Class 8 spelling & grammar

Editor's Notes

• #3: Didn’t get to this last class so starting with Interview Question re DI. Handout from various ministry docs to support TCs as well as all the activities and resources from the past 2 classes. They are sharing an Office 365 file for each table group.
• #4: Talk about the attitude among some students that anything goes with spelling. Begin to position spelling within the writing process and its importance at the editing stage.
• #5: This is a letter that Joanne Graham’s son Michael “forged” in grade 1. Teacher had sent home a letter of concern and Michael decided to reply pretending he was his parents! Students always love this slide. I focus on what Michael does well rather than the spelling mistakes he makes. What does he know about the structure of a letter? The number of sight words he has? His ability to provide the correct number of syllables for “confascat.” Looking at student writing as an assessment source.
• #6: Linguistic underpinning – What makes sense about the spelling system? (patterns on these levels); What does not (and therefore requires strategies for remembering tricky features)
• #7: Will soon put this into developmental context
• #8: As students grow older and use more complex words in their speech and writing they will encounter schwa vowels (vowels in unstressed syllables). Schwa vowels are not articulated clearly so “sounding out” the words is often inadequate. For derived forms such as “composition,” go back to the base word, where the vowel is stressed and therefore articulated.
• #9: See Developmental Continuum chart
• #10: Example of a spelling error at the structural level 0 adding –ing to a word ending in silent e.
• #11: Lots of errors here: meat’s; cookin’ (more colloquial than error); partys; it’s
• #12: Comment that this level of the spelling system is most useful to students in Junior/Intermediate, as it helps them to read and spell longer, more complex words and to understand many terms in science, math, social studies etc. Next class will have them do some word building using prefix/base/suffix.
• #13: Prefix, base, suffix – word building
• #14: Ask how they would help students to spell this very long word. Look at the logic in meaning (place – replace – irreplaceable)
• #15: Colour coding helps us to see the need for double r.
• #17: Before showing this slide, have TCs write down their best guess for the spelling of this word. Then show the correct version. Ask how many had just one or two letters incorrect (and how frustrating that can be).
• #18: Challenge TCs to examine where they made their errors and to think of strategies for recalling the tricky parts
• #19: Handout (attached) of a variety of spelling strategies in each of these categories. Could give a selection of tricky words and have TCs select specific spelling strategies for recalling the difficult parts.
• #20: This only makes sense to me! A personal mnemonic I use to remember the first “u.” – someone has stolen my purse and I’m pursusing him 
• #21: Young boy once gave me the mnemonic below for spelling “because.”
• #23: Emphasize that spelling is not a separate subject on its own, but is positioned within the context of the writing process.
• #24: Handout based on Spelling Stages and excerpts from the Ontario Curriculum: Language. Also covers grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary concepts
• #25: Show how the expectation reflects both spelling patterns and spelling strategies
• #27: This is my dog Brady. I was going to be away all day at a workshop and hired two adolescents in the neighbourhood to walk him twice. I returned after 10 hours and realized he had not been taken outside even once. I called their parents to discuss my concerns and soon after the two kids arrived on my doorstep with the following note (next slide). I have reproduced the note and used the Cloze strategy (leaving a space for incorrect letters) to analyze the nature of their spelling errors.
• #30: Show how cloze can be used to narrow down where the errors are and can be a handy diagnostic tool using student writing. Gives credit for what is spelled correctly while isolating what needs to be fixed.
• #31: Have TCs read the monograph before getting iPads to play 3 spelling apps (see handout). They will critique the apps using the criteria indicated on the chart.
• #32: These are all on the iPads.
• #33: These are all available in the IRC for how to teach spelling. Spelling: Connecting the Pieces focuses on pedagogy; Nelson Word Study kits (gr. 4,5,6) are for mini-lessons on various aspects of word study (congruent with Ontario Curriculum); Words Their Way stresses word building on various developmental levels.
• #35: Moving into Grammar and Punctuation. This may be in class 2.