Moms, I’m going to cut to the chase. Before you’re tempted to print off yet another spelling worksheet for your beginning and/or struggling reader, please teach your child to spell using a whiteboard first.
Spelling Words Activities for 1st Grade Reading
Before you print off that list of spelling words for students to copy, let’s talk spelling words activities for 1st graders. The goal is to lead kids through phonics retrieval activities, so that they can spell words accurately. Not just attempt to memorize the order of symbols in a list of 20 words. Kids need a solid phonics foundation to make spelling words easier.
So, why do I always have students encode (e-n-c-o-d-e) together with me on their individual whiteboards? [Encode is the fancy phonics term for correctly coding words, or spelling.] I believe that a blank slate (a.k.a. whiteboards), and NOT tracing worksheets, require your child to recall phonics skills you’ve already taught them, so that they can spell words.
It’s easy for a child to copy or trace words on a worksheet. Spelling words activities for 1st grade should be first done on a whiteboard. Tracing worksheets alone can be mindless work! Do copying and tracing actually teach your child to spell? Worksheets have their place, but as reinforcement activities, not teaching activities. My goal is for you to set your child up for success as a speller using whiteboards BEFORE worksheets!
As a teacher, I’ve had kids race through spelling worksheets without thinking, at all. They just trace the words on the page as quickly as they can, and say, “Mrs. Jeffrey, I’m done!” A worksheet that was supposed to keep them busy for a little longer than 60 seconds. A worksheet that was supposed to teach them how to spell multiple words in 60 seconds. Really?
A child or student may have built some muscle memory when tracing a worksheet, but did she actually learn to spell? HOW does a child learn the inverse skill of reading – spelling? The fancy phonics term teachers use for spelling is ‘encoding’. When teaching spelling words activities for 1st grade, I recommend using a whiteboard.
Unlike decoding, which is the skill of looking at letters grouped together in words, from left to right, and correctly blending the sounds for each grapheme together in the correct order, encoding is creating the code for each word. The goal in spelling words activities for 1st grade, is to have kids recalling phonics skills you’ve taught to accurately spell words.
When your child reads words on a page, she is decoding what’s already there. Encoding, or spelling is different. Your child must recall and apply phonics concepts learned to create a correct spelling code in order from left to right for that word.
Why whiteboard over worksheets? It’s the difference between asking your child to think, recall and apply phonics skills you’ve taught to spell words and sentences VS copying and reinforcing. Worksheets have a place, BUT, FIRST, spelling is a whiteboard activity. WHY? Because it’s blank. Your child needs to do the recall and think-through of phonics skills she knows and printing skills you’ve taught her to spell words accurately.
Guessing how to spell words in spelling activities for 1st grade doesn’t count UNLESS your child is doing free-choice creative writing, and she is attempting to sound out a word for which she has not yet learned the phonics rule. An example is a child wanting to write the word ‘action’ for a free choice writing activity when you have not taught the morpheme or word chunk ‘tion’ yet.
I like to think of spelling worksheets them as a supplement to the lesson, not as part of the core phonics instruction. WHY? Worksheets don’t require your child to think about HOW to spell a word when tracing a word or a sentence. Or, when the word box is already on the page for decoding (reading), which is a different phonics skills than encoding (spelling).
Using a blank whiteboard for spelling words activities in 1st grade, you’d better believe your son or daughter is activating working memory to recall exactly which letters make which sounds. Then, she needs to print each letter that matches the sounds she hears, so that the word makes sense. The goal is have kids start early with accurate recall of phonics skills for the most accurate spelling.
Of course, there will be occasional sight words which kids cannot phonetically sound out. This is why 1-2 sight words should accompany every phonics lesson. The goal is NOT to expect your child to memorize hundreds of sight words! Some curriculums may refer to these as ‘heart words’.
Ultimately, your child’s accuracy as a speller lies in the curriculum YOU choose, and how YOU choose to teach it. MOMS, this is where you need to actively lead your beginning or struggling reader and speller through simple phonics skills and drills as part of daily phonics lessons at home. You actively leading, your child actively participating with you in a fast-paced phonics lesson is going to be KEY to your child’s ease and success as a speller.
So, START with a whiteboard for spelling words activities for 1st Grade. Then, early finishers can reinforce spelling words using supplemental worksheets AFTER practice on a blank page. Wishing your child success using a whiteboard for spelling words activities in 1st grade before worksheets.
