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White Boards!
Foam Letters!
Shaving Cream!
Blocks!
Giant Legos!
Spelling games!
Ipads!
Chalk!
Sticky notes!
Beads!
Glitter!
Paint!
**Click the link for more!**

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Has your spelling practice become dry or boring? Well, brush off the dust and try some of these hands-on spelling activities!

Since readers need to have BOTH phonics and sight words understanding to become good readers, focusing on both phonics AND sight words during spelling instruction is a great way to help words "stick" in a child's memory.

When words are taken out of the context of a book and their patterns, letters, and parts are studied, it forces readers to slow down and really take it all the word has to offer them. This, in turn, helps them become better readers.

So today, I'd like to share 50 of my favorite hands-on spelling activities for phonics and sight words. Many of these are included in the back of my ebook, Teaching Kids to Spell.

Did you know you can find 700+ pages of printable spelling activities and games in my ebook? Yes! That's enough to cover an entire year of spelling fun!

50 Hands-on Spelling Activities

Most all of these activities can be adapted for either phonics OR sight words. You can also insert your child's spelling list into the activity instead of using the specific words shown in the post.

1. Scoop & Spell {This Reading Mama}

2. Sidewalk Chalk Spelling Hop {Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational}

3. Stamp Your Words {Lessons Learnt Journal}

4. Go on a Word Treasure Hunt {Hands On: As we Grow}

5. Make a Spelling Word Search Puzzle {This Reading Mama}

6. Use a Spelling Dictionary {The Measured Mom}

7. Dot Sticker Spelling {School Time Snippets}

8. Post-a-Word {This Reading Mama}

9. Make a Giant Crossword Puzzle {A Mom with a Lesson Plan}

10. Phonics Jumping Game {Learners in Bloom}

11. Play Word Rocket {Playdough to Plato}

12. Spell with Beads {Frugal Fun 4 Boys}

13. Spell with LEGO Letters {This Reading Mama}

14. Spell the Most Words Game {No Time for Flashcards}

15. Spinning Straw Spellers {Still Playing School}

16. Build Words with Rocks {Sugar Ants}

17. Glitter Spelling {Here Come the Girls}

18. Play Word Bump! {This Reading Mama}

19. Roll a Sight Word {I Can Teach My Child}

20. Making Words {Buggy and Buddy}

21. Paint your Words {Childhood 101}

22. Oversized Letter Cards for Spelling {This Reading Mama}

23. Seek and Find Spelling Game {What Do We Do All Day?}

24. Rainbow Write Your Words {Nurture Store}

25. Words 3 Ways {Teach Mama}

26. Use Crayon Resist {This Reading Mama}

27. Spell with Pipe Cleaners {Make and Takes}

28. Spell with Your Fingers {Home School Innovation}

29. Use Word Sorts {This Reading Mama}

30. Spell with Cereal {A Mom with a Lesson Plan}

31. Finger Tap Spelling {This Reading Mama}

32. Car Track Delivery Spelling Game {Stay at Home Educator}

33. Make a Chalkboard Refrigerator Game {Enchanted Homeschooling Mom}

34. Visual Spelling Practice {Home Literacy Blueprint}

35. Roll & Cover Spelling Words {This Reading Mama}

36. Make a Spelling Garage {123 Homeschool 4 Me}

37. Roll and Spell {Well-Nurtured Plants and Pillars}

38. Letter Lacing {Mama Miss}

39. Roll & Write Words {This Reading Mama}

40. Spelling Hangman {Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas}

41. Waffle Words Spelling Game {The Homeschool Post}

42. Use a Board Game {Teach Beside Me}

43. Spell with a Word Family Dictionary {guest post on The Measured Mom}

44. Play a Word Stretching Game {The Pleasantest Thing}

45. DIY Spelling Word Puzzles {This Reading Mama}

45. Allow Invented Spelling {1+1+1=1}

46. Spelling Puzzles {No Time for Flash Cards}

47. Missing Letter Spelling Game {Imagination Soup}

48. Ride to Spell {This Reading Mama}

49. Spelling Battleship {Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational}

50. Clip a Word {Sugar Ants}

51. Bottle Cap Spelling {This Reading Mama}

More Spelling Activities and Resources:

Go digital with spelling! Read all about my educational apps or purchase them on iTunes or Google Play!

is a fantastic spelling program using the Orton-Gillingham methods. Hands-on work is a big part of All About Spelling!
Using Words Their Way to Teach Spelling 5 Things Struggling Spellers Need
Enjoy teaching!
~Becky

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50 Hands-On Spelling Activities {for Phonics and Sight Words}

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Has your spelling practice become dry or boring? Well, brush off the dust and try some of these hands-on spelling activities! Since readers need to have BOTH phonics and sight words understanding to become good readers, focusing on both phonics AND sight words during spelling instruction is a great way to help words "stick" in a child's memory.

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Teaching spelling strategies to ESL students is challenging for instructors. Many of the inconsistencies of the English language with regards to word meaning and pronunciation are directly confronted by students when they begin to put words to paper. In addition, the homophonic, multi-syllabic nature of English can pose particular challenges to second language learners. Luckily, there are many tips and tricks to help instructors and students sharpen their spelling skills.

