Dictation / Spelling – just getting all confused…

Just a bit on my short experience with All About Spelling.  My boys are 7 and 5 and we have started into level 1 this year (going much slower with my 5 year old- he has his own bookmarked spot! but he doesn’t want to be left out).  I am using it not so much for spelling alone, but as a way to combine reading/writing/spelling to get me going.  As a fluent reader and thus proficient speller myself I was at a loss as to how to actually teach these things and couldn’t afford Delightful Reading. 

I like that they do go over some “rules”, use phonics, manipulate the words with tiles, sight words to practice reading daily, incorporate a little dictation.  I can just grab it and do it, which I like.  I break each lesson up into 2 or 3 days if needed at 5-10 min 4x week and go at their own pace (if one is totally confused we back up, or take it slower, etc.)  I have to say, just being consistent and only 2 months into the school year, they are Both reading short words and even some sentences and can hear a dictated word and write it correctly.  Plus, the pretty affordable price worked for us.  I’ve been terribly pleased so far.   (For me being such a visual learner, I had to See the word correctly and in a sentence for context and to spell it.  Reading really good quality books aloud and/or on his own should help eventually.)  My sister has used several levels of AAS as a nanny of a 10 yr old girl whose mother requested she work with her daughter who speed reads and misses much of the content and context of stories and was a horrible speller.  After 2 years and several levels, her reading comprehension was much better as well as her spelling.

Don’t know if that helps or not… hope so!

Couple of things, none may help 😉 And as Joseph is now starting Cubs at church we’re seeing similar things pop up – needing to write things out or read something at a level he is not at yet.

1. AAS is time intensive but can help with lots of things as mentioned above. I don’t have time right now, so ours is on hold.

2. What kind of learner is he? What I mean is does he pick things up best if he:

-read it

– watches it (pictures/video)

– hears it (with rhythm or music possibly)

– physically touches, tries, and interacts with it

Use that to his advantage. For example, I’ve had to help Joseph say a word’s spelling while he’s writing. If he asks me how to spell when I say it and have him repeat it “w-h-e-n”, then he starts writing it while repeating again “w-h-e-n”. This is helping him remember a bit better. If he is sounding out a word to write I have him say each sound and write what letter makes that sound. No, it’s not perfect, but phonetic is closer than what it sounds like your son is doing at the moment.

3 – Have you considered using his own frequently mispelled words as his list, doing 2-4 until he has them? Or even working through Dolch words for his spelling lists first?

Also, I would point out that natural spellers probably know the least about the ‘rules’ of spelling. They are mostly visual learners and get a picture of the word in thier minds.

There are so many exceptions to the rules of spelling that I think we can easily overwhelm and confuse children if that becomes the focus.

I second Tristan – once you find out how he learns best, you can really begin searching for the techniques that will work for him.

Isn’t it ironic how we can’t teach what we intrinsically know? And awesome how that causes us to reach out to others for wisdom and support.

So encouraging on this forum…

suzukimom-

I don’t have boys so this might be off, but I would suggest two things:

1. quit stressing. He’s doing okay. If he is reading and gaining knowledge, he is obviously not having issues with comprehension. Let the “formal” spelling go for a while and give him a dictionary to use while he is reading. When he comes to a word he’s not sure of, or just an exciting new word, have him look it up and copy it and the definition as his copywork. Let him choose which words and how many each book/week. Maybe put a small requirement on it like 5 per week or even 3 per book. Make it small and managable and very achievable at first. Let him know it will increase as the challenging words in his books incease.

2. Take the stress of writing away and have him choose sight words from a list. You say “tomato” (haha) and have him pick from several like words (tomorrow, potato, etc). If he is choosing the right word in that situation, his issue is likely not with spelling per se, but maybe with writing, or maybe just getting his brain to remember what order the letters/sounds are in, and then correctly telling his hand about that….?

Did you mention if he is a tactile kind of kid? Treat-motivated? (my dd8 has informed me that she is) If so, write the words in Sharpie (gasp) on LEGOS! (Use a dry erase marker over the top to remove)

JSYK, I have NO formal, documentable, professional experience with this at all! These are just coming to my mind and I thought I’d share. I do have one dd5 who is a kinesthetic learner and needs to move, move, move all. the. time. (yeah, she’s that kid that falls off chairs and climbs everything) so I have really had to try to think differently about how to reach her well.

3. oops, I said only two things. But let me also reiterate Charlotte Mason’s approach. She emphasized having children look at the word, study it, visualize the correct spelling of a word, then try to picture it in their mind’s eye, followed by “copying” it (from their brain) on to the paper. In their very best penmanship of course. Maybe stick to just a very few words first, or start with him picking words he wants to be able to spell well, like names of friends and places, books of the bible (use easy ones!), addresses/street names, favorite foods? Endless ideas there.

