Spelling is part of writing, and it can be difficult for some students and create some anxiety and frustration. We, school psychologists, hear of students that practicing spelling words at home only to fail their spelling tests. We also hear about students that can be writing an essay and get stuck on spelling a word correctly and then give up. Spelling involves many factors , such as letter knowledge, identifying letter sounds, remembering patterns of letters, and remembering the word to spell.
For Educators:
- Encourage the student to continue to write the ideas down. After student has written everything, THEN the student reviews their spelling.
- Provide lecture notes, or fill-in the blank lecture notes, for students that may misspell key words.
- Trace new spelling words into sand, salt, or paper on top of a textured material, such as paper on top of chicken wire or sand paper, to provide a tactile sense.
- Provide a list of words students commonly misspell, such as new science terms, to all students.
- Many teachers have reported success with the program ‘Words Their Way”.
- Below is a tip from Phonics Books on how to spell high-frequency words.
For Home:
- While doing homework at home, encourage the child to continue to write the ideas down. After student has written everything, THEN the student reviews their spelling.
- It may help to brainstorm key words ahead of time and then have the student use a dictionary to determine the correct spelling. That word can then be added to their “word wall” or their own individual dictionary which they can reference when writing.
- There are also many spelling apps that are available such as Spell Wizards and the Spelling Hero Game.