Anonymous wrote:I believe it is call Word Study. In our school they separate the kids in classes according to ability. It takes a week or two to do assessments of the kids. Last week they had words but with their home room teacher. This week is the first week they were separated into different classes with their words

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My now 6th grader has had no spelling or grammar instruction since 3rd grade. As a result, her spelling is abysmal. Thanks, FCPS.

Because you don't see it as your responsibility to fill in the gaps? If the school sucks, speak up or move to one that doesn't. If you can't, it's kind of a dick move to just shrug your shoulders and blame the school. Parenting includes teaching.

Really? Gee, I didn't realize that as I spend every evening with my children, teaching them what was never even covered in the class that day, enforcing good spelling and grammar since it's never corrected at school, and reteaching poorly "taught" math. No, it never even occurred to me that I would have to fill in the many gaps in my children's education when we chose to send them to a "highly regarded" FCPS school. But I guess all of that effort equates to me just "shrugging my shoulders" and, yes, blaming the school. Because when I send my children to school each day, I kind of expect them to be taught.

Your entire post is a dick move.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spelling tests are kind of artificial. The best way to become a good speller is to read A LOT and to write. Learn some basic spelling rules (I before E, e.g, but even then, exceptions) so reading a variety of texts produces better spellers than anything else.

And really, we don't like to say it, but being a good speller overall is kind of an innate skill.

For some kids this works and this is the approach that FCPS is based on.

BUT, there are a lot of kids that fall through the huge cracks of this method. Kids that have a more difficult time with reading, kids that have a harder time with writing. If these kids are not full on failing, the school does nothing for them. They read the bare minimum and write the bare minimum.

I have 2 kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia, FCPS does nothing for them. I've tried numerous times and even though technically they shouldn't have to be failing that's always the excuse we receive. They are on grade level for 2 reasons, they have fairly high IQs so have learned to compensate for their weaknesses and because I spend almost $500 per WEEK on therapy for them. Plus me working with them at home.

They can't spell at all. The things they write don't even look remotely like the correct spelling. But since teachers don't grade the spelling on all the "Kreeatib" writing FCPS endorses, there are no repercussions.

They need spelling words and the rules that go with them. Not word study- actual spelling with rules.

Same for grammar. The rules need to be taught, not thrown in as a side bar on a worksheet.

Agree 100%. And not just spelling words, but definitions that go with them.

Our school is actually pretty good with vocabulary. They use wordly wise for this for all students and in some AAP classes they use Cesar's English. None of those lists are related to word study though.

Anonymous wrote:I'm seriously considering homeschooling because I'm so disappointed with the quality of FCPS. They do so much testing, but I'm not seeing much instruction. I've also noticed that written communication from teachers and administrators contains spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors - from the folks who are supposed to be teaching our children. I received a much better education 30 years ago from my school in the 'hick' part of VA. I expected much more from the highly regarded FCPS schools, but the reality is far from adequate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spelling tests are kind of artificial. The best way to become a good speller is to read A LOT and to write. Learn some basic spelling rules (I before E, e.g, but even then, exceptions) so reading a variety of texts produces better spellers than anything else.

And really, we don't like to say it, but being a good speller overall is kind of an innate skill.

This worked for me, reading a lot and having a good memory. But it doesn't work for everyone. There are ways to teach spelling, and there are lots of rules that apply to nearly all words -- look into The Writing Road to Reading and All About Spelling, for a rules-based approach to spelling and writing.

There are definitely strategies that will help, but in my experience, the vast number of students who don't pick up spelling from reading don't do much better with rote memorization. And you can't possibly learn and test every single word. So word groups, word studies, these help build a foundation, and i love them. But I would rather my kid and students not spend time memorizing words as the benefit for the majority of students is minimal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spelling tests are kind of artificial. The best way to become a good speller is to read A LOT and to write. Learn some basic spelling rules (I before E, e.g, but even then, exceptions) so reading a variety of texts produces better spellers than anything else.

And really, we don't like to say it, but being a good speller overall is kind of an innate skill.

