While looking for a low key, but effective, spelling approach for my twins’ K/1st grade levels, I came up with the following strategy, based loosely on the method that AVKO uses in their Sequential Spelling program for 2nd grade and up. At the moment, my plans are to move into Sequential Spelling sometime next year, but this strategy is bridging the gap until they are ready for that program. This is an easy hack, fun to implement, and it is absolutely free!

What I like about the Sequential Spelling approach is that it minimizes the study-test-forget cycle by introducing words that share similar patterns, making it simple to understand how they are spelled. The patterns also help reinforce reading strategies. At this skill level, it is easy to come up with suitable word lists that suit your child’s needs! The approach that I have modified takes only 5 or 10 minutes a day, and is currently one of my kids’ favorite learning activities. They call it “The Guessing Words Game”.

Here’s what we do:

Each week I pick a word family, and as many words as I can think of from that family. I start with easy, two or three letter words the first day then add in ones with more complicated consonent blends and so forth by the middle of the week. These are practiced until the end of the week and reviewed every few weeks.

Here’s a sample list:

• in
• pin
• fin
• tin
• din
• bin
• spin
• shin
• chin
• thin

Next, I’ll give the child a word, and tell her to “make your best guess about how you think that word is spelled.” I will also use the word in a sentence, especially if it could be spelled more than one way - such as feet/feat or peak/peek.

While she is writing it, I also write the word (out of sight) on a portable dry erase board. In the example above, I would emphasize the word family in question by writing all the letters from the word family in one color, and the other letters in another. For instance, I would write “chin” by spelling “ch” with a blue marker, and “in” with a green marker.

When she is done with that one word, I show her the correct spelling (on the dry erase board) and tell her to make her word look like mine. She then makes her own corrections, if necessary, (giving me a big thumbs up when ready!) before we move on to the next word. Because the words are similar, the child enjoys picking up on the pattern and, as a result, gets most words correct. I don’t keep up with how many words the child gets right. This is more of a spelling “practice” than a spelling “test”. Practice, with immediate feedback, is more productive than simply testing a long list of words at once, especially when you have the opportunity to work with your child one on one.

When we get to tricky blends or patterns we haven’t studied yet, I’ll sometimes explain to the child that this is a new pattern, or I’ll help her sound it out the first day. Otherwise, I just encourage her to make whatever corrections are necessary. I might say things like, “Oooh, here’s a super challenge word! See what you can do with that one.” This way the child feels excited about getting it right, if she is successful, but if she gets it wrong she doesn’t get discouraged. My children usually respond really well to presenting things as challenges and daring them to overcome them.

The number of days we spend on one list depends on how long the list is, and how challenging my children are finding the words. Once they have a pretty good handle on the words we move on, usually after 3-5 days. I then try to review some of the word families every 6-8 weeks, for reinforcement and practice.

Of course, we also work on a few irregular or more complex words that are frequently used, especially some of the Dolch commonly used sight words. I just make a note of ones that we are coming across frequently, or that might be useful, and then add them in at the end of a week with a short list.

If you decide to give this strategy a try, here are a few more word lists for you. (Feel free to come up with your own, of course!)

• an, fan, pan, can, man, bran, than, Stan
• him, Jim, Tim, swim, trim, skim
• hot, cot, lot, rot, pot, dot, shot, slot, trot, spot
• led, fed, bed, shed sled, Fred, wed, red, fled
• at, hat, cat, rat, sat, mat, that, flat, chat
• but, nut, rut, hut, cut, shut, strut
• sip, hip, rip, tip, lip, flip, slip, ship ship, drip, trip
• hop, mop, top, crop, chop, shop, drop, flop, slop, stop
• wet, vet, jet, met, pet, fret
• map, lap, sap, nap cap, trap, strap, flap, chap, slap, snap
• hug, but, tug, mug, rug, shrug, drug, jug, plug, dug
• ill, will, hill, frill, shrill, mill, till, drill, still, chill
• and, band, sand, hand, brand, stand, land
• old, gold, fold, hold, told, mold, cold, sold
• my, by, sky, fly, try, shy, dry, ply, spy, sty, pry, cry, sly, why, fry
• jar, car, far, tar, star, mar, arch, hard, scar, march, starch, cart, start, art, dart, part
• bay, day, say, lay, hay, may, play, tray, stay, way, spray
• sore, shore, wor, bore, core, more
• cow, wow, how, now, brow, brown, down, frown, clown, town, crown
• rain, main, train, wait, bait, stain, chain, drain, hail, sail, wail, trail
• gift, lift, sift, drift, shift
• should, would, could
• ate, hate, late, plate, skate, rate, date
• right, might, fight, sight, light, fright, sigh
• bake, cake, flake, lake, brake, take
• bike, trike, mike, like, spike
• hope, lope, rope, slope, cope, mope
• oat, boat, float, moat, coat
• feet, week, need, seed, weed, heed, reed, steed, meet, seek sheet, sleet, steer
• bow, row, mow, stow, slow snow, show, blow flow, crow, know
• coin, join, boil, soil, toil
• shine, fine, mine, line pine, nine, vine, whine
• leak, peak, weak, feat, heat, meat, seat, neat, treat, cheat, cheap, fear
• itch, hitch, pitch, stitch, ditch, witch
• hatch, batch, watch, latch
• sing, king, fling, wing, string, bring, cling, sting, ring

Enjoy!

Photo credit: I modified Woman Holding Blank Sign by iofoto

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