Some Tricks for Teaching ESL Spelling Strategies

ESL students benefit from many of the same spelling strategies that instructors use with native English speaking populations. However, ESL students will inevitably require more time and practice when learning how to understand many of the spelling-related intricacies of the English language.

Using Memory Tricks or Mnemonics

Mnemonics are simple tricks students can use to help commit spelling words to memory. Associating the spelling of a word or part of a word with another word has proven to be a successful learning strategy. Providing students with some existing mnemonic examples will help them understand the concept, but students will be more successful if they create their own mnemonics for the words they have trouble spelling.

Secretary contains the word "secret" - My secretary can't keep a secret.

Heirloom contains the same letter order as "their" - That is their heirloom.

Mosquito contains the word "quit" - That mosquito better quit biting me.

Understanding Words That Sound Alike

For ESL students, spelling mistakes are often caused by a simple misunderstanding of word meaning.

Some words in English are homophonic, meaning they sound exactly the same as another word but have a different meaning.

Other words differ very subtly in how they are pronounced. While these words are not truly homophonic, they still pose challenges for second language learners.

These similar sounding words are less problematic for ESL students in spoken conversation, but become a source of frustration for them when they construct written sentences. Calling attention to some of the most common similar sounding words can help demystify this confusing aspect of the English language. Consider the following examples:

Advise - Advise is a verb that means to counsel or suggest. Would you advise me to go to graduate school?

Advice - Advice is a noun that means a suggestion or an opinion about a matter at hand. Ken gave be some good advice about going to graduate school.

Conscious - Conscious is an adjective that means having knowledge of something or being aware or perceptive. During that long meeting I was barely conscious.

Conscience - Conscience is a noun and means to have an inner feeling to guide you through questions of right and wrong. My conscience wouldn't let me take her money.

Lead - Lead is a noun that refers to the dense, heavy metal. This table feels like it's made of lead.

Led - Led is the past participle form of the verb lead and means to guide or direct. It was dark, but she led me across the field safely.

Trying a Rhyming Helper

Rhyming is a classic spelling strategy for students of all ages. Rhyming a word or a part of a word with another word that is spelled the same is a great technique to help students learn.

These words are all spelled the same except for a different letter or two. Identifying how root sounds like this are spelled helps students quickly increase their spelling vocabularies.

Listing Problem Parts

Unfortunately, there are certain words that defy logic in English. While native speakers unconsciously accept that the words "good" and "food" can be spelled the same way yet pronounced differently, ESL students are understandably troubled by these illogical facets of their target language.

Students should make a list of troublesome words and isolate exactly where the problem parts are within the words. These areas need to be studied diligently and committed to memory.

Focusing on the specific letters words that cause problems brings student's awareness to the source of the mistake and helps them to commit the proper spelling to memory.

A student whose native language is Spanish, for example, will face challenges with vowel sounds. Spanish uses a very static system with regards to how vowels are pronounced. The multitude of vowel sounds that English uses can cause particular spelling difficulties for native speakers of Spanish.

On the other hand, students whose first language is Chinese will likely face difficulties with the polysyllabic nature of English. Chinese is a monosyllabic language, meaning every word has only one syllable, so the act of spelling longer English words by sounding them out may be challenging for these students.

Important Considerations for Students with Different Native Languages

Spelling is another of the many of ESL instruction areas where instructors run into the reality that there is no homogenized ESL student. Teaching spelling strategies to ESL students is complicated by the diversity of the demographic. Different students bring different native languages into the classroom. The interlanguages they create while they are in between their native language and their target language vary greatly depending on the phonetic, syntactic, semantic, and morphologic qualities of their native language.

As an instructor, it is important to constantly be aware that the ESL experience varies greatly for every student, particularly when they speak different native languages.

Teaching Spelling Strategies to ESL Students

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Teaching Spelling Strategies to ESL Students

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Teaching spelling strategies to ESL students is challenging for instructors. Many of the inconsistencies of the English language with regards to word meaning and pronunciation are directly confronted by students when they begin to put words to paper. In addition, the homophonic, multi-syllabic nature of English can pose particular challenges to second language learners.

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Spelling is a very important factor in becoming proficient in English. Allowing ELL students to use hands on materials while working with spelling can be very beneficial. When it comes it assessing ELL's spelling a variety of methods can be used. The student could take a multiple choice test instead, use materials, or take the test one on one with the teacher.

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In this excerpt from Writing Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners K-8, authors Susan Lenski and Frances Verbruggen offer strategies focused on how to teach and assess spelling with ELLs, including discussion on error correction. The authors have created a hypothetical school setting based on their extensive research and observations in classrooms around the country, presenting educators' questions and challenges, as well as their collaborative conversations with colleagues.

In this example, Ms. Bowden and Ms. Brennan are mainstream teachers interested in designing more effective writing lessons and activities for their ELLs, and Ms. Ramos is the school's literacy coach.