This worked for me, reading a lot and having a good memory. But it doesn't work for everyone. There are ways to teach spelling, and there are lots of rules that apply to nearly all words -- look into The Writing Road to Reading and All About Spelling, for a rules-based approach to spelling and writing.

Anonymous wrote:Spelling tests are kind of artificial. The best way to become a good speller is to read A LOT and to write. Learn some basic spelling rules (I before E, e.g, but even then, exceptions) so reading a variety of texts produces better spellers than anything else.

And really, we don't like to say it, but being a good speller overall is kind of an innate skill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spelling tests are kind of artificial. The best way to become a good speller is to read A LOT and to write. Learn some basic spelling rules (I before E, e.g, but even then, exceptions) so reading a variety of texts produces better spellers than anything else.

And really, we don't like to say it, but being a good speller overall is kind of an innate skill.

For some kids this works and this is the approach that FCPS is based on.

BUT, there are a lot of kids that fall through the huge cracks of this method. Kids that have a more difficult time with reading, kids that have a harder time with writing. If these kids are not full on failing, the school does nothing for them. They read the bare minimum and write the bare minimum.

I have 2 kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia, FCPS does nothing for them. I've tried numerous times and even though technically they shouldn't have to be failing that's always the excuse we receive. They are on grade level for 2 reasons, they have fairly high IQs so have learned to compensate for their weaknesses and because I spend almost $500 per WEEK on therapy for them. Plus me working with them at home.

They can't spell at all. The things they write don't even look remotely like the correct spelling. But since teachers don't grade the spelling on all the "Kreeatib" writing FCPS endorses, there are no repercussions.

They need spelling words and the rules that go with them. Not word study- actual spelling with rules.

Same for grammar. The rules need to be taught, not thrown in as a side bar on a worksheet.

Agree 100%. And not just spelling words, but definitions that go with them.

Anonymous wrote:Spelling tests are kind of artificial. The best way to become a good speller is to read A LOT and to write. Learn some basic spelling rules (I before E, e.g, but even then, exceptions) so reading a variety of texts produces better spellers than anything else.

And really, we don't like to say it, but being a good speller overall is kind of an innate skill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spelling tests are kind of artificial. The best way to become a good speller is to read A LOT and to write. Learn some basic spelling rules (I before E, e.g, but even then, exceptions) so reading a variety of texts produces better spellers than anything else.

And really, we don't like to say it, but being a good speller overall is kind of an innate skill.

For some kids this works and this is the approach that FCPS is based on.

BUT, there are a lot of kids that fall through the huge cracks of this method. Kids that have a more difficult time with reading, kids that have a harder time with writing. If these kids are not full on failing, the school does nothing for them. They read the bare minimum and write the bare minimum.

I have 2 kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia, FCPS does nothing for them. I've tried numerous times and even though technically they shouldn't have to be failing that's always the excuse we receive. They are on grade level for 2 reasons, they have fairly high IQs so have learned to compensate for their weaknesses and because I spend almost $500 per WEEK on therapy for them. Plus me working with them at home.

They can't spell at all. The things they write don't even look remotely like the correct spelling. But since teachers don't grade the spelling on all the "Kreeatib" writing FCPS endorses, there are no repercussions.

They need spelling words and the rules that go with them. Not word study- actual spelling with rules.

Same for grammar. The rules need to be taught, not thrown in as a side bar on a worksheet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spelling is taught, it probably isn't taught in isolation. It might not look the same as when you and I were in school. By that, I mean most students probably aren't receiving a list of words to memorize for the week and then tested on Friday. Many teachers teach spelling through the writing process.

Look at the progress report. What standard do you see graded? It is "Edits for usage and mechanics in writing".

This does not work in practice. After 3 years, absolutely no work has come home with any edits for spelling either by my child or the teacher. Word study verses random spelling lists is fine. Integrated spelling in writing in 1st-3rd grade especially just doesn't work. Kids are too preoccupied with the writing process to focus on knowing how to spell new words and the teacher has too many things to teach with writing already. Also, written work occurs maybe once a month if my child is lucky so they just aren't even spelling that many new words.