Hello,
My dtr has been practicing writing and the only way to get her interested in this, is by making short sentences which she likes e.g . My wand is pink ( she is in the princess stage). But instead of wand , she phonetically spelled “wond” , instead of writing Sanju ( her dad’s short name) she wrote " Sunjoo" .There are a few more words she is doing the same thing. We used LR and she actually is learning to read using LR and phonics which seems to work for us.
How should I correct her?
thanks in advance .
I think the biggest problem for children learning to read with phonics is that English is not spelled phonetically a lot of the time. :rolleyes:
This site: http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/ has a lot of resources and reviews for both US and UK English.
Here is another good resource for UK English: http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/englishA3.htm
The most important thing at the momant is to praise her effort. Tell her ‘good try’ but it is a silly word that has different letters to how it sounds when you write it down. Don’t make a fuss about poor spelling, encouraging effort is more important at this stage, you don’t want to put her off by making a big problem out of it.
One idea is to take the words she likes to write most (like wand or Sanju) and make a little ‘reminder’ flashcard that you use when writing, so she has the correct spelling to copy. Or make a big page with the word on that you have to decorate together (pink glitter on the word wand, etc.). Try and make it fun!
Dr. Richard Gentry’s book “Raising Confident Readers” has a whole section on “invented spellings.” I found it very interested and I am glad to have learned about it before we enter that stage.
all kids in montessori primary classroom start writing phonetically so love would be luv , and many other words . this first writing should be treasured . it is very normal , later on the kids will learn all the rules of the english language , all the exceptions and learn the right spelling but for now i think you should just encourage her writing and refrain from correcting her when she writes . instead use other sessions to reinforce the rules .
viv
Thanks to all of you , your suggestions are very helpful. I would just tell her what the correct spelling was and let her take the lead but it concerned me at times.
@Teaching my toddlers: thanks for the book, I will try to get hold of it .
@Bella: Mt dtr does go to montessori and that fact slipped out of my mind, thanks for reminding me about it.
@Mummy Roo, That was a very practical solution , I am going to try it.
I forgot to add, praise them and say “that is great ‘kid spelling’!!” That is what Dr. Gentry recommends, more info is in the book. You teach them “adult spelling” and invented spelling is “kid spelling.”