When Spelling is a Struggle

Imagine lists of words that are organized by word families but that go well beyond simple vowel families (i.e., c-at, b-at, etc.) right from the start. Sequential Spelling fits this image! Although the first day's word list includes only four words (in, pin, sin, spin), by the third day, this "in" list has expanded to pinned, skins, twins and other "in" words and started on the "e" (i.e., b-e, sh-e) family, even including a crossover word (begin). By building from the easier words of a family to important power words, the program builds self-confidence. Traditional spelling programs introduce words "vocabularily"—in other words, based on when the child is likely to encounter the word in reading, or on a chosen theme. As a result, word sequences are odd and incomplete. In Sequential Spelling (Revised), the phonics necessary for decoding is presented through the back door, so to speak.

Every learning channel is employed with this program. Here's the process: a word is given verbally and used in a sentence (audio); the student attempts to spell the word (kinesthetic); the correct spelling is given using colored markers on a white board to differentiate between families and other letters (oral interaction & visual); students correct their own spelling (kinesthetic). Eager learners and definitive results are produced by utilizing the simple educational technique of having students correct their own mistakes when they make them—not hours, days, or even weeks later—and through creating a positive learning environment by maintaining that mistakes are opportunities to learn. Tests are used as learning devices, not as methods of evaluation. If you feel compelled to give grades, written tests (reproducible) are available after the 40th, 80th, 120th, 160th, and 180th days.

The Teacher Books (Revised) for each level hold introductory teaching information and an overview of the approach. Next come the 180 word lists, which include sentences for the homophones (same pronunciation, different spelling; i.e., bare and bear) and heteronyms (same spelling, different word and different pronunciation; i.e., bow your head, bow and arrow). The first several days of lessons are laid out in detail and are completely scripted. In addition to the teaching process, a positive can-do attitude is modeled in these lessons. After the eighth day, the process continues as established. In the lists, common words appear in bold typing. Homophones, heteronyms, and words that do not follow the normal pattern (like "gyp") are all marked as well. Review and repetition is built in as you progress through the days (lists). The teacher book includes answers to the tests and student activities for levels 1-4, and reproducible student tests with answers for levels 5-7.

Volume Levels are progressive but do not really conform to grade levels. For instance, the last lessons of Level 1 include words like breathless, hedging, horrifying, and basically, which would typically never be seen in a first- or second-grade spelling book. Because they are introduced as parts of word families, they become doable for the early grades. This also means that an older student starting at Level 1 doesn't feel like he's way behind. (By the way, the parent is given complete freedom to drop some words from the lists if they feel it will be preferable for their child.) So, the bottom line is that you can start any grade level student at Level 1 and proceed through the books in order. It is recommended that children are reading at a second-grade level before beginning Level 1, so children in first grade may or may not be ready to begin, depending on their reading skill. Older students may or may not need to start with Level 1, so you may want to check out the Sequential Spelling Placement Test available on our website.

The Student Workbooks (Revised) have pages with blank spaces for each day's spelling lesson and an additional activity on the following page that uses words from the lesson. Activities vary, including using words from the lesson in a sentence, unscrambling words, filling in blanks, writing the definition of words the student is not familiar with, and listing words that contain a particular word family (like “ake”). Student Workbooks are available for Levels 1-5.

The Student Response Book provides writing space for the daily word lists and can be used with any level of the program, although the Student Activity Books at the early levels provide more review and repetition. Looking at these books, you might scratch your head. The column for the first day’s words is in the middle of page 3 (with the 61st day on the left and the 121st day on the right). We don't see the 2nd day column until page 5. This peculiar arrangement is designed to prevent the child from copying words and/or word family parts from one day to the next, a tendency which gets in the way of truly learning the pattern. Once you figure out the system, it makes perfect sense. Although a student will need one book per level, the response book is not level-specific.

We offer Level Sets that include both the Teacher Book and Student Book for each level and also sets that include the Teacher Book and the Student Response Book.

This is a well-organized program that offers a multi-sensory approach, making it perfect for many students!