Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

[sarahandrew]

Hi Ladies,

I’m trying to figure out what I need to do about supplemental spelling. I’ve just been getting my daughter to spell words as we review them, eg. Greek Myths, Christian Studies. I’ve not been as fussed with correct spelling on these as on spelling words, as in, we don’t have card in high review if she has mastered the meaning, but my daughter is quite sure that she wants them to be perfect, which is taking up a lot of extra time. This would be fine but to keep her on track I am sitting at her shoulder for 2.5hrs every day (ends up being longer as we use timer for 10mins work then 2mins run/jump/be active/go to toilet etc break). I can set her to memorise things on her own at another time but I’m trying eliminate any dawdling. I’m just wondering what others do? What do they do at HLS? What is necessary? I’m totally happy to do it if needed, but as we are already well behind this year I don’t want us to get unnecessarily sidetracked!

[howiecram]

Re: Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

Hi Ladies,

I’m trying to figure out what I need to do about supplemental spelling. I’ve just been getting my daughter to spell words as we review them, eg. Greek Myths, Christian Studies. I’ve not been as fussed with correct spelling on these as on spelling words, as in, we don’t have card in high review if she has mastered the meaning, but my daughter is quite sure that she wants them to be perfect, which is taking up a lot of extra time. This would be fine but to keep her on track I am sitting at her shoulder for 2.5hrs every day (ends up being longer as we use timer for 10mins work then 2mins run/jump/be active/go to toilet etc break). I can set her to memorise things on her own at another time but I’m trying eliminate any dawdling. I’m just wondering what others do? What do they do at HLS? What is necessary? I’m totally happy to do it if needed, but as we are already well behind this year I don’t want us to get unnecessarily sidetracked!

I have a child who is a perfectionist! He will ask to do something (or correct writing that is better than my own, but not "perfect"). I have had to resort to "you can fix that on your own time".

Is spelling the words a requirement in 3rd grade for Greek Myths and Christian Studies? (honest question!) If it is, have her write the words on two separate note cards. Play games with them (memory, go fish, etc). In "Go Fish" she will have to spell the word she is asking for, "do you have Z-e-u-s?" She can do memory on her own. She can also spell them in play dough (actually form the letters with play dough to spell the words), use letter tiles, etc.

I hope I understood your question correctly!

[Michelle T]

Re: Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

Try writing the Phonetic chunks in different colors so those will stand out. For instance vowels and vowel teams can be red ( ex. ai, ay, ea oi, ar, or, en, it, ow) and consonant blends(ex. cl, pr, sw) and teams (ex. sh, ch) can be blue while everything else is black.

Try writing the words in pencil. Going over the vowels/teams with red, then consonant teams /blends in blue. This is the same method we use in our Traditional Spelling program and while it is a beneficial exercise for those needing it, it does not need to be done by every student all the time in third grade. But is an effective tool for challenging spelling !

Blessings,
Michelle T

[momgineer]

Re: Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

I really struggled with this in 3rd. Most of those words they are required to spell are way beyond their phonetic instruction at that age. They are required to spell the brightest stars and the state names and capitals. In our house, we teach spelling phonetically- not by brute memory. At some point, they need to use brute memory to spell certain words, but in 3rd grade my kids (especially the dyslexic) were still learning all the vowel teams used in spelling. They could read them but hadn’t yet specifically been taught how to use them to spell. So trying to spell “Betelgeuse” or “Massachusetts” was simply an exercise in memorizing a long string of letters. It caused more frustration than benefits. So I didn’t require correct spelling. I did require correct pronunciation and I helped them spell. For the states, they do the review in 5th and that’s when I started requiring correct spelling.
I know many kids are quite capable of memorizing strings of letters and associating them with a word. I can see how it would be nice to master spelling those words at a young age so you don’t need to bother later. I honestly had to use my phone’s word prompt to properly spell “Massachusetts”. I know I had to memorize that string of letters for a test at one time in grade school. Yet as an adult I don’t have it memorized. Maybe if I had been tested on it every year throughout school it would have stuck better. At least I know how to spell my own state “Missouri”. Heck, most people I know can’t even pronounce it correctly. An “I” at the end of a word does not say /uh/. You don’t say /Huh-why-uh/ for our 50th state and you don’t call that city in Ohio /Sin-sin-at-uh/. It’s /Mi-zur-ee/ not /Mi-zur-uh/!!!

[tanya]

Re: Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

Hello.

When I was teaching at HLS, I did not require correct spelling in classical history or Christian studies unless it was a term I really thought students should know how to spell (like apostle). I did Mark each student's incorrect spelling on the papers/ tests so they would know they had misspelled, but I didn't count off for it. Now if a student did something careless like not capitalizing Paris, I totally counted off! But for these difficult names and places in these subjects, I didn't. Every now and then, I might have the students write their misspelled words correctly several times if I thought they were getting careless, and sometimes, I would put a word bank on the board. If the term was on the board and they misspelled it, I counted it off.

Is that enough different scenarios? As I typed, my classroom procedures became more and more muddled. Apparently, I really complicated this for myself!

Tanya

[howiecram]

Re: Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

Hello.

When I was teaching at HLS, I did not require correct spelling in classical history or Christian studies unless it was a term I really thought students should know how to spell (like apostle). I did Mark each student's incorrect spelling on the papers/ tests so they would know they had misspelled, but I didn't count off for it. Now if a student did something careless like not capitalizing Paris, I totally counted off! But for these difficult names and places in these subjects, I didn't. Every now and then, I might have the students write their misspelled words correctly several times if I thought they were getting careless, and sometimes, I would put a word bank on the board. If the term was on the board and they misspelled it, I counted it off.

Is that enough different scenarios? As I typed, my classroom procedures became more and more muddled. Apparently, I really complicated this for myself!

Tanya

I like the word bank idea!!!

[Michelle T]

Re: Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

I agree. Word banks are a great tool!

Michelle T

[sarahandrew]

Re: Grade 3 Supplemental Spelling

Hello.

When I was teaching at HLS, I did not require correct spelling in classical history or Christian studies unless it was a term I really thought students should know how to spell (like apostle). I did Mark each student's incorrect spelling on the papers/ tests so they would know they had misspelled, but I didn't count off for it. Now if a student did something careless like not capitalizing Paris, I totally counted off! But for these difficult names and places in these subjects, I didn't. Every now and then, I might have the students write their misspelled words correctly several times if I thought they were getting careless, and sometimes, I would put a word bank on the board. If the term was on the board and they misspelled it, I counted it off.

Is that enough different scenarios? As I typed, my classroom procedures became more and more muddled. Apparently, I really complicated this for myself!

Tanya

Great! Expecting reasonable attentiveness to things that have been learnt without getting hung up on having *every* word spelled perfectly. And I’ll work out a place for a ‘word bank’, I like that idea.

Thanks to everyone who answered! I now have a standard my perfectionistic daughter can adhere to and I will be assured to tell her that’s what they do at HLS, a higher authority than mum