Do

There are no quick fixes for a child to learn how to spell, become a better speller and become a stronger writer. It comes down to practice, practice, practice – more practice with both reading and writing. But practice can be fun and does not have to be complicated or stressful. Here are some easy activities you can do at home to strengthen your child’s spelling and writing skills.

Everyday Things You Can Do *With* Your Child to Practice Spelling

• Point out helpful combinations of phonograms in real life – in signs, books, your favorite songs you sing together.
  • Your child is learning about the twenty-six letters, thirty-seven most common phonograms (letter or combination of letters that represent a sound) and blends.
• Play ‘Word Family’ games when you are in the car, making dinner, sitting in traffic, etc. List as many words as you can with the same word part. i.e. ‘ay’ → bay, crayfish, day. Who will be first to get stumped?!
• When reading with your child, take notice of the word patterns they are stumbling on or guessing at. At a later time, have your child make purposeful grocery lists, birthday cards, signs, etc. that may use those patterns.
• When you are together and come upon words like healthy or question, ask your child “What smaller words do you see inside that word?” Give your child the quiet thinking time because a quest is inside every question.

Everyday Writing Prompts for Your Child

Practice consistently, even if it is for a few minutes daily. Giving a child purpose to their writing is more helpful than rote workbook practice. When purposeful practice is born out of everyday activities, there is no need for extrinsic rewards.

Writing prompts:

• “Write three things you want to do today.”
• “Write what you want to make or have for lunch.”
• “Write the title of the show or movie you want to watch this weekend.”
• “Write a list of things you think you will need for ___.” (soccer practice, camping this summer, baking cookies this weekend, etc.)
• “Write a list of snacks we need from the store.”

Writing activities:

• Make signs – Signs for bedrooms, windows, bin labels, pantry labels. If you can name it, you can sign it!
• Party planning – Lists of presents, invitees, decorations, food, etc. Planning parties for pets and favorite stuffies / dolls / action figures is fun too.
• Write recipes to cook – Lists of ingredients.
• Make cards (mailing them is fun too) – Birthday cards, holiday cards, cards for teachers, first responders, friends.
• Write letters – Write to everyone and on anything that matters to your child – family, friends, heads/principals of their school, favorite toy companies to give ideas, authors they enjoy, etc.
• Create poems to give away – Write about family members, the Earth, on staying at home, their favorite toy, a bug, etc.

Our Favorite ‘If’ Prompts for Your Curious Thinker

Many children enjoy creative writing, but find it difficult to start. Try these prompts to spark their storytelling and creativity:

• “If each family member was an animal, which one would they be? Why?”
• “If you could go somewhere tomorrow, where would it be? Why?”
• “If you could follow a rainbow, what do you think you would see along the way? At the end?”
• “If you created a restaurant, what food would you serve? What would be the name of your restaurant? What would be your logo? What would the setting look like?”
• “If you could create your own sport, what would it be? How many players? What kind of terrain is it played on? What kind of equipment is needed? How could you score points? What is the name of your sport?”
• “If you could build a house for your favorite animal, what would it look like? What would be inside it? What would be outside of it? How will your favorite animal friend eat, sleep and play?”

Teach Sequence Writing

Help your child learn to sequence their writing. Sequencing is an important part of a child’s comprehension. When a child feels more comfortable organizing their thoughts, they often feel more comfortable expressing themselves in writing.

What to Do If Your Child Doesn’t Want to Practice Writing and Spelling?

It is common for children to dislike or avoid writing because they feel uncomfortable ‘getting words wrong’. But writers take risks! What happens when we make a mistake? We learn.

Here are some easy things you can do to encourage your child to take risks in their writing and to try best-guess spelling:

• When a child is just beginning to learn to read, encourage your child to draw and then label the things in their drawing.
• Ask your child to write a word in two different ways. Then, ask them to explain to you which one looks right to them. Even if both words are incorrectly spelled, they took a risk – exactly what is needed in learning to be a writer and better speller.
• Use fun stationary and shake things up.
  • Children like writing when there is a purpose and using fun pens and paper can be motivating. e.g., gel pens, thick markers, pens with feathers on them, changeable/retractable ink pens, etc. Also, special notebooks just for them can be inspiring.
  • Change things up with stationary attributes like shape, size, weight, texture, color. For example:
    • Shape: Change the paper to an unexpected shape like a triangle or circle.
    • Size: Write on big pieces of paper, Post-it paper or tiny pieces of paper.
    • Weight and texture: Use index cards, cardboard, wood, t-shirts, fabric, etc.
    • Color: Experiment with colorful paper or pens, invisible ink pen, black paper and white crayons.
• Make it fun and funny with ‘creative lettering’ – block letters, bubble letters, create their own font, etc.
• Have your child use a label maker and type out words onto the sticker labels. They can label objects throughout your home.