We have a big push this year by the school district to really enforce the learning of spelling patterns over the memorization of spelling words. I agree with this focus. I would much rather see students improve on their overall spelling than to see them memorize a list of words just to impress me. I think both of these things can be accomplished, but I am working on a way to increase the involvement of my spellers to make sure we are looking for these patterns in other words throughout the week.
Today we took the review unit over the short vowel sounds, "ou," "oi," "oo," and "ew." We had practiced all of these patterns. Some of the words that the book chose to test the patterns were unfamiliar to the students. Students seemed puzzled by words like stout, toil, fund, and even hound. We had about 65% of our students get 80% or better correct. Those students do not have to do a spelling test this week. They will be working with us on the patterns, but there will be no test at the end of the week. The rest of the students will be tested on 15 of the 30 review words on the review list. Every one of these words has been on a spelling assessment this week. The thirty word list is so that you can enforce the vowel sounds and not just memorize the words. This assessment will be given on Thursday this week.
I know that spelling comes more naturally to some rather than others. I admit to the kids all the time that I am an awful speller. I learned through much practice and hard work to be a functional speller. I am really going to be looking for ways to help reinforce spelling patterns this next group of units so an even higher percentage of students can pass the review test. I am looking for creative ways to help students search for other words that follow the pattern. I am thinking some sort of game or contest would be fun next week for families to look for words in their own reading to share with each other. Stay tuned for this challenge.
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