Assessment
Best Practices
Learning Activities and Games
Lesson Planning
FAQs
Ask a Question or Share an Idea
Assessment—Tools to assist in the evaluation of student readiness, ability, and achievement:
- Tests
- Rubrics
- Benchmarks
- Checklists
Best Practices in Spelling Instruction—Current educational research for professional development:
- Instructional strategies
- Professional resources
- Periodical and journal articles
Learning Activities and Games—Instructional games, worksheets, and activities:
- Enhancing instruction
- Enrichment
- Remediation
- Reteaching
- Individualized assistance
- ESL
Lesson Planning—Tools for planning and development of spelling instruction:
- State content standards
- Teaching tips
- Lesson plan ideas
Teacher Support—Ideas and resources to assist teachers:
- Ask a Question or Share an Idea
- FAQs
- Instructional Ideas
ACSI/Purposeful Design Publications does not endorse these resources and recommends that each one be evaluated for usefulness and appropriateness prior to use in the classroom. ACSI does not guarantee the functionality of the resource links, since each link is maintained by each individual website developer.
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Assessment—Tools to assist in the evaluation of student readiness, ability, and achievement.
►For Literacy
Grades 1–3
Balanced Reading Assessments: Free downloadable assessments include a fifty two page criterion-referenced early reading test and quick assessments of word sounds, non-words, and phoneme segmentation.
Big Ideas in Beginning Reading: Benchmarks and grade-leveled skill sequences covering critical components of learning to read, including phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Patti’s Electronic Classroom: Printable assessments to measure students’ phonemic awareness and spelling abilities. Includes information related to linguistic development, levels of phonemic awareness, and reading and writing developmental scales.
Reading A–Z: Downloadable assessment tools to track student progress in areas of letter recognition, high frequency words, phonics, and phonological awareness. Annual subscription required to access forms.
Grades 1–6
Dibels Measures: Downloadable assessments include grade-leveled literacy benchmarks, phoneme segmentation, nonsense words, and oral reading fluency. Free registration required to access assessments.
National Center for Learning Disabilities: Provides information about identifying dyslexia in children. Lists common signs of dyslexia in areas such as spelling and reading.
►For Writing
Grades 4–6
6 Traits Writing Assessment: Rubrics and teaching strategies covering the six traits of writing. Includes a list of picture books to use when teaching about the six traits, synonyms and adjective lists that encourage varied word choice, a spelling strategy chart, and sample graded papers from emergent writers.
6 Traits of Writing: On-line activities, checklists, rubrics, and printable classroom posters that help students strengthen their writing skills. Areas covered include ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions.
►Student Checklists
Writing Assessments: Printable writing and editing checklists help students organize, proofread, and strengthen their own compositions.
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Best Practices in Spelling Instruction—Current educational research for professional development.
Grades 1–3
Effects of Traditional Versus Extended Word-Study Spelling Instruction on Students’ Orthographic Knowledge: Experimental research study reveals 3rd grade students receiving word-study spelling instruction outperform those receiving traditional spelling instruction. Mary Abbott, Reading Online, Vol. 5, No. 3, October 2001.
Mrs. Alphabet: Offers a free subscription to an e-mail newsletter published three times per week giving tips, strategies, and current research relating to phonics.
Patti’s Electronic Classroom: Informational articles and teaching ideas related to spelling development, phonemic awareness, word attack strategies, and writing rubrics.
Spelling: Watch and Learn: Short, on-line videos of primary-grade classroom teachers implementing lessons about word families, invented spelling, and spelling patterns.
Word Study: A New Approach to Teaching Spelling: Article explains an alternative approach to teaching spelling and provides instructional strategies for implementing a successful word study program within a classroom. Diane Henry Leipzig, 2000.
Grades 4–6
No More Friday Spelling Tests: Article compares traditional weekly spelling tests with alternative spelling rubrics. Shows sample rubric that uses student compositions to assess spelling skills. Kelly A. Loeffler, Teaching Exceptional Children, March/April 2005.
Using Think-Alouds to Analyze Decision Making During Spelling Word Sorts: Study examines the effectiveness of think-alouds in helping teachers meet individual student’s learning needs during spelling lessons. Includes a table explaining developmental spelling stages and a link to a video clip containing an example of student-teacher dialogue during a word sort activity. Mary Jo Fresch, Reading Online, Vol. 4, No. 6, Dec/Jan 2000/2001.
