An Educator's Manual: For the middle and upper primary school years

The little compendium of Standard English spelling

"Pamela Koutrakos breaks it down for the novice and streamlines word study for the old pro." – Jeff Anderson, author of Patterns of Power Take word learning to the next level in your classroom Hungry for lively and engaging ways to augment word study? Looking for ways to empower your students and give voice to their ideas? In Word Study That Sticks, teacher and literacy consultant Pamela Koutrakos provides a step-by-step approach that makes word learning jubilant and fun – and encourages students to take ownership of word learning. This hands-on guide connects research with experience to deliver challenging, discovery-based instructional practices that can support all learners in any subject area. You’ll learn how to Set up the physical classroom, prioritize materials, and launch activities Instill curiosity and a self-starting attitude toward vocabulary development Devise routines that highlight phonemic awareness, phonics, meaning, and spelling Differentiate and personalize word study activities Embed word study into all content areas for transfer of learning Word Study That Sticks can be used alone or in conjunction with another program to help you take word learning to the next level. Lesson ideas, word study routines, charts, photos, key practices, and special advice for beginning teachers make word study instruction accessible for educators working at every experience level.

Sixty-five lessons to help children become more proficient spellers.

Teaching Spelling: Exploring commonsense strategies and best practices equips teachers with the vital knowledge and skills needed to help their students become proficient writers and spellers. Peter Westwood provides a very clear and concise account of the important skills and processes that underpin accurate spelling, and describes in very practical terms, many evidence-based strategies and methods that teachers can use to help all students become confident, capable and independent spellers. The book also addresses the purposes of various forms of assessment of spelling skills, to guide teaching and planning. Chapters in this accessible and timely text include: the importance of correct spelling visual, auditory and cognitive components of spelling ability general principles for planning instruction proven teaching strategies and methods word study as a teaching approach formal and informal assessment At the end of each chapter the author provides a list of online and print resources, thus enabling readers to extend their knowledge in the various topics. The extensive reference list is also an invaluable source of information on recent research and thinking on the topic of spelling instruction. Teaching Spelling: Exploring commonsense strategies and best practices is an essential resource for all those in teacher education and taking in-service courses.

In this book the authors take a closer look at spelling, the teaching and learning of which is considerably more complex than is often assumed. In order to spell well, children need to learn how to strategically use knowledge about phonology, orthography, morphology and etymology. It is also a visual activity that involves the laying down and retrieval of visual representations of words and word parts in memory. Children also need to learn how to use the metalanguage associated with spelling - words like phoneme, syllable, affixes and morpheme - as this will help them talk and think about spelling strategies. Thus, spelling is a language activity and also a thinking activity. Ideally, it should also be a meaningful activity that is engaged in with a positive attitude. The authors draw on the theoretical and research literature, as well as classroom examples, to explain how to teach primary school aged children to use multiple strategies to spell. They also consider the assessment of spelling, as well as how to assist those who have difficulties in learning to spell.The work makes links to the Australian Curriculum: EnglishThis book would help primary and preservice teachers by providing them with understandings, based on research and theory, which would help them choose and use appropriate pedagogical strategies (also provided in the book) to teach spelling to children with diverse needs, including children from EAL/D backgrounds and those with difficulties and disabilities that impact on spelling.