Going Old-School: Spelling

Over 38 years of teaching, I've seen trends come and go in education.  There is a tendency to say, "Out with the old, in with the new." It's good to keep things fresh, incorporate new ideas, and adjust teaching practices based on solid research about what actually works well, and what is just a continuation of the way things used to be taught.

Spelling
The old method of teaching Spelling, (lists of random words to be memorized and regurgitated), turned out to be fairly ineffective.  Many students committed the words to short-term memory for the test on Friday, then didn't remember them in the long term or spell them correctly in their written work.

A more effective approach is to practice words that are actively being used in daily writing about topics currently being learned in the classroom.  Another effective approach is to group words together that share a common spelling rule, and to learn commonly used rule-breakers.

The best collection I found and used with Grade 3 to 5 students is:

Building Spelling Skills, Grade (choose the grade you want) 

by Evan-Moor Educational Publishers

Each 4-page photocopyable booklet starts with a list of 15-18 words that are strategically grouped to teach common spelling rules or concepts.  The booklets include word puzzles, practice using the words correctly in sentences, word meanings, and focus on the the spelling rules or concepts being taught.  The program uses American spellings, which gives Canadian teachers the opportunity to help students learn both ways to spell words such as color/colour. 

Spelling is a very small part of the English Language Arts curriculum in most provinces and states, but this is an engaging and productive way to focus on spelling skills.  If you want to practice spelling and do associated "word work" learning, I recommend purchasing these books.

★ BONUS  Over the years, I developed a few spelling booklets modelled after the Evan-Moor program.  Some are based on classroom topics, and some are enrichment lists for students who already had solid spelling skills and needed advanced challenges.  I'm posting a link to them here to use and share for free, (but they are not to be sold.)

Free Spelling booklets suitable for Gr.3 - Gr.8