How to teach your child to spell
Teachers at preschool, kindergarten and elementary grades teach your child to spell, but you can help introduce spelling concepts and reinforce formal lessons by integrating spelling play at home. Focusing on spelling in everyday life also helps your child learn. Early childhood educators at Pearson school text publishers suggest parents take time to encourage your child to point out spelling words featured during your play sessions when he sees the words in public. This recognition reinforces new learning.
Things You'll Need
- Sponge, magnet or plastic letters
- Paper
- Picture books
- Markers and colored pens
- Scissors
- Construction paper or cardboard
- Glue or tape
- Magazines
- Fabric
Instructions
Use games daily to introduce letter recognition. Sponge letters for the bathtub and shower, magnet letters for the refrigerator and reusable letters made from plastic for glass offer several ways to give your child a way to play and say letter sounds while bathing, cooking or gazing out the window. Attach word labels to items around the house once your child learns to recognize the letters of the alphabet. Select easy-to-spell items such as toy and ball to introduce the activity, and focus on putting words into a thematic groupings to help your child associate words with objects. Sample themes might include toys, animals, food and clothing. Group items starting with the same letter to help your child learn. Ball, baby, a term for a doll, and bat, for instance, feature words for toys, but also teach your child to spell words beginning with the letter "B." Read books and magazines daily to your child to reinforce spelling words featured on your home labels. Begin the reading sessions with a discussion of the review words and pause during the reading to point out the proper spelling of the words you introduced during the week using your label game. Cut letters from magazines and glue the paper letters onto cardboard or construction paper to practice spelling. The search for letters introduces basic sounds and allows kids to replicate the words learned during the search process. Focus on one letter during each session. This gives focus and demonstrates the great variety of words beginning with the same letter. Once your child masters recognition of several letters and combines the paper pieces to make several words with little adult help, mix the letter group and ask your child to spell new words using a variety from the letter groups.
