Writing/spelling in Reception

[EvilTwins]

DTDs are July babies and have just started in Reception. They are happy and settled, which is my main concern.

They've started doing phonics, quite gently, and we were told at parents' evening that they would be starting to blend into words after half term.

We've been away over the holidays, doing lots of stuff. Last night, in the B&B room, DTD2 was doing some colouring in an Angelina Ballerina comic, and I noticed that she was trying out the sounds in the name "Vicky" (Angelina's chum) and then wrote "Vcky". Then today, we were doing some dinosaur activities in a museum, and DTD1 independently wrote "Stecosors" for stegosaurus.

Now, my question is this - and correct me if I'm wrong... DH said that we should be correcting their spelling, and telling them how to spell words. He got quite ratty later on when DTD1 wrote "Anttty" for Aunty in Dsis's birthday card and said that I should have told her how to spell it. I think he's wrong - could those of you in the know please tell me - is this how we should be letting the girls proceed? Or should I be telling them how to spell things instead?

I kind of thought that this was normal for the stage they are at. DH thinks that I am storing up trouble for later.

You are right this is normal for a child at this age and it actually shows a really good understanding of phonics and blending.

Maybe an actual name I might show them how to spell it.

As their knowlage of phonics and tricky words develops they will have a better knowlage and spell more words correctly.

this is how they do it these days - get them all confident with phonics then feed in the proper spellings gradually. (Most of them will just soak in via reading anyway.)

it sounds like they're doing great & I wouldn't be worrying about correcting spellings at this point, just praise them lots for making such excellent phonic guesses at things.

If it helps DS1 is in year 1 at a very academic independent school and all of their written work is like this. It encourages free writing and expresion rather than focusing on spelling which will come later as their reading develops. The teacher will praise them for the writing and then put the correct spelling above the word (but this has only started this year and last year in reception they just allowed them to write freely and didn't correct them at all just praised them for the attempt.)

I fear your DH is in danger of making her under confident in her writing. Some reception children won't put pen to paper. Sounds like yours are doing great. I used to teach a girl whos parents were very keen for her to write everything "correctly", she became so anxious that she would only write words that she knew how to spell. It limited her vocabulary in creative writing and took all the enjoyment out of writing for her.

happy - that's exactly what I'm worried about. I was really chuffed with their efforts - DTD2 did "Anjjlin" (Angelina) as well as "Vcky" - all by herself! I think I'll have a chat with him.

i've always been a compulsive corrector like dh. i'd let them write it themselves, then write the correct spelling next to the word so they knew it for next time - but with lots of praise for trying.

it doesn't seem to have done mine any harm - they are 10,8 and 7 and show no signs of being damaged

it's de rigeur not to correct at the mo though. suspect in ten years the new black will be correcting. again. i'm certainly pretty depressed about the spelling standards of dd1's peers.

The problem with correcting children when they are first experimenting with spelling is that they get very hung up on every word has to be correct so their content becomes very confused and stilted rather than flowing as they are constantly asking an adult or they can simply play it safe and only use words they are confident are correct (usually 2 or 3 letters).

Your daughters' spellings are wonderful for four year olds and as they progress they will be introduced to the conventions of "Aunty" but for now give them the praise they deserve.

The only thing I would do would be to say words very clearly when they are segmenting words so your daughter can hear the i in Vicky and the g in stegosaurus for example.

It is really good that you raised this topic, as it is a concern for many parents who I work with.

I am specialist teacher, and I agree with the comments made by mrz, littleredsquirrel and happysunshinedays. I completely understand your dilemma about correcting spellings when your child is first beginning to be creative with writing, as we do not want to stifle children's creativity or self-confidence and make them anxious about spelling.

You might be interested in reading an article on my website. "Writing creativity versus spelling dilemma" - and the importance in focusing on being creative and focusing on correcting high frequency spellings - and giving praise at all times! :)

www.icanspell.co.uk/about/learning-and-creativity

Thanks for posting everyone. I'm giving the girls lots of encouragement - DTD1 is currently writing down the things we saw on holiday - she's got
vikin
dinsor
casl

I think she's doing fine, so am going to let her carry on and leave the spellings for now.

Your DTDs sound terrific and they are doing brilliantly! There is no point correcting their spelling, because children of this age don't necessarily understand that words have a consistent spelling. At DS's school they have only just started spelling simple cvc words in year 1.

I think will miss DS1's wonky spelling

Just to say that I think your DCs are doing brilliantly, especially since they've just started reception. You've had god advice, let them play with blending and spelling and really enjoy it, correcting them right now will only turn them off. Correct spelling will kick in quite quickly in Yr 1/2 and you'll miss their creative spelling

Your DH is utterly wrong. This phase is really important as they are trying out different phonic rules and actually they are often more logical than the actual spelling! You shouldn't correct at this age, it'll knock their confidence and they won't want to experiment any more.