Spelling and native language influence

Spelling, like handwriting, is a transcription skill that helps students to write with fluency. During writing workshop in her classroom, Ms. Bowden found that when students stopped writing in order to ask for help with spelling or to look up a word in the dictionary, the flow of the students' thinking was interrupted and they would often have difficulty picking up their train of thought. For ELLs, who need to use the bulk of their cognitive resources to organize and express their ideas, fluent spelling is an important part of fluent writing.

For ELLs, the transfer of linguistic knowledge from the home language to English can have both benefits and drawbacks. For the Spanish speakers in Ms. Bowden's class, phonological and orthographic transfer from Spanish to English accounted for many spelling errors in words containing /k/, /b/, and /h/ allophones, /sk/ blends, all clusters, and phonemes, such as /e/, /pr/, and /u/ (Fashola, Drum, Mayer, & Kang, 1996). Her Spanish-speaking students tended to make more errors than native English-speaking students in words containing these phonemes. There appears to be a significant amount of Spanish influence in the spelling of words that Spanish-speaking students spell incorrectly. Much of Spanish-speaking students' spelling errors can be accounted for by interference from the transfer of phonological knowledge from Spanish (Dressler, 2002). Spanish-speaking students are not the only ones for whom spelling can be challenging. Example 1 shows the work of a fifth-grade Dutch-speaking student who had been in the United States for 1 year, which illustrates that point. This student, like many ELLs, spells words the way she hears them.

Because of the challenges for teaching ELLs to spell, Ms. Ramos suggested that a phonetically organized spelling program would provide Ms. Bowden's students with explicit practice in the organizational patterns of the English language, and could improve their writing and other English language skills (Wright, 2001).

Correcting spelling and usage errors

Teachers used to correct every error with a red pen to indicate mistakes in writing. Mina Shaughnessy (1977) questioned this practice in her classic Errors and Expectations. One of Shaughnessy's maxims was that errors count but not as much as most teachers think. Research supports this viewpoint. Teachers who mark every error may feel like they're doing the right thing, but research suggests that marking errors does not make a difference in student writing (Rob, Ross, & Shortreed, 1986). Most errors tend to distract readers rather than distort meaning. Although the goal of writing is to communicate meaning without distractions, errors are actually a natural part of language development and are a window into a writer's development (Schleppegrell & Go, 2007). According to Díaz-Rico (2008), "persistent errors, rather than random mistakes, provide insight into the learner's rule set" (p. 246).

Understanding the kinds of errors that ELLs make in writing is critical. According to Parker and Riley (2010), spelling errors tend to be a direct result of the phonology of English. For example, words that have unstressed syllables, such as the second syllable in the word interest, are often deleted. In this case, the word is spelled intrest by novice spellers. This example and many others cause ELLs to have difficulty spelling correctly. Furthermore, ELLs do not unlearn their first language when they learn English. ELLs develop an interlanguage (Selinker, 1972) as they move from their first language to English. This interlanguage reflects the English rules they are learning as they intersect with the rules governing the first language. The way ELLs apply the rules of English is revealed by the errors they make when they write. Analyzing errors can help teachers identify patterns that ELLs are using while learning English.

Ms. Brennan decided to try an error analysis of some of her ELLs' writings. She was especially concerned about Rosi, who was a fairly recent immigrant from Mexico. Rosi was learning English rapidly and was beginning to apply several of the grammatical and usage rules that she had been taught. Ms. Brennan used Rosi's sample writing of a biography (see Example 2) to decide how to best scaffold her writing.

After carefully reading Rosi's paper, Ms. Brennan decided that Rosi was making sufficient progress in writing considering the time she had spent in the country. She developed a chart that detailed what she learned from Rosi's writing (see Chart 1) and concluded that she would have Rosi concentrate on some of the areas in which Rosi had demonstrated learning. She decided to remind Rosi to capitalize proper nouns, especially names. She also gave Rosi extra assistance in writing simple sentences. Finally, Ms. Brennan reviewed when to use me and when to use my. Ms. Brennan recognized that Rosi had additional errors in her writing, but she knew that overwhelming Rosi with too many areas to learn all at once would not be beneficial. Instead, Ms. Brennan tried to help Rosi focus on just three areas for her next piece of writing.

Spelling assessments

Spelling tests are another type of assessment that most of us know from school. The teacher assigned a set of words, and at the end of the week the words were dictated, usually in sentences for context. We would write the words, hopefully with the correct spelling. This kind of assessment is still useful for checking students' mastery of spelling words. Mrs. Ramos told the teachers that there are a few variations on the traditional spelling test that teachers could try. First, instead of dictating the words, show the students a picture that illustrates the meaning of the word and have them write the word. A second variation would be to give the students a multiple-choice test, with various options for spelling the word, to see whether they can recognize the correct spelling (Brown, 2004). This alternative might be especially useful when a word has several different spellings, each with a different meaning, such as there, their, and they're, or two, to, and too, in which case the teacher could assess word meaning as well as spelling.

Citations

Reprinted with permission. Lenski, S. and Verbruggen, F. Writing Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners K-8. 12, 126-7, 147-8. New York: Guilford Press. 2010.