We did a little warm-up to this with Picture Study, having them really peruse the painting before then taking it away and letting them sketch what they could recall. Sometimes we checked and compared the two, but oftimes we didn’t. With spelling, I’d guess you’d always want to compare/correct, but maybe not right away. Let it sit for a day or a week, even… and then do it again the next session (or longer?) and then compare all three, four or five, especially if there is some progress. Make a point to stress that spelling and art are inherently different in that art is free and individual, and that spelling is nearly absolute and accuracy is key.

We did our spelling this way for about 3 days, before I realized my dd7(at the time) was a natural speller and she really didn’t need the training that often. I may return to it with her anyway (she’s now almost nine also), because even though she is a natural, she doesn’t think so and could use some confidence in this area.

With dd5, we will likely use a lot of the tips I just made up and posted here. So many thanks for asking your question and getting my brainstorming truckin’!

Also I sincerely hope that helps. Just remember he’s *only* nine and the “range” of “normal” is huge. He’s in it. He will be ready eventually and hopefully so will you be. Take comfort in knowing that he is NOT going to get lost and ignored in the crowd of a classroom. You are doing fine!!

This pep talk brought to you by the fitting words “reciprocal” and “applicable”… to me also. I sure needed that boost!

Blessings, suzukimom!!

We are using All About Spelling and we really like it.  I do not think it’s time consuming or too much “memorizing rules”.  I’m currently using Level 2 with our 9 year old.  (She completed Level 1 last year.  It is important to start from the beginning regardless of age.) All About Spelling is a leveled program, not grade specific.  

I recently called the company regarding All About Reading, which we are using with our 7 year old dyslexic son.  In talking, the rep stated spelling should last approx. 20 minutes per day.  However, we do not spend that amount of time as it’s just not necessary with the 9 year old. (We have not started spelling with the 7 year old yet.)

Level 2 has 25 steps.  We typically spend about 10 minutes per day and complete about 1 step per week.  I spend Mon/Tues reviewing previous concepts and introducing the new concept.  The rest of the week is practice, which includes spelling from dictation of individual words, word phrases, and sentences.  Our 9 year old is not keen on the letter tiles.  She prefers to just write the words and get on with it.  I do use the tiles for teaching new concepts, then she uses a dry erase marker on white board rather than tiles.  She does the end of the week practice in her spelling notebook/composition book.  There are rules per say, but they’re very systematic and really make sense with the concepts being taught. (I compare AAS with Math-U-See in the way of teaching new lesson, practice, systematic review, and then move on when the child masters.)

I was concerned about the fact that 9 year old does great with the spelling lessons, but is unable to transfer that knowledge to every day writing and that spelling is not yet automatic.  Here is the response I recieved on this issue from another AAS rep. 

I found that my children started putting more skills together after finishing All About Spelling 3.  They had done longer dictations by that time (Level 1 only has phrases, 2 has phrases and sentences, 3 has 12 sentences per step.  This increases the number of words they are holding in their minds at one time and gets them used to writing longer passages.) Also, Level 3 includes an activity called The Writing Station, where students make up their own sentences with words they have studied.  After level3, students have mastered about 1000 spelling words, which also makes writing easier.  

The writing station and dictation are both excellent opportunities for working on editing skills.  Use these for working on editing for now, unless you need to have her polish a piece of writing for one of her other subjects.  I usually put a light pencil X next to a line for each spelling error, or simply say, “There are ___ spelling errors,” and see if my child can find the mistakes.  Praise for any she finds and for any that she is able to correct.  When she struggles to identify or correct words, go ahead and help walk her through this process.  

As she becomes more adept at editing her dictation and writing station exercises, add more editing to her other writing assignments.  Just make sure you are only having her correct words that use patterns she has learned up to that point.  The more difficult words will come later, as she masters more skills.  

Any time you see a mistake in her writing, though, you can make a note of it and add a card into her daily review tab.  I keep a stack of blank index cards in the back of my box for just this purpose.

We have used Spelling Workout in the past, but it didn’t feel like a good fit for us.  I really like AAS and plan to continue it. As mentioned we are also using All About Reading with our son and he is making small gains.  In addition, I asked when we should introduce spelling with him and I was told that he should be reading fluently and wanting to write.  Keep in mind this particular child does have a reading disability, but I thought the answer made sense for most kids. 

I wish I had more time to compose this post, as I’m in a rush right now.  I feel like it may be a bit disjointed.  I apologize.  But feel free to ask any further questions and I will try to check back later. Also, the folks at All About Learning Press have been a wonderful resource.  Dont’ be afraid to call and ask many questions before committing.  I believe they offer a 6 or 12 month money back guarantee.  They seem sincere in their approach, much like the wonderful folks here at SCM.  🙂

Blessings,

Melissa

http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/