Spelling Development

Just as early readers progress at their own rates, students also progress as spellers at their own rate along a continuum. Students move through the tiers of orthographic development: from the alphabetic stage, where spelling is primarily phonetic, to the pattern stage, where students progress toward conventional spelling by using spelling patterns, and finally the meaning stage, where students use information about prefixes, suffixes and root word meanings to guide their spelling knowledge. At Grades 3 and 4, teachers use this information to have students work in developmental spelling groups, to ensure that all learners receive the instruction and practice needed to progress along this continuum. Teachers use a range of instructional strategies, such as word sorts, word ladders, and word dictation, to provide instruction to groups of students.

Sound Walls

Kindergarten students utilize sound walls to develop their understanding of phonemes (sounds) and support students by focusing on the articulatory cues made by the lips, teeth, and tongue to produce the phonemes (sounds). Students have also learned that phonemes can be voiced or unvoiced by turning on and off their voice box. After students learn how the phoneme is produced, students then learn the corresponding grapheme (letter/letter patterns) that match that particular phoneme beginning with the most common pattern appropriate for kindergarten learners. Our kindergarten students have learned how to use their sound wall knowledge to complete phoneme-grapheme mapping activities that build their understanding of how words are spelled. Click here to read more about sound walls.

Why is My Child Spelling Phonetically?

Particularly in Grades K-2, students are encouraged to spelling phonetically, while they are still in the process of learning phonics and spelling patterns. If we encourage conventional spelling only in students' writing, we would see a lot of writing that reads like, "The cat sat on the mat." Rather, we want to encourage students' creativity in both structure and development, before conventional spelling is in place. By encouraging phonetic spelling, we can harness the inherent creativity of five, six and seven year olds, increasing the complexity of their composition and encouraging their identify as "real writers."

How Can I Help My Child at Home?