References

Brown, H.D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson: ESL.

Dressler, C.A. (2002). Inter- and intra-language influences on the English spelling development of fifth-grade, Spanish-speaking English language learners. Unpublished dissertation, Harvard University.

Fashola, O., Drum, P., Mayer, R., & Kang, S. (1996). A cognitive theory of orthographic transitioning: Predictable errors in how Spanish-speaking children spell English words. American Educational Research Journal, 33(4), 825-843.

Parker, F., & Riley, K. (2010). Linguistics for non-linguists: A primer with exercises (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Rob, T., Ross, S., & Shortreed, I. (1986). Salience of feedback on error and its effect on EFL writing quality. TESOL Quarterly, 20(1), 83-93.

Schleppegrell, M. J., & Go, A. L. (2007). Analyzing the writing of English learners: A functional approach. Language Arts, 84, 529-538.

Selinker, L. (1972). International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 10(3), 210-231.

Shaughnessy, M. P. (1977). Errors and expectations: A guide for the teacher of basic writing. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wright, D. (2001). Phonetically organized spelling because-. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 67(4), 30-33.

Reprints

For any reprint requests, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners

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In this excerpt from Writing Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners K-8 , authors Susan Lenski and Frances Verbruggen offer strategies focused on how to teach and assess spelling with ELLs, including discussion on error correction.

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11 Research Based Spelling Strategies for Parents and Teachers

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1. Trace and Jump!
2. Visibility is Key!
3. Back tracing!
4. Magic Carpet!
5. Rainbow Writing!
6. Jump Rope!
7. Clapping!
8. Technology!
9. Playing with rhythm!
10. Neon Colors!
11. Whiteboards!
12. Finger Painting!
13. Letter Tiles!
The use of multi-sensory materials to practice spelling gets students using hands on materials and keeps them more engaged. Click the link to see what each approach looks like.

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Structured Literacy | Pride Reading Program

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Studies from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development have shown that for children with difficulties learning to spell, a multisensory teaching method is the most effective way for these students to learn. Multisensory teaching means the teacher must tap into all learning modalities - see it (visual), feel it (tactile), hear it (auditory) and move with it (kinesthetic). Here are a few suggestions on how to make spelling lessons fun, creative, engaging with these multisensory spelling strategies.

Trace words with a pencil or pen while spelling the word. Then trace with an eraser.

Get up and do 5 jumping jacks.

Now write the word and check for accuracy.

Write the words by syllables in different colored markers.

Studies have shown that color helps us memorize certain information by increasing our attentional level.

The more attention focused on the syllables in words, the higher the chances of it being stored in the memory permanently.

Pair up with another student and write words on each other's back with a finger. Have the partner guess what the word is.

By establishing a sense of touch, your child can make the connection between each letter and form memories of these words as they are spelling it out.

While sitting on a carpet, write down each word directly onto the carpet with two fingers.

If you have a pet, they will probably stare in wonder at this activity or join in on the fun!

The fuzzy sensation of touching a carpet produces a feeling of comfort which will help your child positively associate spelling with!

Have your child write the word and then trace around it with several different colors of chalk.

They can make the letters as big or as small as they like. Eventually they will have retrace the word many times, and learn it well. Your driveway is the best place to practice rainbow writing!

Pair up with another student and take turns jumping rope while spelling the words out loud.

Doing a demanding physical activity such as jump rope will not only improve your child's multi-tasking abilities but also improve their ability to recall from memory faster.

Clap your hands to each letter as you spell the words out loud.

Not only is the audio processing paired with the motor processing, but the sounds associated from clapping give off a rhythmic beat that will help your child say the letters out loud.

Use clapping with syllables too. The child will hear a word and repeat it while clapping out and then identifying the number of syllables.

You can also have the child say the word while clapping, then have the child whisper the word while clapping, then have the child mouth the word silently while still clapping on each syllable. Ooh fun!

Type each of the words in 5 different fonts, colors, and sizes.

We live in a great moment in time where our technology can help propel our children's education. There are hundreds of softwares, games, tutorials, videos, and online articles that can help with your child's learning but something just as simple as using Microsoft Word or Pages can go a long way.

There are hundreds of fonts and colors out there. Be creative!

Use a basketball or other ball to practice spelling words.

Have your child bounce the ball while spelling the word or they can throw a ball back and forth to someone spelling the word aloud.

Playing the game "horse" where there is a basketball goal also works with spelling words and it gives the game a fun competitive edge!

Using gel pens, have your child draw a picture on a piece of black paper. Then have your child write all their spelling words around the perimeter of the picture.

This is what I like to call a Spelling Picture. Using the neon gel pens and black paper just makes it a bit more exciting, but you can also create a spelling picture with plain white paper and crayons if you want.

Have your kiddos write out their spelling words with colored chalk on an individual chalkboard.

They can write their letters super big or super small, and use different colors for each letter in the word.

You can also have them write entire sentences with their spelling words in colored chalk to add this activity a step further. See how many colors you can use per word!

Finger-paint the words using frosting on wax paper or paper plates.

