore how to teach sound-spellings.
Reflection
□ I know exactly what my students’ sound-spelling deficits are, according to diagnostic data.
□ I have an instructional plan in place to remediate those deficits.
□ I have formative assessments in place to analyze their progress.
Rationale
The English sound-spelling system works in about 50% of spellings. You can be a pessimist and see the glass as being half-empty or an optimist and see the glass as being half-full. I prefer the latter. The basic problem-solving strategy in spelling should not be memorizing the spellings of all words. Instead, the speller should first attempt the spellings that match the sounds of the word. After all, spelling is an auditory, not a visual process. If there is not a sound-spelling match, knowledge of spelling rules and mastery of sight-spellings should be secondary strategies.
Spelling Resources
The common sound-spellings are listed on colorful animal cards and may be downloaded free at Animal Sound-Spelling Cards. Have your students memorize and practice the spellings on those animal cards that the TSV Spelling Assessment (above) indicates as diagnostic deficits. Check out Spelling Games for some terrific activities to practice these spellings.
Cheers! Until next week’s How to Teach Spelling Part III…
Mark Pennington
For individual sound-spelling worksheets that correspond with the TSV Spelling Assessment, spelling rules with memorable raps and songs on CD, spelling tests, Greek and Latin affixes/roots worksheets, syllable practice,spelling games, vocabulary games, and more to differentiate spelling and vocabulary instruction, please check out Mark’s Teaching Spelling and Vocabulary. Also check out Differentiated Spelling Instruction, the complementary fourth through eighth grade (Levels A-E) standards-based spelling series, designed to integrate instruction in spelling, structural analysis, and vocabulary. Each level has 32 weekly spelling pattern lessons and all the resources needed to differentiate spelling instruction: spelling pattern word lists with spelling sort worksheets, formative and summative assessments with recording matrices, review games, memory songs with MP3 links, supplementary word lists, and more.
