Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am generally opposed to sight words, but do support systemic spelling instruction. Ideally, the spelling words would be word families where he could learn consistent patterns.

If this is not the case, have him work on sounding out the words (ex. Dog - d_o_g). Saying a word the way it is spelled can also help. (To this day I still think Feb-ru-ary and Wed-nes-day).

When I was in elementary (not sure about first because we were learning to read) we had a spelling book and would cover a chapter a week. At the start of each week, the teacher would take us through the list. We would have to hold our arms in the air and write the letters in the air with our fingers as we spelled the words aloud. I think one night's homework would be to copy the phonetic pronunciation and the definition for each word. One night's homework was to write sentences with each word. I think one night we may have had to write each word a certain number of times. There were probably exercises in the book as well, but I don't remember them. Sometimes I'd have my mother or a friend quiz me on the words. Every Friday, we'd be tested.

I suspect the drawing has to do with the whole "learning styles" theory (which has been discredited). You will see a lot of artsy projects that are time and labor intensive but have little or no direct relevance to the subject matter.

Discredited? When?

Anonymous wrote:I am generally opposed to sight words, but do support systemic spelling instruction. Ideally, the spelling words would be word families where he could learn consistent patterns.

If this is not the case, have him work on sounding out the words (ex. Dog - d_o_g). Saying a word the way it is spelled can also help. (To this day I still think Feb-ru-ary and Wed-nes-day).

When I was in elementary (not sure about first because we were learning to read) we had a spelling book and would cover a chapter a week. At the start of each week, the teacher would take us through the list. We would have to hold our arms in the air and write the letters in the air with our fingers as we spelled the words aloud. I think one night's homework would be to copy the phonetic pronunciation and the definition for each word. One night's homework was to write sentences with each word. I think one night we may have had to write each word a certain number of times. There were probably exercises in the book as well, but I don't remember them. Sometimes I'd have my mother or a friend quiz me on the words. Every Friday, we'd be tested.

I suspect the drawing has to do with the whole "learning styles" theory (which has been discredited). You will see a lot of artsy projects that are time and labor intensive but have little or no direct relevance to the subject matter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At every W feeder kids are expected to spell correctly by first grade.

What is the point of a comment like this? Is it sarcasm? Is it trolling? Is it either if not everyone can tell what it is? Why bother?

Anonymous wrote:At every W feeder kids are expected to spell correctly by first grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I really don't think it's too much to ask, OP. Missing TWENTY 1st grade-level words is significant. My kids never missed more than one per test, and usually got them all correct.

In the future, once you've moved on from those 20 words, ignore all the boring busywork they're asking and focus every week on teaching your child the definition of each word, how it's spelled, and how to use it in a sentence. No drawing pics, writing the word out in rainbow colors, or other inane activities. Just straight up work. It goes faster and it's WAY MORE EFFECTIVE. I would go down the list of words in the kitchen while cooking, and my daughter would shout out the spelling, and either she or I would make up a sentence with the word. Easy-peasy.

This is good advice. Focus the work on what the kid actually needs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school won't start sending homework home until October, according to my child's teacher. I'm surprised to hear about spelling words because my kid is still working on reading/writing anything correctly! He is still in the "Hape brda mom" stage--which his K teacher said was fine. They have a list of sight words, but he hasn't had to spell them himself yet, just read them. His reading comprehension when listening is totally fine (we read chapter books and above-grade-level books every day). I guess this is something that may be coming for us soon...?

Your experience sounds more like my experience with MCPS first grade than the OP and I would not assume that this type of spelling work is coming for you soon. My older kid definitely had spelling words in 3rd, not sure about 2nd, she may have. Definitely didn't in first. Must be different in different schools/classrooms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school won't start sending homework home until October, according to my child's teacher. I'm surprised to hear about spelling words because my kid is still working on reading/writing anything correctly! He is still in the "Hape brda mom" stage--which his K teacher said was fine. They have a list of sight words, but he hasn't had to spell them himself yet, just read them. His reading comprehension when listening is totally fine (we read chapter books and above-grade-level books every day). I guess this is something that may be coming for us soon...?

Your experience sounds more like my experience with MCPS first grade than the OP and I would not assume that this type of spelling work is coming for you soon. My older kid definitely had spelling words in 3rd, not sure about 2nd, she may have. Definitely didn't in first. Must be different in different schools/classrooms.

Anonymous wrote:Our school won't start sending homework home until October, according to my child's teacher. I'm surprised to hear about spelling words because my kid is still working on reading/writing anything correctly! He is still in the "Hape brda mom" stage--which his K teacher said was fine. They have a list of sight words, but he hasn't had to spell them himself yet, just read them. His reading comprehension when listening is totally fine (we read chapter books and above-grade-level books every day). I guess this is something that may be coming for us soon...?