Spelling and Grammar Analysis

Some students appear careless in their writing and spelling, using random capitalizations, omitting punctuation, and spelling words as if they are just throwing the letters at the paper in any order.  I've seen this even in high school students.  My suspicion is that they are reading and writing (and thinking) so fast that they don't see the details.  And since writing instruction these days rarely gives children a solid foundation in "conventions" (another post, some day), students may not think these things are not important.

But of course they are.

When students analyze the spelling and grammar of selected passages, it helps them slow down long enough to notice the details.  You start by giving the students a short passage of good writing (a paragraph is fine), appropriate to their reading level.  Here's how it works:

1. For spelling analysis:  Have them choose 5-15 specific words from the passage: animal words, nouns, verbs, words with four or more letters, or two or more syllables-- whatever fits the passage and their ability.  As they list the words on a separate sheet of paper, have them divide the words into syllables.  Finally, have them underline each sound in the word with an alternating color.

Example:    e x      a m      p le               sh ee t

2. For grammar analysis, choose a specific skill/rule the student needs to work on and have the student analyze the passage for the use of that rule. For example, to practice capitalization, the student can divide a blank sheet of paper in two columns, labeling one "First Word in Sentence," and the other, "Proper Nouns and Titles."  Then he just finds every capitalized word in the passage and writes it in the appropriate column.  Note: when a proper noun begins the sentence, it goes in both columns.

Example:  My brother Rob is older than I am.  Rob lives near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Any other grammar issue can be analyzed in this way.  If the student needs to work on subject verb agreement, have her find the subject and verb of each sentence and list them in the columns.  If she needs to work on punctuation, give her a list of punctuation rules that are followed in the passage and have her label each one.

Here's an example with the rule list and the labeled passage:

The main point of this analysis method is to have students pay attention to the mechanics of good writing.  The more they notice, the more they will process, and it will begin to show up in their own writing.

Beginning to write and read with Letter Stories

I came across a resource last week that I would love to try out-- but alas, I have no pre-readers to try it out on!  Jill Pike's Printing With Letter Stories  ($19, Institute for Excellence in Writing) is a set of reproducible, ready-to-go lessons for teaching letters.  Each letter is introduced with a funny picture and a "story" (one or two lines) that cleverly helps the student remember how to form the letter as well as a sound that it represents.  From the IEW website:  Example: The letter c is the happy letter, because he is a cookie that someone bit: c, c, cookie! The letter o is the sad letter, because he is a cookie that nobody bit. He says, “Ah,” (short o sound) “nobody took a bite out of me!”

The little stories in this program remind me of Times Tales, a resource for for memorizing multiplication facts.  One of my students said Times Tales made the facts "sticky," so they would stay in her brain.  I suspect Letter Stories will make learning to read "sticky" for many currently frustrated children.

Printing with Letter Stories includes a lesson for each new letter, and after every few letters there is a review.  Initially, the letters are copied into squares-- which I think is a super idea, much easier than trying to form the letters on a line or a group of lines.  The lesson plans include introducing secondary sounds and capital letters, and there are games along the way. By lesson 20, the student begins copying simple words (and since he knows the sounds of the words, he can easily read them), and later transitions into writing on lines.  By the end of the book (lesson 45), students are writing complete sentences.

This resource is not necessary for every child, of course-- many learn their letters and sounds effortlessly simply by being read to-- hearing Dr Seuss' ABC over and over, for example-- and have little trouble writing the letters once their hands can hold a pencil.  However, for those who could use some fun infused into their early literacy endeavors, I heartily recommend this resource!

As a follow-up to this program, I would advise checking out Reading Reflex, a wonderful hands-on program which will introduce sounds represented by two or more letters, words with two or more syllables, and longer stories for your child to read.  The two programs combined are less than $40 and, in my opinion, take a child from complete beginner through at least the second grade reading/writing level, if not further.