Spelling
“Spelling is a critical element not only in reading fluency and comprehension but also across the curriculum in all subject areas. It is shown that students who improve in spelling instruction, also improve in writing fluency and reading word-attack skills. If students have a higher knowledge of spelling, they are able to make more sense of the words that they are reading; therefore, it is easier for them to remember what is being read. ”
How are Reading and Spelling Connected?
Reading and spelling are two sides of the same coin. In order to do one part well, you need the other part.
In order to read, you need to decode (sound out) words. In order to spell, you need to encode words. In other words, to spell, you need to pull the sounds apart within a word and match the letters to the sounds.
Encoding and decoding combine the components of auditory and visual processing. Here, phonemic awareness and phonics come together in the process of reading.
Process of Decoding
👀 We see a word in its written form.
👄 We segment each phoneme (sound) within the word.
🗣 We then blend those sounds 👂 together to form a word.
🧠 We connect the spoken and written word to the meaning or multiple meanings.
Process of Encoding
👂 We hear a word.
🧠 We think about the meanings we may know.
👄 We segment each phoneme (sound) within the word.
📝 We write the corresponding graphemes (letters) that represent the spoken speech sounds (phonemes).
Tips For Teaching How to Spell
Pound spelling to support segmenting and blending
PoundSpellingDictation.m4vThis is basically the same as Strategy #2 in the "Teach...to Tap Out Sounds." However, in intervention, we call it Pound Spelling and tap slightly differently.