Spelfabet

Learning the building blocks of words - sounds, their spellings, and word parts

How words cast their spell

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I recently joined the US-based SpellTalk email list, and it was having an interesting discussion about which articles they recommend for student teachers’ reading lists.

This fattened up my Articles I Must Read folder considerably, and yesterday the sun was out, the birds were singing, my chores were done, and the little kids next door were playing doctors and nurses (too funny!), so I put up the hammock and got reading, of course interspersed with a little bit of eavesdropping on the surgical dramas unfolding through the hedge.

The article I’m going to write about today says that spelling is the abandoned stepchild in the family of language arts, but that knowledge of spelling is closely related to reading, writing and vocabulary development, as they all rely on the same underlying language abilities.

It’s called: “How Words Cast Their Spell: Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language, Not a Matter of Memorisation”, and as its subheadings are also magnificently capitalised, I’ll use them below.

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Budget beginner phonics

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This term the cutest little Grade Prep boy joined one of my early literacy groups at school. He was pretty clueless about sounds and letters, reading and spelling, and seemed to think he was just there for a laugh and to get a few stickers.

However, after a solid team effort, he’s finally learnt to recognise most of the letters of the alphabet, and is starting to sound out a few words.

Unfortunately, he is still well behind most of his classmates.

Holiday catch-up home program

This little boy’s mum wants to help him catch up over the holidays, so they came to see me at my clinic for some suitable activities.

They already have an iPad, so I’ve recommended some apps and iBooks, as well as paper-based activities and games for him to use.

I was pretty pleased with the varied, cheap-as-chips home program we worked out for him, so I thought I’d tell you about it, in case you know a family with an iPad and:

  • A child aged five or six who has done a year or two of school, but still can’t read/spell, or
  • A child who is starting school next year who is keen to get a head start on literacy.

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