Grades 1–6
Access Center: Subject-specific articles in reading and writing explain differentiated instruction and how it can be implemented in the classroom. Strategies described include tiered assignments, compacting, interest groups, and learning contracts.
Literacy Connections: Informational articles related to the teaching of word families, high frequency words, word study, and more.
Best Practices in Spelling Instruction: A Research Summary: Article describes effective approaches to spelling instruction, including phonemic, whole-word, and morphemic, and provides evidence supporting systematic, direct-instruction methods of teaching spelling. Flint Simonsen & Lee Gunter, Journal of Direct Instruction, Vol. 1, No. 2, Summer 2001.
Five Guidelines for Learning to Spell and Six Ways to Practice Spelling: One-page article explains effective instructional techniques for teaching spelling to all students, specifically those with learning disabilities. Susan Jones, 1999.
How Spelling Supports Reading: Article provides history of the English language, grade-leveled strategies for spelling instruction, and insights into the English spelling system. Louisa C. Moats, American Educator, Winter 2005/06.
The Initial Teaching Alphabet: Proven Efficiency and Future Prospects – Article outlines the history and benefits of the I.T.A. approach to teaching spelling. Ronald A. Threadgall, Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society, 1998.
Invented Spelling and Spelling Development: Article defines invented spelling, describes the five stages of spelling development, and provides suggestions for teaching spelling. Elaine Lutz, ERIC Digest, 1986.
Making and Writing Words Using Letter Patterns: Article describes key features of an advanced form of traditional Making Words lessons, geared to students ages seven and up. Lessons help older students improve decoding and spelling skills, especially with multisyllabic words. Includes a sample detailed lesson, a link to other MWW-LP lessons, and a printable page of the student form. Timothy Rasinski, Reading Online, September 1999.
MI and Cognitive Skills: Book chapter discusses implications for applying the theory of multiple intelligences in the classroom. Includes suggestions for teaching spelling across the seven intelligences, such as singing spelling words and color coding spelling patterns. Thomas Armstrong, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, 2nd Edition, Chapter 12, 2000.
Phonetics: Spelling: Whole Language: How We Put Them Together for the Best of Both Worlds: Detailed article presented in question-answer format provides explanations and examples of a skill-based whole language approach to teaching reading, writing, and spelling. Includes lists of spelling patterns and ideas for effective classroom instruction. Myrna T. McCulloch, 1994.
Project Follow Through: In-Depth and Beyond: Article reviews Project Follow Through, one of history’s largest educational experiments, that compared nine instructional models’ effects on student learning outcomes in multiple subject areas. Includes graphs comparing results among the different models. Results clearly support the use of the Direct Instruction Model across all subjects, including spelling. Gary Adams, Effective School Practices, Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter 1995/1996.
Questions Teachers Ask About Spelling: Article reviews historical trends in spelling instruction and addresses common questions teachers have regarding spelling instruction, including spelling strategies, invented spelling, and students’ spelling levels. Shane Templeton & Darrell Morris, Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 1, 1999.
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Rebecca Sitton’s Appleseed E-Newsletter: A source of teaching tips and current practices in the area of spelling and word skills published four times a year. Offers ideas for incorporating her related Sourcebook Series in the classroom, seasonal ideas for spelling instruction, grade-leveled Instant Activities, and strategies for addressing specific spelling concerns. Free subscription available.
Reconceptualizing Spelling Development and Instruction: Article describes key features of the English spelling system and past and present trends in spelling instruction. Shane Templeton & Darrell Morris, Reading Online, Vol. 5, No. 3, October 2001.
Smart Notebook Tip for Smart Board: Step-by-step instructions on converting a pdf for use on your Smart Board.
The Resource Room: Reading and Spelling: Spelling guidelines and lessons using the Orton-Gillingham approach, including Multisensory Sight Word Spelling and How to Spell Words With Suffixes.
A Short Summary of Traditional Spelling Research: Article presents a research-based review of the effectiveness of various techniques for teaching spelling.
Spelling and Classroom Practices: Classroom recommendations for simplifying the English spelling system. Provides ideas for addressing common spelling difficulties, including double consonants, homophones, and silent letters.
Spelling: Best Ideas = Best Practices: Article gives examples of effective and ineffective strategies for teaching spelling. Shane Templeton (Editor), Voices from the Middle, Vol. 10, No. 4, May 2003.
