• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

Print & Play Club Member Login

The Kindergarten Connection

Ideas and Inspiration for Early Childhood

  • Start Here
  • Meet Alex
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Training
  • Contact Us
  • Search

Mobile Menu

  • Start Here
  • Meet Alex
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Training
  • Contact Us
  • Search

5 Tips to Make Spelling Practice More Effective

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.
Pin48
Share
48 Shares

Teaching spelling can be tough. Really tough. But there are some ways to make it a little easier! With just a little know-how and these 5 tips for making spelling practice more effective, you can help your kids become stronger, more confident spellers!

*Guest post by Sarah from Stay at Home Educator

With these 5 tips for making spelling practice more effective, you can help your kids become stronger, more confident spellers!

5 Tips to Make Spelling Practice More Effective

Some kids are just “good spellers.” It comes naturally to them. They just get it and do it. For other kids, it’s not so easy. It doesn’t come naturally and it’s a downright struggle. A painful one at that. They simply do not have the spelling skills that come to naturally to “good spellers.”

Research-based literacy curricula have (thankfully) moved away from just teaching visual spelling strategies. Remember bringing home a word list each Monday and writing each word ten times to prepare for the spelling test on Friday? That’s a visual strategy, and not always the most effective, either.

There are more ways to do spelling practice, and depending on the kid, much more effective ways.

Here are five tips to make spelling practice more effective:

Teach Phonics Heavily

Phonics is the cornerstone of spelling. As children learn to read new sound-spelling patterns, they can also use those tools to learn to spell those same patterns. This reiterates that all sounds have a direct correlation to a specific letter or group of letters that make up the written word.

Practice Makes Perfect

Actually, you might say that practice makes permanent. Just like in learning to play the piano, to read music, practice creates muscle memory, and with enough practice, reading the music is no longer necessary.

The same is true for spelling practice. The more practice that goes into spelling words, the more muscle and reading memory is built. But only if the spelling practice is done the right way! A child that consistently misspells the same word 100 times is building memory to continue spelling that word wrong, which is why misspelled words should be corrected and why spelling practice needs to be supervised.

Teach Only a Few Words at a Time

A long list of 20 words, or even 10 words, is overwhelming to a poor speller. Break the list into manageable chunks by practicing smaller sets at a time. Be sure to keep some of the easier words within the smaller set, so your student will feel some success during each spelling practice.

Use the Spelling List in Writing Activities

Any writing activity is a great way to practice spelling words in a more authentic way. Encourage children to keep a writing journal and assign a small set of spelling words to use during journal time. Or have them write silly sentences using their spelling words, or MadLib stories.

Most of all, as a teacher, when writing in front of the children, think out loud about how you are spelling specific words that are on the spelling list or that correlate with the sound-spelling pattern being learned.

Use Manipulatives and Hands-On Activities

When children are first learning how to read and spell, they don’t learn well by sitting and simply copying words with a pencil. They need to move and manipulate the letters that make up the spelling words.

This is one of the reasons why children are so fond of writing trays filled with salt, shaving cream, or cookie sprinkles, and why they love making letters out of pipe cleaners and blocks.

Want unlimited access to even MORE teacher support, activities, and resources?

Then be sure you request your invite so that you can be the first to hear when the doors open again for our Print and Play Club!

JOIN hundreds of teachers inside the Print & Play Club. A Club created by a teacher, for teachers! With BRAND NEW monthly centers planned and ready to print and play, in addition to exclusive access to hundreds of seasonal, themed and anytime of the year printables!

With instant access to hundreds of printables by topic and skill (no more scouring the internet!), every TKC resource, a digital games vault, “Super” Sunday Surprises, and much more – your planning time just got easier.

Request your invitation below for more info!

JOIN hundreds of teachers inside the Print & Play Club. A Club created by a teacher, for teachers! With BRAND NEW monthly centers planned and ready to print and play, in addition to exclusive access to hundreds of seasonal, themed and anytime of the year printables!
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Sarah
Sarah is an educator turned stay at home mother of four. She has taught a wide range of levels, from preschool to college. She blogs at Stay At Home Educator, a website dedicated to providing creative activities and tools for teaching in early childhood. She loves Krav Maga, mountain biking, and cooking. See more over on Stay at Home Educator.
Latest posts by Sarah (see all)
  • 5 Tips for Teaching Personal Character to Kindergartners - July 19, 2017
  • 10 Activities to Practice Spelling at Home - June 13, 2017
  • 5 Tips to Make Spelling Practice More Effective - June 13, 2017
Pin48
Share
48 Shares

About Sarah

Sarah is an educator turned stay at home mother of four. She has taught a wide range of levels, from preschool to college. She blogs at Stay At Home Educator, a website dedicated to providing creative activities and tools for teaching in early childhood. She loves Krav Maga, mountain biking, and cooking. See more over on Stay at Home Educator.

Previous Post: « Must-Try Life Cycle Activities for Kids
Next Post: 10 Activities to Practice Spelling at Home »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Through the Print and Play Club, her Instagram community, and easy prep classroom resources, Alex shares her love of resources and activities that promote playful learning with other Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers around the world.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Site Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Disclosure | Contact Us | FAQs
Copyright © 2022 · The Kindergarten Connection