Hi! This is Brainy. Coming to you with some awesome information in this edition of the Spelling Buzz.

While I was searching the web, trying to soak in as much spelling knowledge as I can, I came across a very interesting article about how children learn to spell.  Did you know that all children learn to spell in 7 stages?  Isn’t that awesome?  I love learning about my human friends! Lets see what cool ways each stage taught you how to spell. 

Stage 1

Visual and Spelling memory-  Visual Memory also know as orthographic is vital to learning to spell, but it must be partnered with Spelling Memory. Spelling memory or, memory for letter sequence, is enhanced by the child’s awareness of speech sounds.

Stage 2

Precommunicative Writing-  Children begin guessing at whole words based on their visual features. (Erhi,1994)

Stage 3

Semihonetic Spelling-  Children begin to realize that letters represent speech sounds(Bissex,1980; Gentry 1981; Henderson, 1990) and selectively and predictably use abbreviated spellings.

Stage 4

Phonetic Spelling-  Children “spell” by matching sounds to letters and consistently representing all of a word’s sounds. They rely on how words feel in their mouths.

Stage 5

Transitional Spelling-  Children begin to understand that most sounds are represented by letter combinations.

Stage 6

Intergration Spelling-  Children should begin to consistently spell meaningful parts such as roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Stage 7

Middle Grade Spelling-  Children continue to develop their concepts of orthography and their ability to associate spelling patterns with speech patterns.

Did you ever think spelling could be so interesting?  With this many stages of spelling, I know you could be a Spelling champ in no time!!  KIds, this just is another reason that spelling is so important to healthy growth and development.  Let’s continue on our journey to know all things spelling with me, Brainy and all of the other monsters of Spelltopia. Keep watching for the next edition of “The Spelling Buzz”.

    

For the full article : www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/how-children-learn-spell