Spelling Design for the Needs and Abilities of LEARNERS: Article presents ideas for simplifying the reading and writing process in the area of spelling. Provides suggestions for improving the English spelling system that would help all learners, including those with dyslexia.
Spelling Design for the Needs and Abilities of READERS: Article describes features of a spelling system that would help children improve their reading fluency and comprehension.
Spelling Design for the Needs and Abilities of WRITERS: Article compares traditional ideas of bad spellers and good spellers, and explains several changes that could be made in the English spelling system making good spelling possible for everyone.
Spelling It Right: Offers 3 pages of advice on the importance of spelling and links to related activities and information covering many topics, such as prefixes, suffixes, vowels, and plurals. Also a list of recommended spelling books.
Suggestions for Implementing Research-Based Spelling Instruction in the Language Arts Curriculum: Clearly outlined reference sheet for teaching spelling, emphasizing the use of phonology, phonics, patterns and rules, semantics and morphology, and mental orthographic images.
Tailored Reading-Spelling Instruction: Experimental research paper provides evidence supporting individualized and direct-instruction methods of teaching reading and spelling for students who fail to meet the No Child Left Behind standards. Julie J. Masterson, Bethany Black, Kierin Ellman, et al., 2005.
A Weekly Procedure for Teaching Spelling: Describes a method of spelling instruction that focuses on student understanding of sequences of sounds within words.
Words Ahead: A new approach to teaching spelling and reading that focuses on mastery of speech sounds, developed through the research and experience of a retired elementary school teacher. Includes links to printable speech sound charts, word study student handouts, a decodable dictionary, and more. Access an on-line presentation describing this method.
Word Study for Learning Disabilities and English Language Learners: Downloadable 50-page booklet containing phonemic awareness and phonics lesson plans. Includes lists of high frequency words and spelling patterns.
Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, 4th Edition: Research-based, developmental approach to word study that improves students’ literacy skills. Includes related DVD and CD-ROM.
Reliability & Validity Analyses: provides evidence of program’s effectiveness.
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Learning Activities and Games—Instructional games, worksheets, and activities.
Grades 1–3
Between the Lions: On-line spelling and reading games, printables, songs, and stories based on the PBS Kids television program. Includes Gawain’s Word, a spelling patterns game and Pounce, a word identification game.
Enchanted Learning: Printable and on-line versions of picture dictionaries available in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. The on-line version organizes words by beginning sounds and includes a printable activity or worksheet for most entries. $20 annual subscription is required to access PDF versions of books and worksheets.
HeidiSongs: Teacher-created lyrics and movements set to familiar children’s tunes help students master spellings of common sight words, colors, and homonyms. Descriptions, audio samples, and downloadable handmotions can be viewed by clicking on the following links: Sing and Spell 1, Sing and Spell 2, and Sing and Spell 3. Recommended Resource CD allows teachers to reproduce materials for individual classroom use.
Reading A–Z: The website has more than 2,500 downloadable books (including English, Spanish, and French versions) and thousands of teaching and learning materials.
Educational Resources, Board Games, and More: A classroom teacher shares her education and skills with Kids Games, and Fun Games. So lets play games!
Starfall: An on-line collection of entertaining, animated, and educational mini-movies, leveled stories, games, and seasonal activities that covers letter sounds, sight words, word families, digraphs, vowels, and more. While reading the stories, children can click on an unfamiliar word to hear it sounded out and read aloud.
Word Family Activity Book: A resource book of games and reproducibles teaching fifty word families, including flash cards, activity mats, word wheels, bingo, and concentration. Mary Rosenberg; Scholastic; 2001.
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Grades 4–6
A Feast of Homonyms: On-line games featuring common homonyms, including concentration, matching, word search, and flash cards.
Funbrain Kids Center: Free on-line word games such as Spell Check, Spellaroo, and Scramble-Saurus with varying levels of difficulty that help players improve their spelling and grammar skills.
Merriam-Webster Word Central: On-line source of word-related activities, including traditional and rhyming dictionaries, word-of-the-day, and a fun code-maker.
SuperKids Vocabulary Builders: On-line and printable games emphasizing word building, vocabulary, and spelling skills. Includes hangman, create-your-own word searches and word scramblers, word of the day, and more.
Tunes That Teach Spelling: CD and song sheets with twelve fun songs that teach spelling patterns, silent letters, homophones, and more. CD can be purchased by clicking on The Scholastic Store link at the right side of the page, and then typing Tunes That Teach Spelling in the search box to locate product.
