Helping your child with spelling

What is spelling?

• The function of spelling is to give meaning
• Spelling is writing words from memory
• Some children ‘catch’ spellings but many don’t and have difficulty
• Spelling is difficult as we don’t always spell a word the way it sounds
• There are different stages that children pass through to becoming a speller
• Spelling is predominantly a visual skill
• Spelling and writing go hand in hand
• Spelling should not be an oral activity

Spelling Myths

• A poor speller is not intelligent!
• The more I read the better my spelling!
• Breaking up a word and sounding it out will improve spelling!
• Spelling can be taught through rules!

What to do at home

• ‘Live’ the strategy that is being used in school
• Discuss the words prior to learning
• Look for words within words or parts that are already known
• Ask if s/he knows any part of it
• Have child write the ‘bits’ s/he knows
• Have child focus on the difficult ‘bits’
• Look how the words are put together
• Make sure that if you call out spellings to your child, s/he must write them down
• Let the child then check if the word is correct or not
• Always encourage your child to ‘have a go’ - take away the fear of being wrong!

 

Correcting Spelling

• Child should always check his/her own attempt
• Firstly, praise the child for the ‘bits’ that are written correctly
• Only then do you focus on the ‘wrong bits’
• Can you picture the ‘bad bit(s)?

Measuring Progress in Spelling

• Progress is best seen in child’s free writing
• An improving score in a weekly test is not a real sign of improvement
• Are the child’s mistakes ‘getting better’?

What if I am not a good speller?

• No problem! Use a dictionary together
• Talk about what you do if you don’t know a spelling
• Use a spell-checker. Be careful! (at times they are of no use and they do not remove the need to learn how to spell).


Brendan Culligan (brencull@eircom.net)

Author of ‘Improving Children’s Spelling’ and ‘Spelling and Handwriting'