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/ Spelling Drill

Spelling Drill

Purpose

Spelling

Summary

The spelling drill focuses on spelling a series of words which contain target letter-sound, or phoneme-grapheme grapheme, patterns. This drill supports learners developing accurate and fluent spelling, a bedrock for spelling and reading.

Materials Needed

Spelling drill with a list of words to spell.

Mini whiteboard or workbook.

Something to write with.

How to deliver

  1. Say a word.
  2. Learner writes the word (if appropriate they can finger spell it as well.)
  3. Check and support corrections.
Suggested script
"We're going to read some words where [insert spelling] makes the [insert sound] (eg. 'ew' makes the /oo/ sound like in 'moon'.)."

Common Issues & Prompts

Issue: Learner doesn't put all of the sounds in the word

  • Do this: Support the learner to finger spell the word. Finger spelling usually surfaces the mistake and allows the learner to fix it.
  • Example: The learner spells ‘threw’ as ‘thew’. Say “Let’s finger spell the word threw and make sure we have a spelling for each sound, and fix the word where necessary.”. Support the learner to finger spell the correct the word.
  • Then: Move on to the next word. It is a good idea to revisit the difficult word before the end of the drill.

Issue: Learner puts an incorrect, but plausible spelling pattern in the word

  • Do this: Let the learner know that they have included all of the sounds in the word but tell them the correct spelling for the sound that they have spelled incorrectly.
  • Example: The learner spells ‘blew’ as ‘bloo’. Say “You have all of the sounds for ‘blue’, but In this word we spell the /oo/ sound with the letters ‘ew’.” Support the learner to correct the word as necessary.
  • Then: Move on to the next word. It is a good idea to revisit the difficult word before the end of the drill.

Additional Tips

  • Finger spelling is the easiest way to support your learner to spell unfamiliar single syllable words. Finger spelling is where the learner lifts a finger for each sound when breaking words into sounds. This is best done on the opposite hand that the learner writes with so that they can hold a pencil in the other hand. For older learners, this can be done discretely by just tapping the fingers on their table.
  • Always use a pencil or marker with an eraser so when the word is corrected, it is neat and the learner can clearly see the correct spelling.

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