Grades 1–6
Balanced Reading Graphical Organizers: A collection of printable graphic organizers, including storyboard, Venn diagram, KWL, cluster, and more.
English Avenue: A resource of phonics, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and reading activities, worksheets, games, and more. Includes word searches, crosswords, easy readers, and printable card and board games. Free sample activity pages available. $39.95 annual membership required.
Family Education: Printable word searches, puzzles, word banks, vocabulary lists, and more, many of which feature popular children’s stories. Links to printable activities and graphic organizers, including KWL charts and Venn diagrams can be found.
Lakeshore Learning Material: Products designed with learning in mind.
Literacy Center: On-line activities demonstrate letter identification, letter formation, letter sounds, word spellings, and more, spoken in English, Spanish, German, and French.
Look, Cover, Write & Check: An interactive, on-line spelling game that allows players to practice their own list of spelling words or use the provided words that follow specific spelling patterns. Players first study a word, and then try to type the correct spelling while the word is covered.
Many Things English Vocabulary: On-line spelling-related games, puzzles, quizzes, and word lists suitable for ESL and native English speakers.
Oz Read and Spell: On-line, kid-friendly movies contain explanations and examples of the basic knowledge for developing reading fluency and comprehension, including sounds, letters, words, and spelling. On-screen words in the movies are highlighted and read aloud.
S.C.O.R.E. Activity Bank: Printable graphic organizers, journals, logs, and rubrics. Includes directions for students and teacher.
Spelling It Right: Printable and on-line spelling games, including hangman, word searches, and puzzles.
Spin and Spell: An interactive, on-line game providing spelling practice for over two hundred everyday words. Players click on a picture to hear its name, and then try to correctly spell the word by clicking letters on a spinning wheel.
Teacher’s Corner: Seasonal and subject-specific word searches and word scrambles. Use either the pre-made printables or create your own wheel providing consonants and vowels. Clue cards provided. Uses weekly spelling list.
Wheel of Words Game: Classroom spelling game with an interactive spinning wheel. Players try to guess the mystery word by spinning. Game available from Lakeshore.
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►For Auditory Learners
Grades 1–3
Phonemic Awareness Listening Lottos: Beginning, rhyming, and ending sounds practice for up to four students at a time. Includes verbal directions for activities on CD or cassette tape and lotto cards with pictures. Lotto activities can be purchased individually or as a set from Lakeshore.
Phonemic Awareness Songs and Rhymes: CDs and activity books of seasonal songs and rhymes that teach important phonemic awareness skills, each sung to a familiar children’s tune. Includes related reproducibles. CDs and activity books (fall, winter and spring) can be purchased individually or as a set from Educational Record Center.
Songs for Teaching: Downloadable and CD versions of children’s songs that reinforce phonics development and phonemic awareness - songs and lyrics can be purchased.
Starfall: An on-line collection of entertaining, animated, and educational mini-movies, leveled stories, games, and seasonal activities that covers letter sounds, sight words, word families, digraphs, vowels, and more. While reading the stories, children can click on an unfamiliar word to hear it sounded out and read aloud.
Grades 1–6
Dr. Aardsma’s Spelling Drills: A CD-ROM program that uses a human voice to provide spelling practice of almost eight thousand words. Each word is given in the context of a sentence. Computer adjusts level of difficulty based on the responses of individual. CD-ROMs can be purchased from Timberdoodle Company.
Alphamation Animated Alphabet: A CD-ROM program that demonstrates how to correctly form each letter of the alphabet, available in both manuscript and cursive. Each letter is formed stroke by stroke with accompanying verbal directions. Can be used with individual students or the whole class. CD-ROM can be purchased through Universal Publishing.
Musical Spelling Rules: On-line music, words, downloadable midi files, and printable sheet music to help students master spelling rules. Music and links to lyrics and midi files can be found at Garden of Praise website.
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►For Visual Learners
Grades 1–3
Phonics Sounds Overhead Tiles: Using these color-coded phonics tiles, teachers can lead the entire class in word-building and phonics activities with ideas from the included teacher’s guide. Grouped by consonants, blends, vowel pairs, digraphs, vowels, and r-controlled vowels. Set of tiles can be purchased from Lakeshore.
Starfall: An on-line collection of entertaining, animated, and educational mini-movies, leveled stories, games, and seasonal activities that covers letter sounds, sight words, word families, digraphs, vowels, and more. While reading the stories, children can click on an unfamiliar word to hear it sounded out and read aloud.
