Spelling Strategies

Here are some spelling suggestions to help you assist your child at home.  As you work on spelling, be aware of words that are phonetically-predictable (words that can be sounded out) and irregular words (words that do not follow spelling rules). 

For phonetically-predictable words, encourage students to segment the word syllable by syllable to break it into more manageable parts.  For example: Atlantic can be broken into the syllables at-lan-tic.  This is often a useful strategy for spelling with accuracy. Prompt your child to "spell this syllable by syllable" or "break this down into smaller parts". 

You can also teach students specific rules (see enclosed examples) that will give them more explicit tools for encoding correctly.  For example: all words ending in the 'j' sound are spelled 'ge' or 'dge' - not 'j'.  Or, "the letter 'v' hates the ends of words!  It will always be followed by an e, as in have or live." 

For words that do not follow any rules, like beautiful, do not encourage sounding out.  These are words that need to be memorized.  Encourage students to practice these words using lots of repetition and rehearsal.  Try using spelling hints (see "Helpful Prompts").