Hello all of my fellow geniuses, this is your brilliant friend Brainy bringing you the latest information concerning all things spelling in this weeks edition of…… The Spelling Buzz!!!!

I was doing some studying and came across a cool article that had a cool scoring chart that helps you analyze each developmental level of spelling.  There are 5 key steps to becoming a good speller.

1.  Precommunicative Spelling- the “babbling” stage of spelling.  The letters on precommunicative spelling does not correspond to sounds.  Examples: opsps=eagle rtat= eighty

2. Semiphonetic Spellers- when you learn that letters represent sounds. Spellings are often abbreviated representing initial and/ or final sound.  Examples: E= eagle; A= eighty

3. Phonetic Spellers- when you learn to spell words like they sound. The speller perceives and represents all of the phonemes in a word, though spellings may be unconventional.  Examples: EGL= eagle; ATE= eighty

4.  Transitional Spelling- when you begin to think about how words appear visually; a visual memory of spelling patterns is apparent.  Examples: EGIL= eagle;  EIGHTEE= eighty

5.Conventional Spelling- developed over years of word study and writing. Correct spelling can be categorized by instruction levels.  For example, correct spelling for a corpus… words that can be spelled by the average fourth grader would be fourth grade  level correct spelling.  Place the word in this category in this category if it is listed correctly.

Learning to spell is the coolest thing since, free library cards!!!!!! I love learning and spelling, so I’m so excited about this information. Which level are you guys on?  Well, no matter which level you are on, come and join us spelling monsters, as we help you one level at a time, with one game at a time!!!!!  This is Brainy, signing out with the latest edition of….. The Spelling Buzz!!!

For full article: www.gse.uci.edu/docs/DEVELOPMENTALSPELLING.pdf