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Teaching Spelling in Diverse Primary Classroom Settings

Data collected from standardized tests in the United States consistently show that students across primary grade levels score less well in vocabulary than on many other tested areas. To remedy the deficiencies in learning, teachers need to address a variety of vocabulary-related skills. Spelling is an essential skill.
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Spelling and Vocabulary
Data collected from standardized tests in the United States consistently show that students across primary grade levels score less well in vocabulary than on many other tested areas. To remedy the deficiencies in learning, teachers need to address a variety of vocabulary-related skills. Spelling is an essential skill.
 
Typically, spelling programs involve giving a set number of predetermined words to students to memorize each week. The teacher then administers weekly tests and awards a grade.
 
Transfer Gaps
Although managerially easy, research and experience both show that there is a transfer gap with typical spelling programs. A student may score 100% on a spelling test but then fail to use that particular spelling pattern when writing. Why? The reasons are complex.
·         Spelling is a developmental processand althoughstudents go through predictable stages in developing spelling strategies but they do so at their own rate and in a non-linear fashion.
 
·         Classroom settings are composed of diverse learners and there is a great variation in reading and writing skills.
 
·         Spelling lists are decontexualized. Spelling is primarily learned from reading and writing and therefore spelling is best taught as a means of managing the text rather than as a set of stand-alone rules and definitions.
 
·         The learning process is inactive and doesn’t acknowledge that students learn best when they are encouraged to problem solve and discover rules or concepts on their own.
 
Effective Strategies
Fortunately, there are a number of effective strategies that recognize these facts and help manage the complexity inherent in a developmentally appropriate spelling program. Teachers must diagnose students’ needs regularly and choose spelling words based on the diagnosis.
 
1. Diagnosis of needs—Administer a developmental spelling assessment each grading period. Teachers can use this data and their knowledge of the students’ writing/reading skills to determine (1) spelling groups; (b) appropriate spelling patterns, and (c) individual, small and whole group teaching needs.
 
2. Choosing Spelling Words—There are two ways teachers can identify appropriate words for study.
-Teacher determined. Together with the students create wall charts to group words around a theme, topic of study, specific language patterns/rules, popular writing topics (family, pets, etc.).    Teachers could select words from any of these charts.
 
-Student determined.  Students choose words they want to learn from words they regularly use. 
 
Having identified the words, the following activities have been found to be effective.
 
Spelling Activity Ideas
·         Proofreading/Have-A-Go-Sheets.   Students should choose a piece of completed writing (journals, writing workshop stories) and circle words that ‘don’t look right’. In order to focus on words and not content, students should read from the bottom up, starting with the last word.Then, with the teacher guiding their thinking, students should make one or two attempts to write the misspelled words correctly using the four columned “Have-a-Go” Sheets.  If the student doesn’t arrive at the correct spelling after two attempts, the teacher should write the standard spelling in the fourth column. 
 
·         Word Rings. Teacher/students should select words from their proofreading activities, and/or wall charts, to be added to their word rings. Numerous word ring activities can be undertaken. Students can (a) make words with magnetic letters; (b) sort words according to different attributes; (c) locate/list words with the same spelling pattern in student guided reading books; (d) write words on chalk boards/computer; (e) write sentences using word ring words; (f) put word ring words in alphabetical order. 
 
·         Word Wall. Word walls should be composed of high frequency words plus one example of the different spelling patterns taught. Words or spelling patterns should be taken from student writing samples, a weekly poem, a Big Book, or a piece of literature being used in the classroom. Whole group activities could include (a) I Spy; (b) Guess my Sorting Rule. For this activity teachers would sort a number of word wall words on the pocket chart. Students would have to guess what the sorting rule is. Small group, word wall activities will include these games plus all those listed under word rings. Students could also (a) have individual copies of the weekly poem in their poetry folder in which they could circle all the word wall words; (b) find/list words that sound or look like their word wall words in the poem or Big Book.
 
·         Discovering the rules. This is similar to ‘Guess my Sorting Rule but instead of guessing what attribute was used to sort words the students attempt to discover the spelling rule. The teacher should generate a list of words and then categorize them according to the rule (e.g. words in which the consonant is doubled and those in which they are not). During the sorting process, the students should offer possible rule suggestions for discussion and this process should continue until the rule is generated. After appropriate modeling, this activity could be done small group as well as whole group.
 
·         Peer testing. At the end of each week students could work in pairs to test one another. Words not yet mastered should remain on the ring for further independent work. Words should not be taken off the word ring until a student has spelled the word correctly 5 times (words spelled correctly are checked off each time).
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