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Spelling Strategies That Really Work
Y iz Speelling Imprtnt?
Children with strong spelling skills can communicate their thoughts and ideas accurately. Whereas, poorer spellers can often be misunderstood or leave the reader confused.
Spelling is an essential component of language. So, employing effective spelling strategies can also help in other areas of language learning, such as:
- vocabulary acquisition,
- reading fluency,
- comprehension and writing composition.
Spelling is worth doing, right?
Teaching Spelling Effectively
At PlanBee, we know that timetables are tight and resources are limited, so we've put together a list of evidence-based spelling strategies to help you make effective and efficient use of learning time.
👉 #1 Use a Multi-Sensory Approach
Children can more easily retain and recall information if they engage multiple senses as they learn.
👉#2 Explore Dual Coding
Pairing verbal and visual information can help children create stronger memory connections. This helps them better understand the meaning of the words they learn.
👉#3 Teach Children Metacognition
Encouraging children to reflect on how they learn and learn which strategies work best for them, gives them invaluable insight. It focuses their attention where it is needed most.
Spelling Strategies That Really Work
Why not try these multi-sensory activities with your class to help them learn their spellings?
Letter Tracing:
Children practice forming letters with their fingers in sand or through shaving cream or trace and wipe off letters you have drawn on a whiteboard.
Say and Play:
Create movements or gestures for children to do while they say sounds or words or ask them to create words in play dough while their partner reads them back.
Treasure Hunt:
Children search the classroom for objects that start with the sound of each word on their list. This activity involves movement, speaking and listening, as well as visual recognition.
Sound Sprint:
Write sounds or words on a whiteboard or large display. When you say a sound, children race to touch the corresponding letter or spelling unit. This activity involves physical movement and auditory processing of letter sounds. It's a great group activity.
Spelling Table Tennis:
Children take turns to bat each sound (in order) from a given word to each other. This involves auditory processing and physical movement to keep engagement high.
Mnemonics:
Encourage children to create their own mnemonics to help them remember their spelling words e.g. RHYTHM: Rhythm Has Your Two Hips Moving;
Word Sorts:
Children group words based on spelling patterns, sounds or number of syllables. This activity can help children focus in on tricky sound-spelling correspondences;
Picture It:
Children create a visual symbol or picture to match given sounds or words. The visual cues can help learners remember the correct spelling or the definition for new vocabulary.
Word Pyramids:
Children transcribe their spelling words by building their word one letter at a time. This activity helps counter letter or sound deletion.
p
py
pyr
pyra
pyram
pyrami
pyramid
Vowel Spotlight:
Children transcribe their spelling words using one colour for vowels and another for consonants. This technique can help children who are prone to vowel deletion.
vowel (3 consonants, 2 vowels)
What's the evidence?
According to research:
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Children who learn new words using a multi-sensory approach (seeing, hearing, and feeling the words) are more likely to remember them (Smith et al., 2018 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Dahlgren et al., 2008 Journal of Educational Psychology).
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Using pictures to represent the sounds or words helps children understand their meaning, spell words more accurately and retain them (Schneider et al., 1997 Journal of Experimental Child Psychology).
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Children who were taught spelling using a dual coding approach have more accurate and durable recall than those who received word only instruction (Masterson & Hayes, 1996 the Journal of Educational Psychology).
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Multi-sensory strategies are more effective than others for children with dyslexia (Birsh et al., 2011 Journal of Learning Difficulties).
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Children who received metacognitive strategy instruction and children who use metacognition strategies for spelling showed significant improvements in spelling accuracy and retention (Singer & Bashir, 1999, Journal of Learning Disabilities, (Graham et al., 1995, Journal of Educational Psychology).
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