This is really popular with the kiddos. It is a big mess and oh so fun! You can use shaving cream, whipped cream, and even chocolate pudding. Put out a big plastic tray, put a sheet of wax paper or use paper plates and let the kids get busy. You can also use finger paints and finger painting paper and write all the spelling words on that as well if you want to go that step further.

Spell the words using alphabet manipulatives such as magnetic letters or letter tiles.

Have the letter tiles in alphabetical order on a desktop. Dictate a spelling word to your child. Have the child repeat the word and then bring down each letter in the word to build the word in front of them.

Letter tiles are really helpful in building lasting memories to help make those difficult words really "stick." Once the letters line up to complete the word, there will be an "Aha!" moment for your child that is rewarding for the both of you! The visual representation of bringing letters together will help your child cognitively break down spelling that will overall strengthen their reading, writing, and comprehension.

Using multisensory spelling activities is the perfect fun and hands-on activity for kids that are visual and kinesthetic learners. Do you use any multisensory activities in your spelling lessons? If yes, please feel free to share what and how you do it with all of us in the comments section. We would love to hear from you.

Check out the PRIDE Reading Program! This is an Orton-Gillingham reading program that is heavily scripted, super easy to use, affordable and used by homeschooling parents, tutors and teachers with great success. Let me know what you think.

Thank you so much for reading my post today!

Karina Richland, M.A., is the author of the PRIDE Reading Program , a multisensory Orton-Gillingham reading, writing and comprehension curriculum that is available worldwide for parents, tutors, teachers and homeschoolers of struggling readers. Karina has an extensive background in working with students of all ages and various learning modalities. She has spent many years researching learning differences and differentiated teaching practices. You can reach her by email at info@pridereadingprogram.com or visit the website at www.pridereadingprogram.com

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13 Multisensory Spelling Strategies - Structured Literacy | Pride Reading Program

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Studies from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development have shown that for children with difficulties learning to spell, a multisensory teaching method is the most effective way for these students to learn. Multisensory teaching means the teacher must tap into all learning modalities - see it (visual), feel it (tactile), hear it (auditory) and move with it (kinesthetic).

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We will have a word wall in the classroom throughout the year. The word wall will have the words and phonics we will be working on that week. Students may reference the word wall during the week.

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Teaching Spelling of Frequently Misspelled Words:

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Teaching Spelling of Frequently Misspelled Words:

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A small number of words—about 300—account for more than  half the words students misspell in their writing. The researchers noted spelling errors in these compositions and compiled the results. They found that a small set of common words tend to be misspelled over and over. These words are misspelled by students at primary, intermediate, and middle school levels.

Homophones: Homophones—words that sound the same but are spelled differently—constitute about 20 percent of the misspelled words (e.g., there spelled their).

Apostrophes: Words that contain an apostrophe make up about 10 percent of the misspelled words, some of which are also homophones (e.g., you’re spelled your, it’s spelled its).

Separation/Joining Errors: Another highly predictable spelling problem involves words that lend themselves to inappropriate separation or joining (e.g., because spelled be cause, a lot spelled alot).

Errors in Compound Words: Another common spelling problem is the misspelling of compound words by wrongly separating them, or less commonly, by wrongly joining an open compound or joining a compound with a hyphen (e.g., outside spelled out side, ice cream spelled icecream, baby-sit spelled babysit, etc.).

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Simple sequence of phonics elements for teaching sound-out words that moves from the easiest sound/spelling patterns to the most difficult:

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Simple sequence of phonics elements for teaching sound-out words that moves from the easiest sound/spelling patterns to the most difficult:

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1. Consonants & short vowel sounds

2. Consonant blends & digraphs

3. Long vowel/final e

4. Long vowel digraphs

5. Other vowel patterns

6. Syllable patterns

7. Affixes

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- 50% of the words children read and spell have regular spelling patterns (and another 37% are very close), it is smart to directly teach children the regular spelling patterns in our writing system.
-Words with a regular spelling pattern should be taught using letter-sound correspondences—as sound-out words.
-Researchers found that the most successful approaches were based on structured spelling instruction that explicitly teaches speech sounds that are represented by the letters in printed words.
-Students benefit from direct, systematic instruction that moves them along a continuum from the easiest sound/spelling patterns to the most difficult. Instruction is most effective when words with common features are grouped together in the lessons.

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IN my classroom we will have weekly spelling tests. Students will work with the words throughout the week. They will be able to use spelling city to practice and take tests. There will be challenge words for students who need the extra push. I will also accommodate to those who are in need easier words.

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Writing so others can read and understand

Recognizing the right choice from the possibilities presented by a spell checker

Looking up words in a dictionary

Filing alphabetically

Spell check doesn't catch all errors!

Spelling is crucial for reading!

Spelling is important in writing!

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Why Correct Spelling Is Important

Correct spelling is still important. The National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges (2005) reported that 80 percent of the time an employment application is doomed if it is poorly written or poorly spelled. Here are other examples of situations where spelling is important:

Writing so others can read and understand

Recognizing the right choice from the possibilities presented by a spell checker

Looking up words in a dictionary

Filing alphabetically

Playing word games like Scrabble®

And even though word processing software includes spell checkers, students still need to become proficient spellers.

