"When our spelling is perfect, it's invisible. But when it's flawed,
it prompts strong negative associations"
Marilyn Vos Savant
The Spelling routine in 5G is personalised and tailored to each student. I do this because I believe that, especially with spelling, their learning is best accelerated with an individual focus.
Students are formally assessed four times a year by me, allocated into 1 of 5 groups and I have developed a large bank of 5 words per week for each group. The students create their weekly list of 10 words by using the 5 from my bank (matched to the word study focus that week) and they then go to their own error list and compile the remaining 5 words from errors I have found in their writing attempts from other sources.
Once they have organised their list, it must be checked by me to ensure accuracy before they complete their Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check, Fix (my amended version of LCSWC). They are then ready to apply a spelling strategy to each of their ten words. I provide students with 9 different spelling strategies from which they can choose (ensuring they don't use a particular strategy more than three times for one list). This is done in the class so that I am available to assist in learning how to remember to spell the particular words and answer any questions about tricky spellings, pronunciation queries and unusual words or origins.
Once the students have applied a spelling strategy to each of their 10 words, they are ready to practice it. I have amassed quite an assortment of spelling activities (distinct from strategies as the focus here is consolidation). 5G students choose their spelling activity in order to practice their whole list, not individual words.
In the past I had allocated a points system to each activity, with the idea that harder or longer activities attracted higher points and students would complete activities up to a certain point goal. I don't currently use this system as I found it took up a lot of time. Instead, students must not repeat a particular activity until they've tried all at least once.
Often, activities are completed for homework as they are consolidating activities, designed for practice, not introducing new concepts.
At the conclusion of the week, after Word Study, students test each other and report their scores back to me for signing and recording. Depending on how many correct tests they've completed and in combination with other assessments, I make a professional decision about moving them to a higher spelling group or challenging them to 15 words per week.
Word Study is a lesson that we have each week with a particular Spelling focus. Some examples of these include; compound words, the suffix -ies, the prefix un-, origins of words, syllable patterns, types of nouns, exclamation marks and a variety of other literary features.
I ensure as much as is possible that the 5 words I'm providing to the students have a focus matched to the Word Study focus. This enables me to discuss examples that the students are already immediately familiar with and can assist them in the spelling of those words too.
Word Study lessons often target a particular need in the class that I have observed. A recent example of this were 5G's attempts to apply capital letters to proper nouns correctly. I found that many students were struggling with this aspect in their writing and so it became a focus for Word Study the following week. In this way, while I have already pre-prepared their word lists I do need to occasionally re-order my schedule or add to it so that I am flexibly meeting the needs of my students.
I do like to keep a record of the types of errors the students are making so I can identify any patterns. I developed an error identifier that works well to this end.