Grades 1–6
Alphamation Animated Alphabet: A CD-ROM program that demonstrates how to correctly form each letter of the alphabet, available in both manuscript and cursive. Each letter is formed stroke by stroke with accompanying verbal directions. Can be used with individual students or the whole class. CD-ROM can be purchased through Universal Publishing.
►For Kinsthetic Learners
Grades 1–3
Sight-Word Tactile Cards: Seventy five of Fry’s sight words on flash cards in increasing difficulty. Children not only see the words, but can touch and trace the textured letters for additional tactile reinforcement. Sets of leveled cards can be purchased individually or as a set from Lakeshore.
Grades 4–6
Mini Word Spin: Hands-on spelling practice using magnetic alphabet spinning wheels. Each letter on the wheels has a numeric value. Players earn points by spinning the wheels to make words. Available through Timberdoodle Company.
►For ESL Students
Grades 1–3
Enchanted Learning: Printable and on-line versions of picture dictionaries available in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. The on-line version organizes words by beginning sounds and includes a printable activity or worksheet for most entries. An annual subscription is required to access PDF versions of books and worksheets.
Grades 1–6
Activities for ESL Students: On-line English grammar and vocabulary quizzes sorted by topic and level and bilingual quizzes available in over thirty languages.
Many Things English Vocabulary: On-line spelling-related games, puzzles, quizzes, and word lists suitable for ESL and native English speakers.
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Lesson Planning—Tools for planning and development of spelling instruction.
Grades 1–3
Ed Helper: Printable Dolch sight word lessons by grade level, including word walls, practice sheets, and stories. Teachers can enter personalized spelling lists and the website creates custom worksheets and puzzles for classroom use. Annual subscription required to access personalized versions of printouts.
Fun With Phonograms: Learning How Words Work: Reproducible stories, poems, and puzzles make learning word families more enjoyable. Trisha Callella, Creative Teaching Press.
Jan Brett’s Home Page: Well-known children’s book author offers printable and on-line games, flash cards, charts, and student worksheets featuring Dolch and high frequency word lists, phonograms, handwriting practice, and student activities. Printable pages beautifully illustrated with characters from her stories.
Manuscript Chart: Printable chart showing manuscript letter and number formation using color-coded strokes and verbal cues.
Mrs. Alphabet: Teaching strategies, printables, and games emphasizing phonemic awareness, spelling, and phonics skills, including word walls, alphabet poems, sight words, and word families.
Patti’s Electronic Classroom: Lesson plans for teaching phonemic awareness through activities such as syllable segmentation, sound isolation, and making words.
S.C.O.R.E. In the Classroom: Detailed phonemic awareness and phonics lesson ideas, including segmentation, blending, making words, and rhyming. Also includes stories with questions for students to answer on-line.
Grades 4–6
Upper-Grade Phonics: A Discovery Approach to Investigating Language Patterns—Interactive mini-lessons and activities help students master more advanced phonics skills, such as word analysis. Joyce Cockson & Sarah M. Fornar, Creative Teaching Press.
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Grades 1–6
28 Rules For English Spelling: Changing the way people think about teaching—Writing, Spelling, Reading, and Thinking. The Riggs Institute.
Decoding Multisyllabic Words: Spelling lesson introduces students to multisyllabic words, common syllable spelling patterns, and closed syllables.
Discovery Education unitedstreaming: An on-line collection of standards-driven, research-based videos, images, songs, lesson plans, and more, searchable by grade level, subject area, curriculum standard by state, and media type. Paid subscription required to access website. Product overview, including links to demonstration video and key benefits can be found by selecting the Product Info link at the top of the page. A free thirty day trial membership registration form is avalilable.
Four Blocks Literacy Model: Identifies and describes the four foundations of literacy: guided reading, self-selected reading, writing, and working with words. Offers ideas for incorporating these strategies in the classroom. Includes a sample spelling mini-lesson and links to research and related materials. Detailed descriptions and teaching ideas can be found by clicking on each of the colored blocks.
Literacy Teaching Ideas: Printable spelling-related activities, games, and teaching ideas, including spelling phoneme charts, word family spellings, and frequently misspelled word lists.
Read Write Think: A collection of over two hundred lesson plans that reinforce spelling skills. Includes activities related to familiar children’s literature, phonics development, and spelling patterns.
