Introduction
Strategies
General Strategies
Strategy 1: What Kind of Speller Are You
Strategy 2: Developing a Repertoire of Spelling Strategies
Strategy 3: Why Write With Invented Spelling?
Strategy 4: Perfectionists
Strategy 5: Why—and When—Spelling Matters
Strategy 6: Why Reading Helps You Spell
Strategy 7: One-Second Words <link to sample lesson>
Strategy 8: How to Memorize Words
Strategy 9: Try It Two Ways
Strategy 10: Does it Look Right?
Strategy 11: Finding Spellings in the Classroom
Strategy 12: Using a Word Wall for Spelling
Strategy 13: Helping Each Other With Spelling
Strategy 14: How to Use a Spell Checker
Strategy 15: Spelling Better as You Get Older
Dictionary Strategies
Strategy 16: Using Different Kinds of Dictionaries
Strategy 17: Alphabetical Order in the Dictionary: First Letters
Strategy 18: Alphabetical Order in the Dictionary: Second Letters
Strategy 19: Using Guide Words in the Dictionary
Strategy 20: Finding Words You Don’t Know How to Spell
Strategy 21: Definitions in the Dictionary
Strategy 22: Pronunciation Guides in the Dictionary
Strategy 23: Using Indexes and Other Places to Find Words
Editing Strategies
Strategy 24: The Importance of Spelling in Published Writing
Strategy 25: How Many Spellings Should I Edit?
Strategy 26: How to Find All of Your Misspellings
Strategy 27: The Right Spelling of the Wrong Word
Strategy 28: How to Achieve 100% Correct Spelling
Strategy 29: When it Really, Really Has to Be Right
When Spelling Doesn’t Come Easy
Strategy 30: Is Spelling Hard for You?
Strategy 31: The Choices You Make When You Spell
Strategy 32: What to Focus on to Become a Better Speller
Patterns
Simple Patterns
Pattern 1: How to Spell the /s/ Sound <link to sample lesson>
Pattern 2: How to Spell the /k/ Sound
Pattern 3: How to Spell the /j/ Sound
Pattern 4: Is it w or wh?
Pattern 5: A Few Tricky Consonants
Pattern 6: Long a
Pattern 7: Long e
Pattern 8: Long i
Pattern 9: Long o
Pattern 10: Long u and the Two oo’s
Pattern 11: R-Controlled Vowels
More Complex Patterns
Pattern 12: i Before e (It still works!)
Pattern 13: Adding Suffixes: Changing y to i
Pattern 14: Adding Suffixes: Dropping the Final e
Pattern 15: Adding Suffixes: Doubling the Final Consonant
Pattern 16: Double Consonants
Pattern 17: Schwa: What Is It and How Do I Spell It?
Pattern 18: Silent Letters: How Do I Know They’re There?
Pattern 19: Tricky Endings: -able or -ible?
Pattern 20: Those Pesky Homophones
Pattern 21: Spelling Long Words
Pattern 22: Related Words Have Similar Spellings
Pattern 23: Words with Apostrophes: Possessives
Pattern 24: Words with Apostrophes: Contractions
Enrichment
Pattern 25: What I Wonder about Spelling
Pattern 26: How People Used To Spell
Pattern 27: Why English Spelling Is So Weird
Pattern 28: Words from Spanish
Pattern 29: Words from All Over the World
Pattern 30: Spelling in Other Languages
Pattern 31: Writing in Other Alphabets and Without Alphabets
Pattern 32: Crazy Spelling Out in the World
Pattern 33: The National Spelling Bee
Appendix
Reproducibles
The teaching tools referenced in the lessons (graphic organizers, word lists, checklists, and questionnaires) are provided in a reproducible format.
Assessment
This set of tools help you look at children’s spelling from a variety of perspectives: knowledge, strategies, attitudes, and achievement (how well students spell in their writing).
References
This annotated bibliography of books for teachers and kids about spelling and related matters is meant to suggest some books you might like to read yourself and some that you might like to have available in your classroom.
