Carly,
You are on the right path. Enjoy the stories. Smile over them, and put them away for future smiles. But since she is writing so much, it is time to start spelling instruction if you haven’t already. Then you will start to give her the skills to become as good with spelling as she is with story writing!

Sally,
I’ve gotten good at long looking while my kids write. I look at my phone, shuffle the review cards, look ahead to the next Step in the Teacher’s Manual, get up and straighten the bookshelves, anything to not see what they are writing as they write. They do better overall if I’m not watching while they work.

Crystal,
We recommend that most students start with level 1 to build a strong foundation in spelling.

Some students are able to start with level 2, if they have the foundation. The article Which Spelling Level Should We Start With? has more information on the concepts taught in All About Spelling 1 and will help you decide if your student can skip level 1 and go into level 2.

All About Spelling is a building block program–each level builds upon the previous one. The rules and concepts learned in Level 1 are applied in Level 2, and then those are applied in Level 3, and so on. Placement for spelling is based on the student’s knowledge of spelling rules and concepts rather than grade level, reading level, or the words a student has memorized.

For example, we find that many students simply memorize easy words like “cat” and “kid” but have no idea why one uses a C and the other uses a K, or that the same rules that apply to these words also apply to higher level words such as “concentrate.” Other students switch letters or leave out letters entirely. This usually occurs because they don’t know how to hear each sound in the word. Level 1 has specific techniques to solve these problems.

Level 2 of AAS focuses on learning the syllable types, when they are used and how they affect spelling. This information is foundational for higher levels of spelling. Three syllable rules are introduced in Level 2, and then more in Level 3 and up. For this reason, we generally don’t recommend starting higher than level 2.

Marie encourages parents and teachers to “fast track” if the student knows how to spell most of the words but does not understand the underlying basic spelling concepts. In this case, very quickly skim the parts that he already knows and slow down on the parts that he needs to learn. Pull out several words as examples. Make sure he understands the concept being taught, and then move on. This blog article has a good example of how you might fast track.

Cheryn,
You have a great approach! I especially like how you leave the decision with your children, giving them the power over their writing. Thank you for sharing this.

Brandi,
It is very difficult at times to allow incorrect spelling to remain on school work. Honestly, I’m not always successful at letting it go, although I do try to limit myself. I help my students and myself ahead of time, however, by providing them the spelling of any word they ask for while they are writing. I don’t make them look it up or sound it out or anything. If they ask, I give them the spelling (although I do give them the spelling syllable by syllable, to reinforce that concept).

This is a great practice, Amy! Being able to self-edit is an important skill, and this is the beginning of learning it. Thank you for sharing this.

Thank you, Shawn! I’ll be passing this on to the entire AALP team.

You do have an interesting point, Kat, but before a child can write a word down he has to have worked through the word and have put that imprint in his mind, even if only for a second. Even if he is writing very slowly, sound by sound, he has to have a picture of the sound in his mind before he writes it. The imprint is there. Correcting the child before he has a chance to read the word over and decide if it needs correcting himself isn’t going to remove that newly formed imprint. Rather, if a child can read the word he wrote and see that it is misspelled and needs correcting, all by himself, it will make a much larger impact on establishing the correct spelling in his mind.

Thank you for disagreeing with us, truly. We appreciate the chance to think through our recommendations deeply.

Holly,
That’s a really great way to approach a mistake that a student can’t find on their own. Thanks for pointing this out!

Thank you for describing how you do dictation and handle misspelled words, Stephanie.

Beth,
Thank you for sharing your perspectives on this both as a classroom teacher and a mom. Great points!

Christy,
This blog post, Auditory Processing Disorder: How can I help my child?, may prove helpful for you.

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We’re hear to help!

Alison,
Many students will develop a good feel for correct spelling through reading, but many others will not. My own daughter was an advanced reader, but was a very poor speller.

I am not familiar with Danish, but many languages are not nearly as difficult to spell as English. English has something like 250 ways to spell just 45 sounds. There are 9 ways to spell the single sound of long E!

Jane,
Hold your students responsible for the words, rules, and patterns they have been explicitly taught. If the word uses a rule or pattern they haven’t yet been taught, it’s fine to give them the spelling of the word.

You can also try having your children go ahead and spell words the best they can, and you will help them with any spelling help they need after they are done. Searching for the right spelling of a word, or waiting for mom to tell them the right spelling, can slow down their writing progress. With many kinds of writing it’s better to get the words out and come back and perfect it after. Writing often flows better that way.

Raquel,
Great idea to do dictation from across the room. It makes it impossible to jump on mistakes too quickly.

Andrea,
While you shouldn’t correct your son immediately, you should correct him before he goes on to further words. When you are doing the word cards, have him write one word. After he writes it, ask him to read it just as written. Then ask him if that was right. If he says it was right and it was then tell him so. If he says it was right but it wasn’t, tell him it is misspelled and give him a chance to correct it. Try asking him if he can tell you why the first way was wrong and the second was correct. If he sees that it is wrong and corrects it give him extra praise for finding his error and fixing it without any help!

When he is doing dictation, allow him to finish the whole phrase or sentence. Then ask him to read what he wrote, checking for errors. I use the acronym COPS with my kids: Capitalization, Organization (handwriting errors, spacing, etc.), Punctuation, and Spelling. (You can find lots of cute printables if you google “COPS editing”.) After my kids write one dictation passage, they are supposed to COPS it. After they have checked the passage for those four things, I then tell them if there are any errors they missed. Again, I allow them the chance to correct it without help first.

Maybe if your son corrects each word or each passage before going on to the next, he won’t be so devastated.