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Every Monday or the beginning of each school week, your child will have a new
spelling list stapled to the front of his/her take home folder for him/her to
study from for the Friday test. Each week's spelling list must be returned
every Friday.
Our spelling program will be a review of the short vowel sounds, blends, and
digraphs (sh, th, and sh). We will then move into the long vowels and other
spelling patterns.
The goal of our 2nd grade spelling program is to help children become good
spellers in their everyday writing. Testing in school will often be sentence
dictation, which will provide a review of high frequency words, some words
from previous lists, as well as the words from the current lesson. I will add
a few new words just to see if your child knows know how to spell them.
However, I will only grade the words from their spelling lists. I will dictate
sentences to the children and they will write what I say and hear. My goal for
the students is to be able to apply their spelling to the written language
rather than just a rote spelling list. This helps them to become more
conscientious in their spelling and become better spellers. In addition,
handwriting, punctuation, and use of capital letters will be assessed.
Accuracy in everyday writing will be stressed, and proofreading skills will be
taught and given a good deal of emphasis.
I will pretest your child at the end of the week for the next week's list of
words. If your child spells all the words correctly, he/she will receive a
list of challenge words. If your child misses only a few words, she/he may
choose a few extra challenge words. You and your child can decide which ones
to choose by circling the words at the bottom of your child's list. If you
think your child needs more challenge words, jot me a note in his/her
assignment book on Tuesday, and I will add more. Please remember that your
child needs to be able to spell ALL the words from the list before taking on
the challenge words. Missed words from the previous spelling list may be added
to your child's next week's list of words or a couple of high frequency words
from the dictation that your child missed.
It is important for your child to write these words rather than spell them out
loud when studying, since spelling is primarily a written skill. When you are
giving your child a test at home, say a sentence with the spelling word in it.
This helps her/him to understand the meaning of the word. Please do not have
your child try to study the words the night before the test or by themselves.
They should be working on these words each night.
I want to make every effort to help your child become the best speller he or
she can be, whether that means reviewing important words or providing more
challenging words. Please do not hesitate to speak to me about any concerns.
Thank you!
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