Beginning Spelling Lists for Early Elementary Students
These beginning spelling lists (see subpages below) are loosely based on words introduced in the McGuffey Primers and the McGuffey First Reader. The lists are printed in a large font, since some industrious first graders like to copy from their spelling lists. The lists can be used for reading practice, too. The easiest lists omit words that are not common to young children today--words such as elk, urn and wren. The lists are predominately composed of words that can be sounded out phonetically, though there are some sight words. A student that can spell all the words from these lists will have a good grasp of phonics.
In our family, pre-school and kindergarten students do not begin spelling until they know their phonics and can form their letters. When they are ready, they are given five spelling words each day. The teacher writes the word for them on a white board or piece of paper, and shows them how each sound "says its name." The student copies the word and says the sounds of each of the letters as he writes them. When the student can correctly spell the five words without prompting, he advances to the next five words the following day. We also add words from the student's reading books and increase the number of words assigned as his abilities increase. Later, we use the other charts and worksheets from the spelling section of Homeschool Tools.
The lists can be printed and stored in the Teacher’s Notebook. You may choose to copy the list into a word processing program. Before you print a complete set, test one of the pages to make sure that it prints correctly. With the current font setting, each list is two pages long. A complete set will print eighteen pages and will contain over 700 words!