I am a new LD teacher with 4th and 5th grade students. The students are extremely below grade level, most of my students are reading at a Primer to 1st grade level. The curriculum for spelling at my school is Houghton Mifflin. I am really not too fond of the program and know that my students need explicit instruction in spelling at their own levels. I have thought about combining reading skills (ie. short i ) with spelling words. So for example, one week we would focus on how to decode words with the short i in them. I then would include short i words on their spelling lists. Does anyone have any suggestions about teaching spelling this way? Thanks a lot.
Spelling
di421, where in Illinois are you? I just want to alert you that the Illinois Branch of the International Dyslexia Association is having their annual conference in Oakbrook on October 14-15. I’ll be there exhibiting my Spel-Lang Tree books (http://www.spellangtree.org). These also work extremely well to help children with decoding and spelling. If you’re close to the Oakbrook area, I encourage you to go to that conference — great speakers and many helpful people. Grace
Oakbrook Conference
Grace,
Sounds great. I work in Aurora, so it is not too far. Could you give me more info about it. Such as location, time, cost to get in and maybe I can pass it around the school.
Thanks,
di421
Re: Spelling Instruction
I like AVKO, but I think it would be too high for pre-primer to 1st grade readers.
These kids definitely need a decoding program with spelling tied in. I would second Grace’s recommendation to go to the IDA conference where you can learn about various programs. You will need some training to use most of the good programs. Perhaps Grace’s program can give you a start. Some other good resources to help you through this year can be found at EPS www.epsbooks.com.
Please go to the part of this site called LD In Depth. Click on Reading and read all the articles. That will give you a very good foundation of current reading research. You will also see names of suggested reading programs. Almost all teach spelling at the same time. Try to find one that you can be trained in next summer if you have a desire to help children with reading disorders. And do join the IDA. That is the best source of current information on dyslexia/reading LD.
Janis
Re: Spelling Instruction
I have heard very good things about the EPS book, “HOw to Teach Spelling”, “How to Spell”. (www.epsbooks.com)
They go from K-12. They are logical and meaningful lists (not like the silly stuff they hand out in the readers, unconnected lists of words).
They are pretty reasonable. The how to teach is $26, and grade level books which might ? be optional are $7-9. I might get one of the grade books and do the exercises with the group.
Contains info on the following: spelling rules and generalizations; worrd lists, how to plan a spelling lesson, etc.
BTW, this is sort of second hand as I actually haven’t seen the books.
—des
IBIDA Conference
The IBIDA conference is October 14-15 at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oakbrook Terrace. From Aurora, you’d head east on I-88 to Rte. 83, north to Butterfield. Take the Butterfield east exit and stay in the right lane. It will take you right into the center.
The conference isn’t cheap. After 9/22 (today), it’s $245.00 for a non-menber and $205 for a member. Single day sessions are $250.00 and $185.00. Advance registration deadline is Oct. 7. Groups of 3 or more registering together by Oct. 7 receive a 10 percent discount on total registration fees. Right now that would be about equal to the charges for those who registered early. It’s an excellent conference though, worth every penny. Pre-registration DOES include lunch.
Your best bet is to call IBIDA at 630.469.6900
Yes, there is a program that fits perfectly with this. It is AVKO Spelling. Each set of word lists focuses on one or two common phonetic patterns. I have the adult set, probably a little different from the children’s, but the structure is the same; in the lists I have the first five days focus on words with the “in” combination (in, kin, skin, tin, thin, shin, pin, spin, begin) and a second pattern of _e words (be, me, he).
If you wanted to focus on only one pattern you could leave the _e words out in your first run-through and go back and get them later.
AVKO is very inexpensive; you only need the manual — use ordinary looseleaf paper instead of paying for answer sheets. The manual is a very reasonable price.
The whole plan behind AVKO is very different from the common (ineffective) spelling approach. Students do NOT memorize-and-forget a list once weekly; rather, they get the list “cold”, no study, and work out the spellings phonetically. There is a slightly different list every day — day 1 pin, day 2 pins, day 3 pinned, day 4 pinning, day 5 mixed review. The combination of repetition, pattern study, and similar/different practice really builds skill.
Immediately after you dictate the list you correct it and have the students practice the correct spelling — and please don’t waste the time and teach cheating by having them carefully erase their errors and pretend they are always perfect! — best method is to run a single light line through the incorrect spelling and write the word correctly beside it; as the AVKO manual states, Mistakes Are Oppotrunities To Learn.
I just got AVKO in the summer myself, I do not work for the company, and highly recommend it from experience working with teen non-readers.