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Every now and then we run across a book or a website that is particularly helpful. Maybe it presents a subject in a new or interesting way. Maybe, like last month’s post on Squeaky Clean Reviews, it puts a lot of great information at our fingertips. And we want to share them with you!
For this installment of Great Resources, I want to share a great book
that my mother-in-law gave me: Spelling Power by Beverly L. Adams-Gordon.
As much as I love to read, teaching grammar and spelling are not my
strong suits (I’m much better at math where everything is spelled out in black
and white and I know not only how the concepts work, but why they work as
well). Until now (third grade), I hadn’t
had a good spelling program in place.
Our kindergarten and first grade curriculum didn’t seem to have much of
a spelling component, and although we have used the Explode the Code series
with some success (and continue to do so), it was clear from my daughter’s
writing that we needed to do something about her spelling. Enter Spelling Power.
“It is
estimated that there are at least 250 spellings for the 44 basic English sounds
which exist for each letter.” Ms.
Adams-Gordon points out in her introduction.
Ah ha! Now I know why we have
been struggling. Sure, short vowel words
are easy even long vowel words with a silent e are not so bad, but to as we
discovered in our writing assignment on Wednesday, words with ea in the middle
can say the long /ē/ sound as in beach or the short /ĕ/ sound as in
breath.
Spelling Power takes each sound and provides a rule for each of the
various spellings along with examples of each.
Then the student has an opportunity to spell various words using each of
the options for that sound. For example one rule is: “Words that say /är/ are
usually spelled ar as in car.” This is
then followed by a list of fifteen or so words for the parent to read to the
student. The student spells from the
given list of words for five minutes, and then studies any missed words using
the 10 step study process designed to help students look at words more
effectively and remember their spelling.
The remaining five minutes or so of spelling are to be spent on one of
the activities in the back of the book to provide extra spelling practice with
that day’s words.
The words chosen for the book are taken from extensive lists of the
words children, teenagers and adults commonly use and misspell. They are then arranged into ten levels of increasing
difficulty. The level A words are those
most commonly used and/or misspelled by younger children (approximately 2nd
grade level) while the words in level J are those most commonly used and/or
misspelled by high school students.
At the beginning of the program, the student is tested to determine
where to start in the book. This ensures
that they do not waste time going over lots of words that they know. It also ensures that they will not be
spelling so many unfamiliar words that they get discouraged.
There is a long section at the beginning of the book with all the
information you need to get started. The
author explains her method – which she developed for her own daughter who
struggled with spelling – in great detail, and provides the answers to why it
words. She also provides tips for how to
help a student understand why a word is spelled a certain way.
One thing my daughter and I both like about Spelling Power is that she
does not have to study words that she knows over and over again. If she spells a word correctly we go on to
the next word. She only has to study and
retest words she misspelled. We usually
end up studying a few words from each set – enough to assure me that she does
need the practice, but not enough to discourage my daughter.
We are nearly done with level B, and I have noticed a great improvement
in my daughter’s spelling. She also has
a lot more confidence in her writing assignments; it is no longer a struggle to
pull every word from her brain and get it on paper.
The Spelling Power book is a
little expensive ($64.95 on Amazon), but the book is designed to be used over
several years. The exercise pages are
meant to be copied, so the book can also be used for more than one
student. The book is also available from
Life Long Learning Resources in Lyman, if you want to check it out before you
buy, you can see Spelling Power at their store.
If you have a struggling speller or are just looking for something
different, I encourage you to check out this book.
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