We studied word chunks in first grade, so that their 'spelling test' consisted on my dictating words with their chunks. The worked on their chunks, not on specific words. They also had three high utility words (word wall words). Using chunk study got my parents doing great things at home, because the old fashioned write it five times didn't accomplish much.
In second grade we spent half the year reviewing the common chunks taught in first grade the remainder of the year using Make Words (Hall and Cunningham). I am no longer a classroom teacher, but you can imagine my delight and amusement when I was working in a school were several of my previous kiddos were enrolled and was told, "Your kids are such marvelous spellers. We need to know what program you used..." They were looking for a workbook series to purchase and it felt just plain good to be able to explain what I did do and comment that, "Programs don't teach children, teachers do." Lori On 9/29/07 11:32 PM, "Waingort Jimenez, Elisa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What Renee describes below is also how I do spelling in my class. When I > taught first grade my students had no more than 5 words on their individual > spelling lists. Now, that I'm teaching grade 2 I think I will top it off at 7 > unless, as Renee says, some of the more efficient kids can handle a couple > more. I also had a contract and the kids had choices for activities they > could do to practice their words. I think I had 7 choices and they could do > all 7 during the week if they had time. On Friday they paired up with someone > and gave each other a test. The words the student spelled correctly went on > their personal must-spell list. Any words missed would be carried on to the > next week. > Elisa > > Elisa Waingort > Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual > Dalhousie Elementary > Calgary, Canada > > First of all, just because your colleague says something, especially > when it's an opinion, that doesn't mean you have to follow along. :-) > > When I taught third grade, I had individual spelling lists that the > kids kept in their reading/writing folders on an index card. The words > that went on there were words from their own writing that were common > or phonetic words that I felt they should know how to spell. When they > got to a certain number of words, they made a spelling contract that > lasted a week. They wrote the words on the contract and I kept the > index card. Students gave each other their spelling tests. The number > of words depended on the students. "Higher" students had about 12 > words, while "lower" students had about 8 or so words. Was it > confusing? Yes and no. I had a special calendar that was ONLY for > spelling with kids' names on it and at the end of each day I reminded > those who had a spelling test the next day. > > When I stopped doing individual spelling lists, I started doing words > with patterns. I think this had something to do with either Rebecca > Sitton or Diane Snowball. I don't remember any more. But I would take > word parts (i.e., "igh" and as a class we would make word lists with > these parts (i.e., bright, light, fright, night, high, sigh, sight, > frightful, delightful, brightness, etc) and then what I would do is > assign about eight of these words for everyone and let kids choose four > or six more for themselves. > > Renee > > "The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can asks his > pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he > inspires them to ask which he finds hard to answer." > ~ Alice Wellington Rollins > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > -- Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach & Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 57555 http:www.tcsdk12.org ph. 605.856.2211 Literacies for All Summer Institute July 17-20. 2008 Tucson, Arizona _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