Spell Checkers Do Not Catch All Errors

Since the advent of word processing and spell checkers, some have argued that spelling instruction is no longer all that important. But spell checkers do not catch all errors. One study (Montgomery, Karlan, and Coutinho, 2001) reported that spell checkers usually catch just 30 to 80 percent of misspellings overall, partly because they miss homophone errors. A spell checker would find no errors in this sentence: "To miles is two far too go."

Another problem is that students who are very poor spellers do not produce the close approximations of target words necessary for the spell checker to suggest the right word.

Spelling Is Important for Reading

Research has shown that learning to spell and learning to read rely on much of the same underlying knowledge-such as the relationships between letters and sounds-and, not surprisingly, that spelling instruction can be designed to help children better understand that key knowledge, resulting in better reading (Ehri, 2000).

Catherine Snow et al. (2005, p. 86) summarize the real importance of spelling for reading as follows: "Spelling and reading build and rely on the same mental representation of a word. Knowing the spelling of a word makes the representation of it sturdy and accessible for fluent reading."

Spelling Is Important for Writing

Research also bears out a strong relationship between spelling and writing: Writers who must think too hard about how to spell use up valuable cognitive resources needed for higher level aspects of composition (Singer and Bashir, 2004). Writing is a mental juggling act that depends on using basic skills with automaticity (e.g., handwriting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation) so that the writer can focus on topic, organization, word choice, and audience needs. Poor spellers may restrict what they write to words they can spell, with inevitable loss of verbal power, or they may lose track of their thoughts when they get stuck trying to spell a word.

Spelling Needs to Be Explicitly Taught

The National Reading Panel Report (2000) did not include spelling as one of the five essential components of comprehensive literacy instruction. The report implied that phonemic awareness and phonics instruction had a positive effect on spelling in the primary grades and that spelling continues to develop in response to appropriate reading instruction.

However, more recent research challenged at least part of the National Reading Panel's assumption. In a longitudinal study, Scientific Studies of Reading (2005), a group of researchers found that, although students' growth in passage comprehension remained close to average from first through fourth grade, their spelling scores dropped dramatically by third grade and continued to decline in fourth grade (Mehta, Foorman, Branum-Martin, & Taylor, 2005). Clearly, we should not assume that progress in reading will necessarily result in progress in spelling.

​ Read Naturally programs for teaching spelling or that support spelling

Regular vs. Irregular Spelling Patterns

The spelling of words in English is more regular and pattern-based than commonly believed. About 50% of English words have regular spelling patterns. That means that the letters used to spell these words predictably represent their sound patterns. For example, the words bad, back, and bake all follow reliable, regular spelling patterns.

Another 37% have only one error if they are spelled on the basis of sound-symbol correspondences alone. Typically, that error would occur in spelling a vowel sound. The schwa sound is an example. If a student wants to spell the word temperature and knows that all vowels sometimes make the schwa sound (ə), that student knows that the sound alone will not help him to spell the word. The specific vowel needed for the third syllable in temperature must be learned in order to spell the word correctly.

The remaining 13% must be learned as irregular words (e.g., ocean), and many of these words could be spelled correctly if other information was taken into account, such as word meaning and word origin (Hanna, Hanna, Hodges, and Rudorf, 1966).

Spelling Strategies

How many words do we need to teach in our spelling instruction? The average person uses perhaps 10,000 words freely and can recognize another 30,000 to 40,000 words. Fortunately, to be an effective speller, a student does not have to be able to correctly spell all the words in his or her listening, reading, and speaking vocabulary. A basic spelling vocabulary of 2,800 to 3,000 well-selected words should form the core for spelling instruction (E. Horn, 1926; Fitzgerald, 1951; Rinsland, 1945; T. Horn & Otto 1954; Monson, 1975).

When choosing the words to include in spelling instruction, focus on regular spelling patterns, high-frequency words (both regular and irregular words), and frequently misspelled words.

Teaching Regular Spelling Patterns

Since 50% of the words children read and spell have regular spelling patterns (and another 37% are very close), it is smart to directly teach children the regular spelling patterns in our writing system. Students are introduced to sound/spelling patterns early through reading instruction, and then they study them again during spelling instruction.

Words with a regular spelling pattern should be taught using letter-sound correspondences-as sound-out words. Researchers found that the most successful approaches were based on structured spelling instruction that explicitly teaches speech sounds that are represented by the letters in printed words (Graham, 1999; Berninger et al., 2000; Swanson et al., 1999). The student identifies the individual sounds in a word and then chooses the correct letter (or letters) to represent each sound. Sometimes the sound is represented by more than one letter (e.g., sh).

Research shows that ongoing spelling instruction based on the sounds of language is effective and produces good results. Students benefit from direct, systematic instruction that moves them along a continuum from the easiest sound/spelling patterns to the most difficult. Instruction is most effective when words with common features are grouped together in the lessons.

