Our Spelling Program
Beginning January, every child in the class will participate in our weekly spelling program! Your child will be given a green notebook where he/she will keep their spelling words. Spelling words and sentences will be written on the board for them to copy into their notebook every Monday (or Tuesday if we are off on Monday). A worksheet will also be sent home so they can practice writing the words three times each. (THIS SHOULD NOT BE DONE IN THEIR NOTEBOOKS PLEASE)! This worksheet is due back to school before their spelling test at the end of the week to ensure that they have been practicing. Five spelling words will be given out the first week and ten spelling words will be given from then on (five new words and five review words). They will have a spelling test at the end of each week. This usually occurs on a Friday but could take place a day earlier if it is a short week and we are off on Friday. ***Tests will take place on Thursday if that particular Friday is a half day. ****Spelling words and sentences are always available on "This Month's Focus" webpage so if your child is absent on the day these are copied, they should come to school having already written them in their notebook so they are up to date. DO NOT HAVE YOUR CHILD COPY FUTURE WORDS/SENTENCES AHEAD OF TIME. Part of our skill set is learning to coy/take notes from the board...eye/hand coordination.
Spelling requires a lot of practice. Many children struggle with this skill regardless of how smart they are in other skill areas. Also, some of their spelling words cannot be sounded out phonetically due to the fact that they do not follow the rules of phonics (such as the word "the").
Knowing how to spell will greatly aid them in their writing skills because they will have the key words they may need to express themselves in written form.
*In order to ensure that their notebooks are available for them to write their new words/sentences each week, THE SPELLING NOTEBOOK SHOULD REMAIN IN YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOLBAG AT ALL TIMES.
**If your child is absent for their scheduled spelling test, they will be expected to be prepared to take it the day they return to school.
FULL SPEED AHEAD TO FIRST GRADE!