The importance of spelling has been questioned in recent years. Some people say that students will naturally develop spelling skills through reading. However, specialists state that spelling improves not only reading and writing fluency but also vocabulary and comprehension. Know what reading specialists have researched and get your own conclusions.
research: 1200 students from 17 schools followed from K to 4th grade. |
According to Reading Specialist Susan Jones, learning to spell helps to cement the connection between the letters and their sounds; learning high-frequency “sight words” to mastery level improves both reading and writing.
Professors Joshi, Treiman, Carreker and Moats describe this connection: “The correlation between spelling and reading comprehension is high because both depend on a common denominator: proficiency with language. The more deeply and thoroughly a student knows a word, the more likely he or she is to recognize it, spell it, define it, and use it appropriately in speech and writing.”
According to those Professors, “the major goal of the English writing system is not merely to ensure accurate pronunciation of the written word – it is to convey meaning. If words that sound the same (e.g., rain, rein and reign) were spelled the same way, their meanings would be harder to differentiate.”
Try one of the spelling games below and have a nice time.
Sentence Hangman
Start by putting dashes for a phrase on the board (play with your entire class). Players guess letters trying to decipher the words. If a student calls a letter that is in the phrase, you fill in all the places where it belongs. If they call a letter that is not in the phrase they receive a penalty. After a practice round with you leading, have students break into groups of three and play on their own.
Telephone Spelling
Divide your class into two teams. Have each team stand in one long line. You whisper a word to the person at the back of the line, and he/she carefully whispers it to the person in front of him/her.
That person whispers to the person in front of him/her and so on until the first person in line hears the word. He/she goes to the board and writes the word that he/she heard. If the word is right, his/her team scores a point. He/She then goes to the back of the line and the teams play again with a new word.
Sources:
Elisabeth Prescher 
;é professora e autora de livros de inglês. Graduada em Letras pela Universidade Mackenzie e pós graduada em Educação Infantil pela FMU. Possui certificados de proficiência em inglês pelas universidades de Michigan e Cambridge. Passatempo favorito: escrever.
Contato: eprescher@gmail.com
;é professora e autora de livros de inglês. Graduada em Letras pela Universidade Mackenzie e pós graduada em Educação Infantil pela FMU. Possui certificados de proficiência em inglês pelas universidades de Michigan e Cambridge. Passatempo favorito: escrever.
Contato: eprescher@gmail.com
