INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMME: Learning to SPELL high frequency words

This blog is about  concentrated, individual instruction of learning strategies; instructing children about strategies they use when spelling words that often lack context – high-frequency words. Knowledge about strategies assists children develop positive attitudes, making them feel more confident about problem solving when spelling and writing and also reading. Increasing a child’s knowledge about words and helping them develop a wide vocabulary will lead to them writing and reading fluently; a child with an ever increasing vocabulary as they move into higher grades will find it easier to comprehend the more difficult texts they are reading and acting upon (e.g. assignments).
Explicit Spelling INSTRUCTION happens when you are:

·         Teaching spelling strategies to new learners

·         Teaching spelling strategies to students who have difficulties hearing, seeing and

       recalling patterns

·         Building knowledge about words to improve writing fluency and comprehension when    

       reading

·         Making learning to spell successful and interesting

·         Implementing an individual spelling programme

LEARNING TO SPELL

The educationist, Don Holdaway (1979) advocated that, “Knowing some 200 words in a basic sight vocabulary gives immediate access to 30-40% of running English.”  Therefore it seems logical that spelling (and reading), correctly, high frequency words (words that recur often in writing and reading) should be learnt quickly. Knowing frequently used  words, attentions are not on how to spell (or read) but on the content and meaning.

Rather than learning words as such, learning strategies where words are analysed for sameness and differences and relationships are made is of greater benefit. Strategies associated with spelling are akin to strategies children learn for decoding words as they read. Quickly learning basic sight vocabulary and learning spelling strategies influences fluency when a child writes and reads.

MAKE LEARNING TO SPELL SUCCESSFUL AND INTERESTING

Why an individual programme, you ask? In reply, why have children spelling words they already know? Why have children spelling a list of ten words when they can barely recall one or two? The dilemma is that some children come to school knowing how to write and read some words. Some children have good visual perception and so learn words quicker than other children. In other words classes are not homogeneous and the classroom teacher needs to differentiate learning for each child; needs to provide for ‘next’ learning for the individual.

Phonemic awareness, albeit important for new learners, is only one of the spelling strategies that children use when writing. We know that there is far more to spelling and writing and reading than concentrating on phonics. In figure 1 you will view many more strategies children use to work towards conventional spelling – visual, semantic and mostly accurate spelling.

SPELLING STRATEGIES Children learn to ask themselves these questions? What does the word mean? What does the word begin with? What does the word end with? What can I hear and see in the middle? What large units can I hear and see?       Rhymes                                                                                        Syllables Prefixes (un, dis) Suffixes (ed, ing) Digraphs (th, ar) Blends (bl, st) Compounds What is the small word in the word? Have I tried saying the word slowly ? Does the word look like any other word? Are there double letters? Have I looked closely at the tricky parts (ough)? Figure 1



DISCUSSING PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES: Analysis Dealing with differences /  unusual      Hypothesis Forming analogies Making relationships                             Figure 2

The listed strategies (Figure 1) are displayed in the classroom and are repeatedly referred to not only by the teacher but also children, “What strategy did you use to work out the spelling of that word?”
“I said the word in parts and spelt it in parts”.

Individual spelling instruction is a rather relaxing time in the classroom. Working 1 on 1 is an enjoyable way to form relationships with your children, children will ask you, “When is it my turn to learn new words to spell?”

AN INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMME MADE EASY

Step 1  Test for unknown words

HIGH FREQUENCY SPELLING RECORD SHEET Name:                                                                       Focus: e.g.,  what words begin with                                                                                                       making analogies                                                                                                       meaning
the	I	is	a	to
am	my	we	in	of

From Salisbury list or similar)   Figure 3

The initial test of children’s spelling knowledge:

• read the words across the columns to the class or a group and the children write the words.
• have a sheet (Figure 3) for each child and mark with a (√) known words and leave unknown words blank.

Step 2  Record
From each child’s record sheet write1-4 unknown words in each child’s spelling book.

Step 3  Teach a strategy

You are conferencing 2-3 children during independent writing each day and part of that conference is to explicitly show a spelling strategy that eventually the child will take on and use in different situations. Always demonstrate the strategy on a small whiteboard, not only writing but saying the sounds.

For example,       i t               was 

                                                        Now here is a tricky one. 

‘It’ you can hear the two sounds but ‘was’ is a tricky word to spell as only the first and last sounds are heard. So is spelling all about phonics? Sometimes the forgotten element is the looking into words... looking for a tricky part closing eyes and visualizing the word.

Step 4 Practise new words
Look, cover, write, check is a faithful framework that guides children’s independent practise of spelling. Look, cover, write, check will probably happen during Independent Activities (while you work with small reading groups). Each child must be able to read their spelling word, so enlist a buddy (if necessary) to help a child with difficulties during practise time.

As they write they say the word slowly (modelled during conferencing). They write the word three times, looking carefully at the example and at the same time asking themselves questions, “Does this word look like any other word?” (an analogy). They stop and visualize the word in their heads. They cover the word and write it a fourth time. Make a bookmark for each child to refer to.

Spelling Bookmark

1. Look     into the     word 2. As you write     the word 3 times     say the word slowly 3. Close your eyes     and visualize the word 4. Cover the words, recall and write 5. Check,     have you written     the word correctly? 6. Further practise,     read a word, close your     eyes and visualize the     word. Keep your eyes closed and     spell the word.

Figure 4
Each day they further practise (step 6) by reading the word, closing their books and spelling words in their heads.

Step 5 During conference

During subsequent conferences test the words. The child reads the word, the teacher shuts the book and the child verbally spells the word. A (√) is drawn above the word if it is spelt correctly. When three √ √ √ are recorded (over a period of time), the word is assumed known. The teacher will place new spelling words in the child’s book at each conference, either from further testing of high-frequency words (high frequency spelling record sheets) done, say once a month, or/and from the child’s writing.

Remember that Individual Spelling can be a recursive procedure. If the child is not correctly spelling a presumed known word in their writing, the word is written again in their spelling books for further practise.

Some points of interest are:
Homophones are consistently misspelled
Omitted letters are common spelling errors
Medial letters (mostly vowels) are often incorrect or left out (assumption being that the speller does not look into words)
This individual spelling programme is recorded in full in my book Liz Simon, Strategic Spelling Every Writer’s Tool. 2004. Heinemann Portsmouth NH USA. Pearson is the agent in Australia, but I surmise that Amazon would be a cheaper option.