Monday, November 23, 2009
Rebecca
My son, is reading using the Headsprout program- he can decode and works well when given a list of vocabulary words as spelling words. We call out the words and he writes them down. He does well with this task. However, when he spontaneously generates words on his own, he almost always misspells words that he should know and he often leaves out vowels. Yesterday, he wrote me a note that said " I lc sm kac." He read it to me and he said that he wrote "I like some cake." These are ALL words that he can read, decode and spell during lessons! Help!
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This is a situation where "phonemic segmentation" can bring about dramatic results. Start with words that have only two sounds. (Remember, a word such as "she" has only two sounds.) Model a couple of this: "I'll say the sounds in IF: /iii/ /fff/. (Pause between each sound.) Your turn." "I'll say the sounds in AM: /aaa/ /mmm/. Start trying the "your turn" without a model, staying with these simple two-sound words: to, go, at, it, so, he, she, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen the student can do these with no errors, to to words with three sounds: can, man, cat, sit, etc. Again, start with some models, then have student do several on his or her own. Mix the new three-sound words with the previously mastered two-sound words. This should go on for a few minutes each day for a few days.
Still at two- and three-sound words, model: "First sound, /mmm/, next sound, /aaa/ next sound, /nnn/. Have students say sounds in words as usual, but add questions: First sound? Next sound? Next sound? After nailing that down, continue by gradually adding in four- sound words, then five sound words. That should be enough.
Note that this doesn't lead to perfect spelling. What it does is reduce the universe of misspellings, eliminating the improbably such as "sm" for some, or "lk" for like. The misspelings will move into the realm of phonemically possible, and it's a much shorter step from there to "correct."
Between this segmentation work and continued work in Headsprout, I predict substantially improved performance in spontaneous spelling of words not previously studied.
November 22, 2009 10:01 AM