Sound & Phonogram Charts: Charts show seventy phonograms that represent the forty five sounds of the English language, including examples of words that fit into each category. A collection of teacher-created classroom activities to boost student retention of spelling words.
Spelling Lesson Plans: A collection of classroom spelling games and activities, such as the Alphabet Game and Spelling Go-Fish.
Spice Up Your Spelling Lessons: Lesson plans and resources for teaching spelling and preparing for spelling bees. Includes Earn Spelling Points!, a lesson that gives individual students power to create their own weekly spelling plan from a list of assignments; Soccer Spelling, an activity that uses a printable soccer game board to help students practice spelling words; and lists of grade-leveled spelling words.
State Content Standards: State-specific teaching standards and framework for every subject and grade level, easily accessible through the Council of Chief of Chief State School Officers webpage.
Teacher’s Corner: Reading and writing lesson plan ideas and related links, including activities that focus on spelling, word walls, vocabulary, grammar, handwriting, phonics, sight words, and more.
Truespel: A phonetic spelling system that associates the forty phonemes of the English language into only forty spellings using Truespel. See a chart containing the forty phonemes and examples of traditional and Truespel spellings of words. The on-line Translator converts any webpage or text between traditional and Truespel spellings, a useful tool for teachers of native and non-native English Speakers.
Word Study for Learning Disabilities and English Language Learners: Downloadable fifty page booklet containing phonemic awareness and phonics lesson plans. Includes lists of high frequency words and spelling patterns.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions):
1. How do you use A Spelling Study Strategy? Can I use A Spelling Study Strategy blackline for students to write the Pretest?
A Spelling Study Strategy is designed for students to copy the words into the left-hand column of the blackline. This provides a model for study. Once the student is familiar with the words, he or she folds the column over on the dotted line. The teacher, classroom aide, or a fellow student then dictates the list for the student to write in the right-hand column. The student unfolds the paper and uses the copied list to check his or her spelling. Errors are rewritten correctly in the center area on the gray lines. Since the Pretest is designed to be given to students without having previously seen the words, it is not suggested for use in the Pretest. However, if a second trial test is given during the week, A Spelling Study Strategy could be used at that time. It can also be used by students who missed a few words on the Pretest and who need to study just those words.
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2. I have a number of poor spellers in my classroom. They do very poorly on the Pretest, sometimes missing all the words. The Posttest is not much better. How can I help them?
We have included a section called Differentiated Instruction on the sidebar of the second page of each Teacher Edition lesson. This section shows the words that can be assigned to students who missed more than half of the words on the Pretest. These words are used in the first few sentences of each Review Assessment. You may want to consider assigning a reduced number of words. Sometimes having fewer words to study can relieve the anxiety that many struggling students feel about spelling. Try using some of the strategies and activities listed in Student Spelling Support to help those students throughout the week.
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3. What do you suggest for spelling instruction on a shortened week?
On a shortened school week it is still important to give the Pretest and allow students to self-correct their papers. After checking their papers, students may advance to the first page in their text. Simply have the students complete the workbook pages and omit any additional blacklines or activities. Give the Posttest at the end of the shortened week.
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4. Why are there five readiness lessons included before the first word list lesson in first grade?
The readiness lessons provide a review of the letter-sound relationships introduced and practiced in kindergarten. This review helps students ‘tune-up’ their phonics skills after summer vacation.
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5. There are dictation sentences provided for the final posttest. Should I grade these sentences by only counting the misspelled spelling words or should I grade the punctuation as well?
Grading the dictation sentences is a matter of personal preference and may be based on the language arts skills of each particular class. Some teachers only count the spelling words within the dictation sentences, and others grade every word and punctuation mark. One option would be to grade the dictation sentences as extra credit.
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6. In grades four through six, I notice that Vocabulary Words are assigned. Are students expected to learn the spellings and definitions of these words?
In grades four through six, Vocabulary Words are a part of the list words. The student edition book gives substantial practice for students to learn both the meaning and the spelling of these words. Students are tested formally on the spelling, not the definitions of the Vocabulary Words.
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7. Our school uses Smart Boards. Are the posters and transparencies on CD so that they can be projected?
Yes. The CD also contains the reproducible blackline masters.
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Ask a Question or Share an Idea:
Do you have a question to ask or an idea to share about the Purposeful Design spelling series?
► Email your question or idea directly to the Spelling Editorial Team.
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