When Will We Get a Spelling List?
Announcements:
Book Orders: Mrs. Cryer’s book orders due Monday, Sept. 22
Mr. K's book orders are due Tues, Sept 23rd (and can be place online or sent to school)
Picture Day: Wednesday, September 24
Snacks: Please be sure to send a SMALL snack (just one item) with your child each day. Mr. K and I have been supplying several students with a snack every day. If you have trouble doing so, please be sure to let us know and we can accommodate you, but we would like a heads up.
Also, students eat snack at 10:00 and have only about 10 minutes to eat. This is about an hour before lunch. They really only need ONE SMALL item to hold them over.
Water bottles: we are getting a lot of water bottles that look the same. If possible, put your child’s name on their water bottles so they don’t get mixed up. This is especially important for Poland Spring type water bottles from the store.
Conferences: Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Wednesday, November 5 and Thursday, November 6. There will be NO SCHOOL on Monday, November 10th and Tues, November 11th. This is Veteran’s Day weekend, so students will have a 4-day weekend. The dates for parent contact are a change from the official school calendar (originallly listed for Mon, Nov 10th).
When will we get my child’s spelling list?
That was a common question at the Open house last week. The easy answer to it is, “Never!” Traditionally, spelling has been taught by giving a list of words on Monday, some activities through the week and a Friday test on the words. Study after study has shown this is a very ineffective method to teach children to spell.
We are currently using a program called Words Their Way. Instead of using simple memorization of words, we teach students to think about letter and sound patterns when they are trying to spell a word. For example, when a word has a silent e at the end and a consonant,-vowel- consonant pattern before the e, the vowel in the middle will usually be a long vowel.
After explaining a letter/sound pattern, students spend their word work time comparing and sorting words that have similar sounds and patterns. Comparing and contrasting the words requires higher level thinking than memorization does, so they are able to apply the patterns more effectively than they otherwise would.
Students also are asked to write the words, play games using the words and practice spelling patterns when they write in all of their subjects so they get lots and lots of practice.
As parents you can help your child by giving him/her opportunities to practice using their new skills. Word games such as Scrabble, Bananagrams, Scrabble Slam. Boggle are great opportunities for practice and some family fun. I also have added some spelling games to the portaportal for online practice.
Although it is not especially entertaining, the video I posted below provides a good overview of how it works. The narrator refers to a one-week schedule. We take two weeks to get through a lesson.