Here is a simple sequence of phonics elements for teaching sound-out words that moves from the easiest sound/spelling patterns to the most difficult:

1. Consonants & short vowel sounds

2. Consonant blends & digraphs

3. Long vowel/final e

4. Long vowel digraphs

5. Other vowel patterns

6. Syllable patterns

7. Affixes

Teaching Spelling of High-Frequency Words

Eight words account for 18% of all the words students use in their writing, 25 words account for 33%, 100 words for 50%, 300 words for 65%, 1000 words for 86%, 2,000 words for 95%, and 3,000 words for 97% (Fry, Fountoukidis, & Kress, 2000; Horn, 1926; Otto & McMenemy; 1966, Rinsland, 1945). It is smart to make these words a high priority in spelling instruction.

To require a student to master a spelling vocabulary significantly larger than 3,000 words is out of harmony with research. After several hundred words have been learned, the law of diminishing returns begins to operate (Allred, 1977). So, if students master about 3,000 words, they have about 97% of the words they will need.

The following list includes the first 200 high-frequency words.

Spelling List: First 200 high-frequency words

The column on the left-hand side lists the high-frequency words that have irregular spelling patterns in their order of frequency. The other columns list high-frequency words with regular spelling patterns, organized by common vowel spellings. Use this list to remember to emphasize the high-frequency words with regular spelling patterns as you teach the various vowel patterns.

Learning Irregular High-Frequency Words
​Irregular high frequency words should be taught as spell-out words -teaching them in the order of their frequency. Spell-out words should be taught using word-specific memory-say the word, spell the word, say the word again.

When a student studies words with irregular spelling patterns independently, the student should practice a word by saying the word, saying and writing each letter, and then saying the word again. The student should then check the spelling against a correct model and practice again-as many times as necessary.

Learning Regular High-Frequency Words
High frequency words with regular spelling patterns should be taught as sound-out words in lessons with the same patterns. Sound-out words should be taught by listening for each sound in a word and then writing the letter (or letters) that correspond to each sound.

Since some high frequency words have regular spelling patterns that are taught much later in a spelling program, those words should be taught as spell-out words earlier and then reviewed as sound-out words when their spelling pattern is taught later.

Teaching Spelling of Frequently Misspelled Words

A small number of words-about 300-account for more than half the words students misspell in their writing. A Research in Action project reviewed 18,599 written compositions of children in grades 1-8 (Cramer and Cipielewski, 1995). The researchers noted spelling errors in these compositions and compiled the results. They found that a small set of common words tend to be misspelled over and over. These words are misspelled by students at primary, intermediate, and middle school levels.

The researchers compiled this list of commonly misspelled words:

Spelling List:​ The 100 Most Frequently Misspelled Words Across Eight Grade Levels

If you look down this list you will notice these recurring spelling problems:

Homophones: Homophones-words that sound the same but are spelled differently-constitute about 20 percent of the misspelled words (e.g., there spelled their).

Apostrophes: Words that contain an apostrophe make up about 10 percent of the misspelled words, some of which are also homophones (e.g., you're spelled your, it's spelled its).

Separation/Joining Errors: Another highly predictable spelling problem involves words that lend themselves to inappropriate separation or joining (e.g., because spelled be cause, a lot spelled alot).

Errors in Compound Words: Another common spelling problem is the misspelling of compound words by wrongly separating them, or less commonly, by wrongly joining an open compound or joining a compound with a hyphen (e.g., outside spelled out side, ice cream spelled icecream, baby-sit spelled babysit, etc.).

Words that primary grade students misspell are in many instances the same words intermediate and middle school students continue to misspell. When researchers closely examined the 25 most frequently misspelled words at each grade level they noted a startling amount of overlap across grade levels from one through eight.

At the same time, an examination of a typical spelling curriculum shows that many of these frequently misspelled words are taught fairly early in the spelling curriculum. Unfortunately, many of these words are taught only once within the span of an eight-year spelling curriculum.

Teaching these words one time in a spelling series that covers six or eight grade levels is not adequate for many students to learn these words. Teachers should implement a system for reviewing and recycling these words until students demonstrate mastery. Students should be monitored and held accountable for correctly spelling these words in their daily work. Words that continue to be misspelled should be recycled into the next spelling lesson.

Using the Test-Study-Test Technique to Teach Spelling

Evidence from research shows that the test-study-test technique is the single most effective strategy in spelling instruction. This involves having the student (under the teacher's direction) correct his or her own errors immediately after taking a spelling pretest.

Following each word or at the end of the pretest, the teacher spells each word, emphasizing each letter as the student points to each letter being pronounced. Using a colored pencil, the student puts a dot under the incorrect part of a word and then writes the word correctly off to the side.

The test-study-test method allows the student to:

See which words are difficult,

Locate the part of the word that is troublesome, and

Correct errors.

The student can then focus on the difficult parts of specific words when studying for the final test (Allred, 1977; Darch et al., 2000; Hall, 1964; Hibler, 1957; Morton, Heward, & Alber, 1998).

