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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

How do you help you dcs to learn their spellings?

24 replies

mintchips · 13/01/2008 11:42

DD1 is in yr2 and hates spellings with avengance!

I've tried getting her to write them out which she naturally finds boring. We also tried writing each letter needed on little pieces of paper and then she would make the word up out of the letters- if that makes sense!

Just wondered if anyone has any other ideas to make it more interesting for her and to stop the increasing battles over the dreaded spellings.

Thanks

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Pollyanna · 13/01/2008 11:47

my dd1 who is in y2 uses the look, cover, write method and this works fine for her. It is boring, but she does it as soon as she gets in from school and gets it over with.

This didn't work for ds when he was in y2, and I had to do mini "tests" with him each day, gradually adding more words.

I don't think you can make it interesting - I just don't make it optional!

maverick · 13/01/2008 22:16

Scroll down to 'Main points for helping with spelling'

www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/spelling.htm

HTH

Original poster

mintchips · 14/01/2008 10:33

Thanks very much for your replies

That link looks interesting Maverick

OP posts:

Orinoco · 15/01/2008 21:59

Message withdrawn

hermionegrangerat34 · 15/01/2008 22:00

My ds just won't do homework - but I've found using foam letters in the bath has been quite succesful on occasion.

bozza · 15/01/2008 22:04

DS's spellings come on an a4 sheet laid out like a table with the spellings in one column and 4 blank columns. I just make sure he has another sheet of paper to cover them and make sure he does it 4x before Friday. He really doesn't need any input from me. Tonight he did them while I was serving out dinner. I realise I am lucky in this respect.

Hulababy · 15/01/2008 22:13

We found this website which has a very simple look cover, write system but online. You can edit the examples there to have your own lists. DD (Y1) has used this.

With more difficult words we chant them whilst going upstairs, we clap them out and we make up silly rhythms to sing them out.

bozza · 16/01/2008 08:50

That's great hula. I think DS would really like that and will bear it in mind for when his spellings get more difficult in juniors, but atm he can just fly through them.

bozza · 16/01/2008 08:51

But looking at orinico's list I can see why - DS also in Y2 has blue, flew, hoop etc.

Hulababy · 16/01/2008 08:53

DD had "laugh" yesterday along with some other "ff" words - she used that website and after a couple of goes through she had the "ff" cracked and using that plus a hand clapping rhythm she had laugh sorted too - she could rememeber it this morning which was good

We use the website to do all the spellings as it is just a bit more fun than writing them down at times.

tortoiseSHELL · 16/01/2008 09:08

We do look cover write check as well. Hula I will look at that website - it looks good.

Isn't there some reason why writing them out manually helps them go in? I'm sure I remember reading that. Something to do with the hand-brain link...or maybe I made it up!

In 'Matilda' which ds1 has just read, Miss Honey teaches them spelling with songs - so the word difficulty is 'Mrs D, Mrs I, Mrs FFI, Mrs C, Mrs U, Mrs LTY'.

SSSandy2 · 16/01/2008 09:13

I'm going to try that website. I see you can just write your own list of spellings and use those instead of the ones they have.

Great tip!

Hulababy · 16/01/2008 09:58

Yes, you can edit the lists - and it you don't have 10 words to learn you can leave some boxes blank.

It's just a different method isn't it. On the Tuesday DD using the website to proactise; on a Wednesday she writes them down on her mini whiteboard.

tortoiseSHELL - was telling DD about atilad's chanting song yesterday :

Loshad · 16/01/2008 10:02

gosh those are hard y2 spellings orinoco - last weeks ds4's (alsoY2) were things like flower, count, thousand, all ou or ow words.
I find whiteboards make a huge difference to how keen they are to do their spellings - they seem to really like them, and if trhey make a mistake they can rub it out quickly.

MummyPenguin · 16/01/2008 10:23

My DS2 (year 4) has always struggled with spellings. He gets very frustrated. That said, he is getting better. He had quite hard ones this week - educate, education, simplicity, temperature, thermometer, purity, to name a few. With the longer words, I tell him to break the word down, don't try and spell the whole word straight off. So with temperature for example, he can get the 'temper' bit, but themn seems to get stuck, so I told him after 'temper' there's that little word 'at' and then 'ature'. Same with thermometer, he get's the 'ther' bit - he's fond of American tv shows, so I say to him after the 'ther' think of the Amreican word 'mom' then you've only got 'eter'. I find just little tips and tricks like that helps, and breaking long words into small chunks and piecing it back together. Generally, he has a good look through his list, gives it back to me to read each word out to him and then he writes them down. We also do them (non writing, just spelling out loud) on our walk to school. We did that this morning and he said "but my test is in the aftenoon, I'll have forgetten by then." Bless him. He's got 16 on his list, and he's been after a Tamagotchi, so if he gets 16/16 he'll get his Tamagotchi. If he gets 13 or 14 right, he'll get a smaller treat. Carrot and donkey, that helps too!

MummyPenguin · 16/01/2008 10:25

Oh and he's DS1 not DS2. God, I can't even get that right! DS2 is in yr 3 and seems to grasp spellings easier than his Brother, but then his are easier.

Original poster

mintchips · 16/01/2008 16:08

at that list orinoco dd has things like scare, once and must on her list this week.

Really like that site hula thanks am definately going to try that one

OP posts:

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 16/01/2008 16:09

We do it in the car on the way to school on the day of the spelling test.. Really! I forget until then!

And she usually gets 10/10!!

hana · 16/01/2008 16:11

what a fab website hula, have bookmarked it!

dd ( year 1) has never been sent spellings home. There's a scrawled note above the most frequent words lists in her reading book to please learn how to spell them - she's got all of those, but no 'lists' have come home.

is this usual for state year 1?

Whizzz · 16/01/2008 16:11

I use this site to make up crosswords which makes the task a bit different. You could do word searches too

hana · 16/01/2008 16:15

in fact, the entire website is fab , great links for teaching ideas

Orinoco · 18/01/2008 20:55

Message withdrawn

Original poster

mintchips · 19/01/2008 12:22

I need one of those too Orinoco- dd got 10/10 on her test yesterday and has really enjoyed using that site- have had no spelling tantrums this week yay!

Recommended it to my sister to help my nephews too

Thanks again hula

OP posts:

Hulababy · 19/01/2008 12:29

Glad you like the site DD uses the spelling bit every week, and the rest of the site seems to have some good stuff on too.

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