Spelling

[fatbananas]

Now we have started doing verbal reasoning together, I can see how having more accurate spelling is really going to help DS. I've seen people on here refer to the Schonnell lists, but I wondered how people actually embedded the spelling. DS always gets 20/20 for his weekly tests, but in a written piece of work he seems to concentrate a lot less on accurate spelling .

Also, how many spellings did people get their children to do on top of their weekly school spellings?

[Daogroupie]

If you set them targets to use more interesting words in their creative writing you will be able to get the spelling of important words right. It is much better to apply them than to learn them in isolation. DG

[Tinkers]

My DD used to get spelling lists to learn, about 10-20 words. She was the same, could spell them for the spelling test, but not when writing generally.
Now they tell them not just to learn the learn, but to make sure they understand the meaning. They have to write a sentence in their homework book for each word.
In the spelling test they get a worksheet with sentences on with the words being tested missing, so not only domthey have to spell the word they have to know what it means too.

Seems to make a difference.

[ourmaminhavana]

Hi Fatbananas,
I remember doing an exercise with kids in my classes where we identified what type of spelling errors they made eg wrong usage of the word eg there/their/they're missing out letters through carelessness, not knowing a spelling rule eg doubling the consonant before adding a 'y', missing a letter off the end, changing the tense part way through the sentence etc. Sorry, I can't remember all of them, but you get the basic idea. This helped to then see if there was a particular type of reason for their spelling errors so they then knew what to focus on, although of course it could be more than one type!
Going back into the classroom myself on Tuesday after 15 years absence so had better go and prepare!!

[fatbananas]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies. All very helpful! I will apply the 'spelling rules/ types' Ourmam suggested, then work on them, by giving them context in some creative writing piece or by filling in the missing words. Also, I think it will have the added benefit of not looking like a school list!

[mystery]

Which verbal reasoning papers are you doing which are making you feel that spelling needs to improve? I thought this might be the case with my year 4 DD but have not hit any problems which are spelling related in Bond assessment papers 9-10 years.

Now though it looks as though Kent might be moving to CEM spelling might be key in the different type of verbal reasoning they use e.g. could come unstuck in Cloze passages with multiple choice options including homophones.