Read Naturally Programs for Teaching Spelling or That Support Spelling

Teaching Spelling With Signs for Sounds

​ Read Naturally's Signs for Sounds is a research-based spelling program for beginning and developing spellers and readers. Signs for Sounds provides systematic, explicit phonics instruction to teach students how to spell words with regular spelling patterns (sound-out words) and a systematic strategy for teaching students how to learn to spell high frequency words with irregular spelling patterns (spell-out words). In addition, the flexible lesson design prompts teachers to recycle frequently misspelled words from week to week until those difficult words are mastered.

Learn more about how Signs for Sounds uses research-based strategies to teach spelling:

Other Programs That Support Spelling

The following programs do not focus on spelling but include spelling activities as part of a broader scope of instruction:

Read Naturally® GATE
Teacher-led instruction for small groups of early readers. Focuses on phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency instruction with additional support for phonemic awareness and vocabulary. A spelling step provides students with practice writing short words with the featured sounds.
Learn more about Read Naturally GATE
Read Naturally GATE samples

Word Warm-ups®
A mostly independent program with audio support on CDs that develops automaticity in phonics and decoding. Focuses on phonics with additional support for phonemic awareness and fluency. In an optional spelling activity, the teacher (or software) dictates words with the featured pattern and the student spells them.
Learn more about Word Warm-ups (reproducible masters with audio)
Learn more about Word Warm-ups Live (web application)
Word Warm-ups samples

Bibliography

Allred, R. (1977). Spelling: The application of research findings. Washington DC: National Education Association.

Berninger, V. W., Vaughan, K., Abbott, R. D., Brooks, A., Begay, K., Curtin, G., Byrd, K., & Graham, S. (2000). Language-based spelling instruction: Teaching children to make multiple connections between spoken and written words. Learning Disability Quarterly, 23(2), 117-135.

Cramer, R. & Cipielewski, J. (1995). Research in action: A study of spelling errors in 18,599 written compositions of children in grades 1-8. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.

Darch, C., Kim, S., Johnson, S., & James, H. (2000). The strategic spelling skills of students with learning disabilities: The results of two studies. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 27(1), 15-27.

Ehri, L. (2000). Learning to read and learning to spell: Two sides of a coin. Topics in Language Disorders, 20(3), 19-49.

Fitzgerald, J. (1951). The teaching of spelling. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company.

Fry, E. B., Fountoukidis, D. L., & Kress, J. E. (2000). The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists, 4th ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Graham, S. (1999). Handwriting and spelling instruction for students with learning disabilities: A review. Learning Disability Quarterly, 22(2), 78-98.

Hall, N. (1964). The letter marked-out corrected test. Journal of Educational Research, pp. 58, 148-157.

Hanna, P. R., Hanna, J. S., Hodges, R. E., & Rudorf, E. H., Jr. (1966). Phoneme-grapheme correspondences as cues to spelling improvement. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Hibler, G. (1957). The test-study versus the study-test method of teaching spelling in grade two: Study 1. Unpublished masters thesis, University of Texas.

Horn, E. (1926). A basic vocabulary of 10,000 words most commonly used in writing. Iowa City: University of Iowa.

Horn, T., & Otto, H. (1954). Spelling instruction: A curriculum-wide approach. Austin: University of Texas.

Mehta, P. D., Foorman, B. R., Branum-Martin, L., & Taylor, W. P. (2005). Literacy as a unidimensional construct: Validation, sources of influence and implications in a longitudinal study in grades 1-4. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9(2), 85-116.

Monson, J. (1975). Is spelling spelled rut, routine, or revitalized? Elementary English, 52, 223-224.

Montgomery, D. J., Karlan, G. R., and Coutinho, M. (2001). The effectiveness of word processor spell checker programs to produce target words for misspellings generated by students with learning disabilities, Journal of Special Education Technology, 16(2).

Morton, W. L., Heward, W. L., & Alber, S. R. (1998). When to self-correct?: A comparison of two procedures on spelling performance. Journal of Behavioral Education, 8(3), 321-335.

National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges. (2005). Writing: A Powerful Message from State Government. New York: College Board.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769), Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp. 13-14.

Otto, W., & McMenemy, R. (1966). Corrective and remedial teaching. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

Rinsland, H. (1945). A basic vocabulary of elementary school children. New York: Macmillan.

Singer, B., and Bashir, A. (2004). Developmental variations in writing. In Stone, C.A., Silliman, E. R., Ehren, B. J., and Apel, K. (eds.), Handbook of language and literacy: Development and disorders, pp. 559-582. New York: Guilford.

Snow, C. E., Griffin, P., and Burns, M. S. (eds.) (2005). Knowledge to Support the Teaching of Reading: Preparing Teachers for a Changing World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Swanson, H. L., Hoskyn, M., & Lee, C. (1999). Interventions for students with learning disabilities: A meta-analysis of treatment outcomes. New York: Guilford Press.

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Correct spelling is important. Spelling strategies: Teaching spelling patterns of regular words, high-frequency words, and frequently misspelled words.

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A great teacher resource, especially with digital learning. Spelling city allows the teacher to upload the weeks spelling words. Students can take practice tests, play games and become familiar with definitions before the test.