how do they learn spelling and is this normal learning?

[familyfun]

dd is 5, in year 1, a good reader but at a lower level of spelling. she loves writing and wont let me tell her how to spell things, she likes to try herself which i let her and school encourage.
she seems to remember how to spell some harder words they have learned, but im not sure she is using her phonetic knowledge, more just remembering, is that how they learn or will she struggle as time goes on?
eg.
once upon a time i luced down the rode.
so she remembers the once upon a time, but the rest she cant work out.

streight ahed
so she remembers the ght part.

is this normal or is she not learning the phonics properly?

straight ahed sounds pretty phonic to me

eight
with str on the front makes the same sound as straight. And ahed sounds like ahead. Personally I don't think knowing how things sound helps in remembering how to spell things because in English there are so many different ways of spelling the same sounds. I think people who say it does help are talking crap. To spell in English you just have to remember how to spell English words.

yes i suppose i can see why she spells like she does, but she doesnt seem to be improving that much.

For words which are hard to spell phonics will give you a range of possible spellings but it won't tell you which spelling is correct. You just have to remember which one is the correct one.

she will probably be ok then as she seems to be learning more words from reading them. thanks

What would it be like if spellcheck gave us a range of spelling corrections?

I'm on styke.

stryke : would you like

streyek
stryc
stryk
strighk

From those examples it looks like she is too phonetic in her approach.

The problem with learning to read phonetically is that many words do not follow the 42 ish letter sounds that are taught early on, children therefore are taught a few "tricky" words, the most commonly used ones which they then learn off by heart.

So by about Y2 of school, spelling then changes to a focus on grammar.

More complex spelling rules like ies / es endings, suffix grouping, etc should be taught throughout Y3 - 6, if this is not being done then it is easy to do a few mins a day at home from cheap guides (letts do an OK series).
If it is being done at school or home and child follows the instructions then she may have the common problem of simply forgetting to apply what she knows when creative writing.

This can be improved upon by either getting her to check her own work, spotting errors and re-writing, many a fast reader and writer will deplore this method, it does work but requires determined effort. Or she could use brain gym type techniques to jot key words into a plan before writing.

First though do get her spelling tested (can be done online or via book from the libary) so that you see if there is an age related problem and the earliest starting point you need to go from.
At the same time test for writing speed, too slow is a bigger concern than too fast but both result in poor spelling and handwriting.

her spelling is worse when writing than just spelling a word, eg if i say how do you spell right she will spell it right but in a story she spells in rite because she is rushing to get her story down.

Looks great to me for a 5 year old year 1.
I cannot see a problem.
Also reading often more advanced than writing in KS1.

she reads in a high group so i was worried shed missed some of the earlier spellings bits.
i dont worry she is behind now, just worried she might get behind if she is memorising rather than learning rules if there are any spelling rules??