Spelling Now A Major Concern
Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:56 am
My DDs Primary does not do spelling tests from any age. Its been a bone of contention with me since Reception, but the Head is adamant she will not introduce them. Ive bought it up at every parent / teacher night as its been my one big concern with my DD.
In Yr3 they did get 10 spellings a week, but they werent tested on them, they just had to write them in their homework books - no weekly tests.
I didnt realise just HOW BAD my DDs spelling was until I started doing some comprehension with her using the Bond books -8-9 yrs. She is 8 and Yr4.
One of the questions was "What does Contagious" mean in sentence 4?" her answer "caching" -of course meaning catching - an example of a simple word spelt wrong. Last night she wrote a factual piece about her school -she spelt her school name wrong 3 times (each with different spellings) and words like "every" "Planning" etc. Usually she misses out a letter like the second e in every and one of the n's in planning.
I cant get to the bottom of whether she is simply careless or whether there is a more deep seated problem. She is top of the class for literacy and her teacher seems totally unconcerned with her dire spelling. She often writes 5 or 6 page stories and if I corrected every mistake in red, you would barely be able to read the text LOL!
Ive gone from annoyed, to concerned to now deeply troubled by it and Im not sure the best way to tackle it. Ive tried doing spelling tests at home but that isnt working. She reads an awful lot and has a reading age of about 11, so can tackle "harder" books. She reads aloud to me and doesnt stumble on many words so she can definately read the words she cant spell OK!
Is it simply a matter of practise and it will come eventually? My 6 year old son seems much more a "natural" speller and although has trouble with his handwriting, what he DOES get down on paper is all spelt beautifully LOL!
I think this has come to a head as even my DD was shocked she spelt the school name wrong and got very tearful saying she was "rubbish" and wasnt going to write anything anymore! Managed to comfort her and promised to work together to help her (this is obviously a totally seperate issue from 11+ work).
Has anyone any advice on things we can do to help her? I think she needs to learn to "proof read" her work and slow down a bit, but Id be interested if anyone else has had the same issue and what you did to help?
Interestingly, one of the mums in Yr6 whose son is taking the 11+ next month, says her lad is EXACTLY the same and school have never tackled it, saying "he will improve in time"!!
In Yr3 they did get 10 spellings a week, but they werent tested on them, they just had to write them in their homework books - no weekly tests.
I didnt realise just HOW BAD my DDs spelling was until I started doing some comprehension with her using the Bond books -8-9 yrs. She is 8 and Yr4.
One of the questions was "What does Contagious" mean in sentence 4?" her answer "caching" -of course meaning catching - an example of a simple word spelt wrong. Last night she wrote a factual piece about her school -she spelt her school name wrong 3 times (each with different spellings) and words like "every" "Planning" etc. Usually she misses out a letter like the second e in every and one of the n's in planning.
I cant get to the bottom of whether she is simply careless or whether there is a more deep seated problem. She is top of the class for literacy and her teacher seems totally unconcerned with her dire spelling. She often writes 5 or 6 page stories and if I corrected every mistake in red, you would barely be able to read the text LOL!
Ive gone from annoyed, to concerned to now deeply troubled by it and Im not sure the best way to tackle it. Ive tried doing spelling tests at home but that isnt working. She reads an awful lot and has a reading age of about 11, so can tackle "harder" books. She reads aloud to me and doesnt stumble on many words so she can definately read the words she cant spell OK!
Is it simply a matter of practise and it will come eventually? My 6 year old son seems much more a "natural" speller and although has trouble with his handwriting, what he DOES get down on paper is all spelt beautifully LOL!
I think this has come to a head as even my DD was shocked she spelt the school name wrong and got very tearful saying she was "rubbish" and wasnt going to write anything anymore! Managed to comfort her and promised to work together to help her (this is obviously a totally seperate issue from 11+ work).
Has anyone any advice on things we can do to help her? I think she needs to learn to "proof read" her work and slow down a bit, but Id be interested if anyone else has had the same issue and what you did to help?
Interestingly, one of the mums in Yr6 whose son is taking the 11+ next month, says her lad is EXACTLY the same and school have never tackled it, saying "he will improve in time"!!