My son Jake (who is a 3rd grader) came home with the following words for his spelling test:
serve, earn, first, third, bare, word, turns, herds, perch, learn, girls, bear, world, purr, nurse, perfect, firm, stairs, worth, Thursday
Obviously they were working with the /er/ sound, but SURPRISE - five different ways to spell it. Plus three occurances of the /air/ sound (spelled three different ways!) thrown in to add confusion.
Good times, good times.
Rather than ask kids to memorize these words by rote, the learning process is SO helped by breaking down these words into categories. In this way the student can see the similarities and patterns that emerge. This process can be used as a jumping off point for studying for the test over the course of the week. (Let's state the obvious, that regular, brief practice over time is SO much more effective than cramming for a test the night before.)
So your child brings home a spelling list like this. What do you do? First, have him READ the words you. Reading and spelling are two sides of the same coin. Reading the words outloud gives you an idea of what you're working with. Hopefully you are able to recognise the similarities in the words - ask your child what he notices.
The first time I divide a spelling word list, unless the student has instant input as to categories, I do it myself. Then I talk about the words' patterns, and extend the activity to include the student - maybe I'll draw the categories on a new piece of paper and give a verbal practice test, except I'll help point out which category each word goes in. I talk more about this next level here: Variant Vowel Spelling Test.
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