Tips
- We purchased headphones so the child reviewing could listen without distracting the other children. It is good to have a specific area where they will be doing their spelling review.
- Teach your students how to use the pause button so that they can review at their own pace.
- These review lists are not going in their Learning Logs, but rather in a separate notebook. It is nice to keep the review lists together so you can look back at how they are improving and/or see patterns of problems in their past work.
- * The number of lists you have your children review each day is entirely up to you. My youngest (1st grade) had no problem listening to the CD for the current week’s list as well as two review lists. Older students may be able to handle more. Just be sensitive to the needs of your children. I have found that for my children, listening to the CD is somewhat of a novelty and they never complain about doing it.
This is how we use the CD in our home:
Monday – dictate the spelling words to my children as per Wanda’s instruction in Spell to Write and Read. After dictation, my children will go to the CD and review the spelling list from the previous week.
Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday - we do a few of the Spelling Enrichments for our current lesson. The children will go to the CD and review the current week’s list as well review two other lists*. The lessons that my children are reviewing are based on their mastery. Some children struggle with words that are easy for other children and vice versa. I like to see them get 100% on each list several times before we stop reviewing that list. Even when they have spelled the list 100% correct several times, we are able to go back several weeks/months later to make sure the lists are still mastered. I will correct their lists or they will go to the WISE guide themselves and check their work. We talk about the areas they are struggling, write the words correctly and mark them.
Friday – use the CD to “test” the current week’s list. Correct together and discuss any problems they may be having. We also finish any spelling enrichments we didn’t get to during the week.
We have had some great comments and feedback from those of you using the Spell to Write and Read Companion CD Set. We have created this page for you teachers to share your thoughts, suggestions, comments or ideas with others. Read the posts below and enter your own at the bottom of this screen.
