Spelling Cards

Spelling is one of those subjects that we all wish our children would become pro's at. And as adults, sometimes it just doesn't seem all that hard to spell correctly, but for a child spelling can be tough when mixed with the "3R's tool belt." While reading a book by John Holt entitled How Children Fail, I found a method that I decided to try out on my children. They had been used to custom spelling lists; these are lists that come about from misspelled words within the child's copywork or dictations or in his day to day writings.

The method John Holt discussed is similar in that the child makes up his spelling cards with his troublesome misspellings from his daily work. Here's how we do it.

3. Keep these cards together for review. Put in a box or rubberband them together.

4. Review cards daily together. Teacher holds the card in her hand. She *flashes* it quickly for the child to see and then covers it with her hand or another card. The child says the word, then begins to spell. As the child says each letter, the teacher uncovers that letter until the word is spelled completely. If the child misspells the word, allow him to see it again and try to re-spell it as before.

5. When the teacher decides it's time for a "pop quiz" the child will take a written test of his spelling cards. Any words spelled correctly in the quiz will be thrown away. Others that are missed in the quiz, will be held over until they can be spelled correctly.

6. Keep on adding new words to the spelling cards, but do not overwhelm the child with a large amount of words. Sometimes my children will come across words that are difficult, but they weren't *missed* on a copywork assignment. I will then ask them to pick 3-4 words from the lesson that were difficult or that they know they wouldn't have spelled correctly if they hadn't copied them. These words go into the spelling cards.

7. Sometimes I put a similar word on the back of a spelling card. For instance, the word "nature" might be a spelling word so I might add "pasture" to the back of the card.

8. This method can be altered to suit your needs. You might like to keep ALL the spelling cards in a box for later reference or for a little test to see if your child still remembers how to spell them. However, try not to overwhelm him. Allow him to keep his small spelling card pile and throw out the words he knows how to spell to YOUR card pile if you wish to keep them.

9. I often let the children quiz each other with their spelling cards. This way, they are learning another sibling's words without even trying! (AKA: Sneaky School).

A friend discussed this method with me which she had seen online. After purusing through the site, I decided I could easily do this method on my own. It consists of word families, in a way. You use a "root" word or prefix and continue adding on until you have some very big words that normally, you would not ask your second grader to spell. What I see in this method is how EASY it is for kids to "catch on" to spelling. We do this spelling method for practice and drill, but I don't generally "test" them on it, as most test spelling words, week after week. But I have a suspicion that after a few days practicing in this method, a child might surprise you with how he would test. This method is still in "testing stage" in our family, but so far, this is one of our most favorite ways to practice spelling barring copywork!

Below, I will give you some examples of how to do this. One thing I do to help me to choose words is to notice words that my children misspell in their daily dictations, narrations or other writing exercises and use those as my objects of the lesson. I also use a dictionary to help me in making big words out of little words that may not naturally come to my mind. You may also have to give a little spelling rule here and there as the child learns to double consantants in "short vowel" words or "drop the e to add ing" or "tion says 'shun'" and "sion says zshun.'" They will catch on easily because these same rules apply to other words again and again.

in inner inter interject interjection internal internally interest interesting intervene intervention	it visit visiting visitor visitation viser vision revision revision revise revising revisable	phone telephone megaphone gramophone phonograph graphite telegraph graphic graphics graphite photo photograph photographic lithograph	micro microscope microscopic microscopy microorgan microorganism microbiology microphone micrrowave
it sit sitting sitter babysit babysitter babysitting visit visiting visted vistor visitation revise revision	vise visor vision visual visualize visualizing visualization visionary visible invisible revision revise televise television advise advisor

If you would like to see the website where I initially found this idea, go to AVKO Spelling. Click on AVKO's Catalog of Spelling Materials for specific lessons shown in this method. A few of these lessons are available for download.
Thanks to Sombra for steering me to this method!

I recently found a FREE Spelling Curriculum online that resembles my lists here. It also incorporates dictation, root words, syllables, and dictionary studies. I'm linking it for you here....Marie's Free Spelling Course.