Excellent!? I totally agree.? I do the same in my first grade class. I hold the students accountable? for correct spelling for 5 high frequency words a week. I also have word study work during the Daily 5 which greatly helps their spelling!
-----Original Message----- From: Freida Hammett <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, Jul 27, 2009 1:11 pm Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Inventive Spelling If we want children to become good writers, it is essential that they buy into writing as an activity that has purpose.? It is essential that they believe they can write.? Spelling is a means to help communicate those purposes. By supporting students' writing with invented spelling, we allow them to learn writing craft at the same time. Currently I teach a first through third grade mixed age class.? I find that even those suffering from dysgraphia want to learn to spell conventionally.?? I do insist on correct grade level spelling on final copies of writing.? Setting the tone of inventive spelling is the first step in spelling but I also expect good spelling from a student at that student's level, which has resulted in some moving writing by some my students.? Especially noteworthy was a kindergarten, Title I, second language learner who wrote, one January morning, about 90 words expressing his feelings about his favorite cousin who had died.? [I was working on a Teacher Action Research paper related to helping kindergarten students to write at that point in time, so I counted his words!]? He continued to write about this topic and his feelings.? He only spelled a few words conventionally at that point.? Another example was this year when we had a terminally ill parent.? Just after the child shared the news with the class, I invited the students to share, then write about any loss this discussion brought up.? What happened next was totally moving with many words written and tears shed.? Students did not worry about correct spelling at that point in time.? They knew the most important thing was to get their feelings written down. Needless to say, invented spelling is a necessary component of writing.? Neither can conventional spelling be ignored.? There is a balance we have to find for each student while supporting the child in the craft of writing and the craft of spelling.? Invented spelling is a scaffold in the writing process.? I have yet, in my many years of teaching writing, fou nd a child who let it become a crutch. Freida Hammett _______________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________ 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.
