KINDERGARTEN

Developmental Spelling

 

You may wonder why your child brings home writing with misspelled words.  Sometimes these early efforts are called "invented spellings," but they are also known as "developmental spelling" because over time they become more complete and accurate as your child learns to read and develops phonics knowledge.  During writing time I ask my students to "spell as best they can" rather than waiting for someone to tell them how to spell a word. This frees them to write about anything that interests them, but also requires them to think about the sounds in the word and to think about the letters they need to represent those sounds.  Hearing all the sounds is difficult, so at first they may only represent one sound, spelling like as L or K.  "Spelling the best you can" requires that children use the phonics knowledge they are learning, and over time I expect to see more complete and accurate spelling.  During the school year, watch as your child's spelling includes more letters and sounds- even if it is still not complete.

 

When your children progressed from crawling to taking steps on his or her own, you were very proud of the development and encouraged your child to walk, even though he or she often stumbled and fell.  When children spell like as L or K or LIK, they are taking their first steps into the world or writing, and you should encourage these efforts as well.  Don't worry that these early efforts will stick with them and interfere with learning correct spelling.  With exposure, practice, and instruction, children continue to develop until they can spell thousands of words correctly without even thinking about it- just like they can run and skip and twirl without thinking about it.  However, unlike learning to walk, learning to spell takes many years to master because English is a complicated written language.

 

Although it is important to accept developmental spelling, I am also constantly working to teach my students the foundations for correct spelling so that by the 3rd or 4th grade they will spell most of the words they need correctly and they will also know strategies for figuring out how to spell words they don't know.  

 

Encourage your child to write at home.  If he or she asks you how to spell a word, say "What sounds do you hear?" rather than simply giving the spelling.  Offer praise for what your child figures out and accept what he or she was able to do.  When your child brings home something he or she has written at school, ask him or her to read it to you and show that you are proud of how your child is learning to communicate with writing!  

 

Sincerely,

 

Mrs. Starr