Rachel Owens
Rationale:
To help the students
focus on the pronunciation of a word before seeing its spelling which
helps the student to understand that a spelling is a meaningful map of
the pronunciation. I want the studentâs to learn how to spell
words and not just memorize the spelling.
Materials: a list of 10-12 spelling words mono and polysyllabic, paper, pencil
Procedure:
Introduce the 10-12 spelling words.
ãClass we will be learning how to spell words today starting
with your spelling words for this week. I am going to give you a simple
procedure to help you remember how to spell words.ä
Have each student say each word with the
teacher.
ãWe know that each letter
represents a sound, some more than one sound. Watch my mouth as a say
some letters. (Say the letter Îrâ, Îfâ,
Îmâ) Do you see how my mouth is different for each letter?
Well we are going to learn that with each letter and mouth move, we can
remember how to spell words.ä
Give the step-by-step procedure.
1. First, examine the mouth
moves.
Example
2. Say the
word.
night
Say the syllables if there are more than one.
3. Stretch the
word.
/nnnIIIt/
Work syllable by syllable with polysyllabic words.
If a phoneme can't be stretched, exaggerate it.
4. Segment (split up) the phonemes.
Work by syllables if necessary.
First
phoneme?
/n/
Next phoneme?
etc.
/I/
Last
phoneme?
/t/
5. Count the
phonemes.
3
6. Draw blanks.
__ ___ __
The blanks stand for the phonemes.
Put slashes between syllables.
Next, learn the spelling.
7. Record the spelling phoneme
by phoneme.
On the first blank, write
[letters]
n ___ __
On next blank, write
[letters]
n igh __
On last blank, write
[letters]
n igh t
If there are silent letters, caret them in.
8. Write the word in your best
cursive
handwriting.
night
9. Study the spelling.
Ask what a pattern] says OR
What does igh say?
Ask about how a phoneme is spelled OR
How do we spell /I/ in night?
Ask what we need to remember about the word.
What's
tricky about night?
Only ask about tricky parts.
10. Give the meaning.
What does ___
mean?
When it's dark out.
(When you see the students getting the
hang of this procedure, ask if there are any steps they can skip to
spell the word faster).
(I would make a sign to put on the wall
giving the steps in a simpler form)
1. Say
2. Stretch
3. Split up
4. Count
5. Draw blanks
6. Record
7. Write
8. Study
9. Give meaning
5. After going
through the steps, saying them to the children, ãshowä the
steps to the students. Say a word out loud to the class. Start with the
first step and continue through the last. Have the students help you in
this process. ãThe word is calm. Say the word with me. /calm/.
Lets stretch the word /cccaaalllmm/. Now we can split up the word
/c/a/l/m/. We are going to count the sounds we hear. /c/ /a/ /l/ /m/.
How many? 4. Next we are going to write the sounds we hear in blanks. _
_ _ _. (Write blanks and sounds onto the board to model for students).
I am going to write this word in my best handwriting (cursive if older
grades). Look at the spelling of our word. What do we notice about the
sounds and the letters that represent the sounds? What letter(s) make
the Îmâ sound? What does this word
mean? (a state of tranquility, to be stable, still). (Make sure
students understand meaning of the words they spell).
6. Make sure
students understand this process by asking comprehension questions like
ãWhat is the first step? What comes after splitting up?
7. Have the students
work on the rest of their spelling words using this procedure. Have
them write out each step like the class did on the board.
The teacher will
assess by taking up their papers and looking for each step of the
spelling process. She will make sure each student has done every part
of each step in the process.
Reference: Murray,
Bruce. ãHow to teach Spellingä. 15 October 2005.