Teaching Spelling to Two

I’m using Seq. Spelling with my two oldest girls  – ages 10 and 8.  I’m borrowing the DVD from a friend, and it’s marvelous.

They do it at the computer, with a whiteboard and the DVD – separately.  (That’s the only bummer.)

My oldest is a decent speller – so SS is simply to cover bases.  My 8yo is dyslexic – so SS is to make me feel better and to hope that something sticks!! *L*

Well I guess I’m the odd ball.  I teach AAS to 3 kids at the same time.  Here’s what it looks like . . 

We do a lesson on Monday BUT we actually start the week before.. so if we’re starting a new year here’s what I did.  I looked at what lesson 1 taught (review of course) and I picked out 10 words (same as every other week) that I figured would cause difficulty and or the most review.  We all sat down and I have a spreadsheet for them.  on the far left side they write the 10 words going down. Then for the 4 days prior to the ‘actual’ lesson they practice the words writing them each 2 times a day.  Then we come together for the lesson and go through it and review it.  Before we split up I give them the next weeks words and any new concept to go with it (so example – I would write on the bottom for them to read daily “c says /s/ before e,i,y). 

So say Friday I give the 10 new words and concept, Mon – Thurs they are reading the new concept and writing each of the 10 words twice.  Then we come together the following Friday and ”do” the lesson they have been practicing the words for.

Right or wrong this has worked very well for us and for different types of learners.  Cause the 3 I do it with : the 1st is 15 and is very good at spelling so it’s just good review for the week prior to lesson day, the 2nd is 14 and a slow learner and needs the daily writen work/review prior to lesson day, and the 3rd is 12 and is a bit of both.  I have been doing it with all 3 for 3 years and even my 15 yr old has had no issuses with feeling like he’s being pulled back and he’s a fast learner.

Just my 2 cents and ways.  As I said it’s not right or wrong just what works for us.  I had to stop switching spelling books and just make one work for us.  This is what we came up with.  

Good luck!

Well, maybe I do AAS wrong.  Or maybe there is something about SS (which we haven’t started yet) that I don’t understand, but it looks WAY easier to combine kids.

With AAS, I have to teach them seperate.  Generally they would do Review words first using tiles, then I’d do part of the current lesson (either teaching the new concept, or going through the new words with tiles, or going through the new words with paper, or writing the sentences – where ever we are at.)    I can’t see how you combine kids for that at all, as my kids would ‘master’ the words at different rates, and we use the tiles.

With SS, the review is built into the family groups.   So each day, you give them the first word and they all write it down.  You show them (with the different coloured markers) how to write it correctly and they make any corrections immediately.  Then you do the next word.  etc.   So you could do it with 1 student, or with 20, and it would take about the same length of time  (well, obviously a bit longer as with one student they might not have to correct many words but with 20 probably SOMEONE needs to make the correction…)  

SS does have a book version where you give the words.

Shannon, I’ve been using SS with my boys for almost two years now.  I realize that every child is different and of course this will work for some and not others, but I firmly believe that SS drives a home run on the long-term retention issue. This is NOT your usual list program where kids memorize to the test and never see the words again.

As suzukimom notes above, the child is working with word families – and I believe it is because the program is structured in word families that the retention is strong.  They are working with each word family for days and days at a time (the exact length would depend on how often you do spelling…we do it M, T, W, Fr and Sat….I don’t like taking two days off in a row, in order to keep the patterns fresh…seems to work well for us).  By the time they’ve finished with, let’s say, the “all” family, the student has spelled probably 50 different words/word combinations with this pattern alone!

I didn’t know there was an online version (good to know!).  To this point, we have used the DVD alongside a regular spiral bound notebook.  It has worked beautifully with my 11 year old son (eldest, diligent, honest…i.e. does it indendently with the DVD and I don’t need to worry about him not making his OWN attempt before seeing the word come on screen).  He’s been doing it for two years.  For my next two kids I will be using the book format along with the student workbook, because these two particular kids love having “real” workbooks, and because one child is starting younger than I started the others, so I want to be there and watching him as he’s receiving the dictation, keep a close watch on how he’s making out.  For people starting kids aged 10+, there is absolutely no issue with simply putting in the DVD and letting your child go – doing it daily.  The program truly does do the teaching – in the way the patterns have been created – and YOU as the teacher are completely freed up. 

Note, I say this as long as you are sure the child is honest and is in a willing-to-work-hard mindset.  I had one child who I took off the SS DVD/Independent train because he was too tempted, when he didn’t know a word, to just sit and wait for it to come on screen and then he would copy it.  He didn’t want to, first, attempt it, second, observe what letters he’d done wrong, and third, correct it.  It make him feel like it was too much work (said child was going through a rather lazy stage at this point, LOL, I probably started him too early…he was still struggling with handwriting when I put him on it)  Now, as he goes on age 10, he is a different kid altogether and we will start over.

HTH.