What do you do to help your kids.....

[Mishetta]

learn their new spelling words?

My DS is in the 2nd grade & he gets 15 new words to learn each week. Usually, he already knows about 10 of them, but the last 5 are difficult (new) words for him. I "make" him write them out 5 times each (nearly each day) & I also make a song out of the word (I sing each letter of the word to him to a beat). That seems to help most but I was wondering if any of you other parents out there had any other clever ideas in helping your child learn his/her new spelling words?

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

Katelyn struggles a LOT with her words so making it fun seems to help her get past the *pain*....LOL

She loves it when I make a story using all her new words and I toss in as many of her old words as I can too.
I write the story and then have her read it to me. When she announces that "I can't read THIS!" I remind her that these are ALL words she KNOWS..........

her usual reply is a simple "OH!"

After a bit of giggling, she settles down and reads her story.

I have NO idea how this will work as her words get bigger though! Might be a bit hard on Gramma Patti to keep making these stories!

 

[browneyes]

My ds is in 2nd grade too. On the words he has trouble with, we try to find something in the word to help him remember the word. For example, on his first spelling test, he had to know how to spell Georgia. He had problems leaving out the o or the i. I told him Georgia comes from the name George, like in George of the Jungle. He remembered seeing the name George, so he could spell that word. I told him with the ia, that's kinda like the noise George made when he ran into the tree. We go over the harder words 2-3 times more often than the words he already knows how to spell, too.

 

[Dancind]

This may not work for all kids, but it worked great with my Visual Spatial learner. My DD would occasionally copy down a spelling word wrong, and it was really hard to get her to spell it right after that. I would make her write the word, correctly, in color. She picked a different color for every word. For some reason, this worked! Diana

 

[cgcw]

We make a copy of the list and keep it in the car. On our short journeys, DS8 will work on the words. Passes the time as we are driving here and there and also gives him a little extra spelling practice. We've done this since 1st grade and it works well for us.

 

[Mishetta]

cgcw ~ that's a great idea but that won't work for my DS who is too busy with his Game Boy or his CD player in the car! I almost have to tie him with rope to his chair to SIT & do his homework or learn his words for his weekly Friday spelling test!

Browneyes ~ your post made me giggle!

Great idea too HMG ~ but my DS already brings home little books with his new spelling words. He can actually read the words but when it comes time to spelling them, then he struggles. (I'm like that with the French Language....I can read it ~ no problem but if I needed to write a letter, it would be too much of a struggle for me!)

Dancind ~ hmmm....never thought to try having DS write out his words in diff colors. I'm not so sure that would work for him, but maybe I'll have him try it!

These are the words this week he's struggling to learn:

answered (there is no rhyme or reason to the spelling of this word, is there?
serious (I keep trying to emphasize the "IOU" since that's where he gets stuck)
weighed (he keeps wanting to put an "a" in there)

and there are 2 more he is struggling with but for the life of me, I can't think of them right now!

 

[browneyes]

Another technique I use sometimes is I let my ds be the "teacher" and call the words out for me to spell. I call out the letters slowly so he can correct me when I make a mistake.

With my dd, I pronounced the words phonetically (how I was taught, but I read somewhere not to do that ). I still say therm o meter for thermometer. She has a friend named Heather and I call her Heat Her because my dd struggled spelling her name correctly in the 1st grade.

 

[Mishetta]

Browneyes ~ how would you tackle "ANSWERED" ?

 

[jamsmom]

When I taught 5th grade, we did jumping jacks to the words and sometimes sit-ups. We also dd the write the words X times, but for those students that are movement based learners, jumping jacks and sit ups helped

Always say the word first and at the end of spelling it

 

[browneyes]

Originally posted by Mishetta
Browneyes ~ how would you tackle "ANSWERED" ?

Ans we red

 

[disykat]

I sometimes have them use letter tiles to spell out all their words. If they use scrabble tiles they can even practice adding them up in their head, estimating which word will be worth the most etc. It's a fun way to make it a game instead of just practicing spelling. Sometimes I scramble them for them or spell them wrong and make them correct me.

 

[JetMom]

We also sing spelling words in my house.

Other things that work are magnetic letters on a cookie sheet and making letters out of play-dough.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Originally posted by Mishetta
cgcw ~ that's a great idea but that won't work for my DS who is too busy with his Game Boy or his CD player in the car! I almost have to tie him with rope to his chair to SIT & do his homework or learn his words for his weekly Friday spelling test!

Sounds perfect to me... the spelling work gets done FIRST then there is time for Game Boy and/or CD player. Use it as motivation!

 

[SeaShelley]

My son (4th grade) has spelling every night, every week. Weekly homework for spelling is"

Monday: new word list comes home for review
Tuesday: (new this year) spelling triangle
Wednesday: (pre-test in school) write words in ABC or ZYX order
Thursday: Study for Friday test...(if you passed the pre-test on Wednesday you don't have to take the Friday test)

Last year Tuesday's homework was writing the words 3 times each. Ty hated it....but he also had a 98 average in spelling last year so I think it really helped.

He likes the spelling triangle: ANSWER

A
AN
ANS
ANSW
ANSWE
ANSWER

We'll see how it goes..maybe you could try the triangle with your son. Good luck!

 

[MerryPoppins]

When DS was in elementary school, we got spelling list software for the computer. We'd put the words in for that week and while playing the game he'd have to spell the words on the list repeatedly. DS loves playing video games, so this method really helped him.

I'm trying to remember the name of the game. I think it was by The Learning Company. If anyone wants to know, I'll see if we still have it or if he remembers the name.

 

[Nutsy]

I guess I'm lukcy here, neither of my boys had an problems at all with spelling words.

They could always spell really well & would come home with the new words & just say............"They are sooooo easy".

But, Maths is a different story.........always been a struggle for both of them, until recently when DS15 finally caught on & is doing very well.

 

[buzzlady]

My DS (2nd grade) has 12 spelling words per week plus 8 sight words and 8 sound out words. My DS (6th grade) has 30 spelling words (UGH).

What my 2nd grader has to do with his spelling words is Mon. 1st 6 words in a sentence, Tue. 2nd 6 words in a sentence, Wed. ABC order, Thurs. write each word 3x and on Friday the test.

 

[Pin Wizard]

When DS was in 2nd grade, I always had him write his words five times each. For those he had trouble with, we found some trick to help him remember.

 

[FreshTressa]

It would depend on what learning style he had....

Is he more visual, auditory or physical??

While you can learn through any of the ways, it is more efficient to use the one he uses most often.

Ask him if when taking a spelling test, does he "hear" the letters in his head, or does he picture the whole word or does he remember where he was when he learned it.

 

[FreshTressa]

Or does it just kind of come out of his fingers, and he "feels" the word with his pencil.