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Post by chaknine on Aug 24, 2004 0:13:26 GMT -5
Any one have any ideas about making learning spelling words more fun. We do the traditional writing them over and over. but it is very hard!!
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Post by JulieinSC on Aug 24, 2004 7:12:51 GMT -5
When my son was in elementary school he practiced his spelling words in several ways. I compiled a "letter box" with each letter of the alphabet (vowels one color, const. another color) and he would have to spell out each word with the letters. (Scrabble letters would also work but we didn't have those.) Make a word search with the spelling words. Write the words on colored index cards (we go thru a lot of index cards here). Depending on the age of the child, practice writing the words in a box of cornmeal, or shaving cream.
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Post by dansmommy on Aug 24, 2004 9:38:37 GMT -5
I forget how old your dd is but last year in third grade the teacher would make up a fake alphabet as a code and have the kids write the spelling words in code. DS hated it -- but it depends on your own child's combination of abilities and disabilities whether she'd find it a challenge or a nightmare. Christie
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Post by eaccae on Aug 24, 2004 14:39:38 GMT -5
We do the spelling bee practicing. At breakfast, or while he is in the shower, or other random times - I will start quizzing him on the different words. He spells them aloud to me and the ones he gets wrong I ask more often.
At the end of last year - he had a project in which he had to create a game revolving around anything they had learned that year. He decided to make this Spelling Bee game - "Shipwrecked" - he designed this gameboard made out of colorful foam pieces glued on one big blue one - of several islands some attached to others with red bridges and then one big island in the middle. The goal was to be the first person to get to the big island (via all the other little islands and red bridges). He printed out all the spelling words from the year on cardstock (with his "Shipwrecked" graphic on the other side). Each player took turns having a spelling word read to them. If they spelled it out loud correctly, they could use the red bridge and move to another island. If they spelled it incorrectly they stayed where they were. The kids in his class LOVED the game - and he loves it so much that we plan on starting off with a new deck this year - adding the spelling words for each week into the deck.
His cousin's class did their spelling words differently - each week they would get their list of spelling words. The first day they would have to copy each word. The second day they would have to write a sentence using each word. I forget what the next three days were. It made sense on one hand - but on the other if DS had to do that much writing on spelling words (especially with his dysgraphia) - he would never finish his homework. Plus he seemed to get over 40 words to study (only about 20 were actually on the test).
The spelling bee way seems to work really well with him.
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Post by chaknine on Aug 24, 2004 17:42:53 GMT -5
thanks for the ideas!!!
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Post by Mayleng on Aug 28, 2004 9:55:32 GMT -5
Shelli, checkout this "system" of learning spelling www.spelling.org/ it is sequential spelling and is a good program. I have done a little with my son, but haven't done alot due to the fact we are concentrating on cursive and reading right now.
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Post by chaknine on Aug 28, 2004 13:32:41 GMT -5
Thanks Mayleng! Looks like a site we could definitely use. I will let you know how it goes. She did get 100% on her test Friday, but we spent alot of time on spelling! More than we should of!
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Post by TerryB on Sept 1, 2004 6:02:43 GMT -5
Someone here suggested that I think about what type of learner my daughter is first. Since she is a Visual/Kinetic learner, we have done well with air-writing and flash cards. We also do a lot in the car when my daughter is bored. I actually look forward to long trips because my daughter is strapped in for awhile, captive audiance. Spelling lessons work great on short trips. I flash the card and she air-writes it and says it out loud as she does so. Eventually, I quiz her orally. Someone also said that I could have her tell me how the words are spelled backwards and she did love that game. I think mixing up techniques works great to avoid burn-out. Terry
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Post by Mayleng on Sept 1, 2004 8:03:39 GMT -5
Terry, my son's vision OT also said for him to visualise the words in his mind, and then make him spell the words backwards. It is supposed to make them see the highs and lows of the letters and make an imprint in their memory. Even though he could do it, it never seem to be consistent the next day when he has to do the test, he would mess up the words again (even though he gets them all right the night before). I think with the ADDer, the memory and focus is just not consistent. For eg. for the entire year last year he would be getting Cs in spelling (even though he knew the words prior to the tests). Then at the end of the year, they had a test with 50 words previously learnt throughout the year and randomly chosen, which he forgot to tell me about so we did not study for it. Guess what? He got all of them correct, plus 2 bonus words he never learnt before. Got an A+ All I can say is his mind must have been really ON that day.
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Post by sportsmom on Sept 1, 2004 9:02:09 GMT -5
I have been reading all these postings about spelling and was thinking how glad I was that ds didn't have any spelling test last year---he has a learning disablility in written expression so his spelling is the WORST!! while going over his homework last night I was reading his planner so I could sign it and he wrote in there about root words (greek root words mind you) I asked him if he has some he is working on and he said yes he is doing the same as the class---YIKES he can't spell very good let along root words . I guess I will have to talk to the teacher about this one
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