Practicing Spelling

Fall is definitely here along with my favorite fall treat- candy corn and peanuts! If you haven't tried this delicious combination yet, get on it! I keep it in a jar at home and it disappears quite quickly! Some people add M&M's to the mix but I like it without the chocolate. It almost tastes like a Payday. Anyway, enough about my sweet tooth and onto educational things! Many parents have said, "My child is a horrible speller. How can I fix this?" Practice! It takes time for kids to quickly recognize blends, prefixes and suffixes and often using a dictionary proves hard because it's time consuming. Kids also don't like writing but they do like playing in sand. I saw this, on Pinterest of course, and thought I would pass the idea along to parents of struggling spellers. Using their SFA word list (their teachers would be happy to give it to you) or words they come across as they're reading, they can practice "writing" in the sand. Unfortunately there aren't sight word lists for kids above 3rd grade so I don't have a specific list for you. If you want to practice Pre-K through 3rd grade sight words search "Dolch Sight Words" on the computer for lists or look here for complete lists. You can practice in the sand by providing a model like the picture shows or giving your child a word aloud and having them "write" it with their finger.

Image and link found here