Parents rarely think about how to teach their kids to spell words correctly since most people think that's the school's job. Most preschools will start teaching kids simple words, but real learning happens when your child gets home and tries to remember what he or she was taught. Then, it's very important to help your child review his lessons differently.
Why is teaching kids how to spell important?
Communication is a very important part of our lives, and spelling is a big part of how language came to be. Kids need to know how to spell the right way.
Bettered Reading
When kids know how to spell a word, they can better remember how it sounds, which helps them read better in the long run. They can only improve their reading speed and attempt to comprehend new words by reading more.
Accurate Writing
Imagine if your child started sending messages and correspondence to other people full of misspelled words. It not only affects how other people see your kid, but it also hurts his self-esteem.
How to Teaching Your Kids to Spell Words
It takes time and practice to teach kids how to spell words right and say them back without making mistakes. There are different ways you can make spelling words fun for your child so that it doesn't get dull or repetitive for him.
Spell the word, then take a bite.
Even though your child might learn how to spell a lot of words rapidly, he might find it boring to keep spelling the same words repeatedly. Ask your child to spell a word at mealtime, and then let him eat a bite of his food. Things can stay pretty interesting this way.
Put hard words in a meaningful context.
Some words sound each way but are written in a completely different way. Please focus on the letters that don't make sense and use them to build a story. A doctor has a "c" because he or she can see the disease.
Putting words and phrases together
Your child can play a game where each word must start with the final letter of the previous word. Before moving on, each new phrase has to be spelled correctly. Use pieces of paper to write down the words and make the activity more real.
Videos Can Help You Spell Better
To help your child learn to spell, you don't have to be around all the time. You can have fun learning sessions with just the camera on your phone. You or your child can record clips where you say each letter, and the child has to finish the word or vice versa. Both of you would find it very interesting to watch the clips again.
Use image-based flip cards.
You can play a memory game with flip cards or use them to make the traditional method of spelling words more fun. Choose some words that may be illustrated by pictures and print them on some cards. Write their spellings on the back of the cards or use new ones. Your child could match them up, pick one, and spell out what it says.
Looking for the word
Please use book or newspaper paragraphs and encourage your child to find specific words. A child learns to spell better by noticing word patterns in many different words.
A Spelling Twist on Hopscotch
Keep track of words that have the same number of letters as the number on the hopscotch map. Give your child the word and let him write it out. Once he does that, tell him to tally the letters and go to that number.
Spelling Toss Ball With Friends
When your child's friends meet up, you can teach them how to spell while playing a game. Say a word and give the ball to one of the kids. Each child says one letter of a word and then passes the ball to the next child, who says the next letter.
Play Scrabble to make up words.
As your child learns so many words, his mind must also change how it processes words and how they are spelled. Give him individual letters and let him put them together to make a word. This will turn the situation around. Using Scrabble to do this can be a very helpful way to learn.
Take advantage of mobile games.
Every kid will come up with many reasons not to study, but if you give them a smartphone, they will play with it for hours. Utilize this digital passion for assisting children in learning new words and comprehending their spellings. From Spelling Town to Puzzlemaker, there are a lot of games that can help kids learn how to spell better.
Race to the end
Give each kid or team a different colored pen and two whiteboards. No one stands close to the whiteboards. The kids must run to the whiteboard as soon as they write the word down correctly.
Making spelling a colorful activity
If your child is more interested in colors or drawing shapes, add that fun element to spelling. Let somebody draw an animal and write the animal's name under it.
The classic BINGO game with a twist
If your child likes games such as BINGO or Tambola, you can make a puzzle with words he already knows. Make a grid and put different words in each square. Random letters can go in the rest of the spaces. Ask your child to find and circle a certain word in the grid.
Trace, copy, and repeat.
This three-step method works well for helping kids who have trouble understanding words and how to spell them. Let them begin by tracing over existing words with their pencils to learn the letters. The next step is to write those letters exactly as they are on a separate page. After that, hide the page and have them say that word without looking at it.
Each step has one letter.
Mix spelling practice with other things you do every day. Let each step you take down the stairs add a letter to a word you already know. For example, to write an apple, you would start with an app, and so on.
Even though it might be hard to figure out how to teach a preschooler or kindergartener how to spell, the best way is to learn how to instruct the right way. Once that is fixed, it will be easier for your child to remember how to spell different words.