Spelling and First Sentences

Grades K-2, 5About 60 minutes a week

Early spelling and sentence writing grow on paper, with a grown-up beside him saying words slowly. A screen can check a tapped letter; it cannot watch him build a sentence of his own with a pencil.

What you need

  • Lined paper and a pencil
  • A small whiteboard and marker
  • A notebook for tricky words
  • A picture book

What done looks like

  • He writes a short word by its sounds without asking how.
  • His sentences start with a capital and end with a period without a reminder.
  • Friday dictation comes back mostly right on the week's pattern.
  • He adds a describing word and a where-word to a plain sentence on his own.

What to do, grade by grade

  • K: say a short word slowly (m-a-p) and he writes a letter for each sound he hears. Invented spelling is fine.
  • K: he tells you a sentence, you write it, he adds the period. Cover a page's picture and show that the words still tell the story.
  • Grade 1: spell short-vowel words with blends and digraphs (stop, ship, chest) plus five sight words a week; write sentences with a capital, a period, a describing word and a where-word.
  • Grade 1: compare the a and g in a book with the ones he writes, and name them as the same letters.
  • Grade 2: one long-vowel or bossy-r pattern a week (rain, boat, bird), plus prefix, suffix and tricky words from the notebook.
  • Grade 5: for a long word with a lazy vowel, say it the silly way (sep-A-rate), then spell it.

How to teach it

  1. Stretch the word like a rubber band and say it together. He writes as he says each sound.
  2. In kindergarten, do not correct invented spelling. Point to the sounds he caught. Correct spelling starts with the grade 1 patterns.
  3. One pattern a week: Monday say and sort, Wednesday write, Friday a dictation of five words and one sentence.
  4. Tricky words go in the notebook: read, cover, write, check.
  5. The sentence checklist is short: capital, spaces, period. He checks his own before you look.
  6. To grow a sentence, ask "what kind?" and "where?" The answers become the describing word and the where-word.
Curriculum goals this sheet covers (9)

In the words of the grade-by-grade guide.

  • Writes sentences that start with a capital and end with a period
  • Hears a short word, separates the sounds, and writes a letter for each one. Invented spelling is expected, not corrected.
  • Puts a period at the end of a telling sentence.
  • Recognizes that print carries the meaning, not the picture.
  • Spells words with short vowels, consonant blends, and digraphs, plus a growing bank of high-frequency words.
  • Uses adjectives and simple prepositions in his own sentences.
  • Recognizes that the printed a and g in books have a different shape from the a and g written by hand, and that both are the same letter.
  • Spells words with long-vowel patterns, r-controlled vowels, common prefixes and suffixes, and irregular high-frequency words.
  • Spells the unstressed vowel in long words by exaggerating the syllable

Goals covered: Writes sentences that start with a capital and end with a periodHears a short word, separates the sounds, and writes a letter for each one. Invented spelling is expected, not corrected.Puts a period at the end of a telling sentence.Recognizes that print carries the meaning, not the picture.Spells words with short vowels, consonant blends, and digraphs, plus a growing bank of high-frequency words.Uses adjectives and simple prepositions in his own sentences.Recognizes that the printed a and g in books have a different shape from the a and g written by hand, and that both are the same letter.Spells words with long-vowel patterns, r-controlled vowels, common prefixes and suffixes, and irregular high-frequency words.Spells the unstressed vowel in long words by exaggerating the syllable

All real-world sheets