How can I help my child with their literacy spelling and grammar?...
There are many ways to do this. Take a look at our list of ideas below and see which ones work for your child. Please also show your child the Children’s section for spelling tips as he/she may find a new tip that they enjoy using.
• Use colours to identify the bits that your child finds difficult in a particular word. Use different colours for different problem areas.
• Add illustrations to the letters to make them memorable. Watch this clip to get ideas.
• Get your child to look at the word slowly and carefully, then to close their eyes and make a big picture of the word in their head. Then they can write it and compare it to the correct spelling.
• Get some cut out or magnetic letters; build a word together, then muddle up the letters or leave some key letters out. Ask your child to rebuild the word and compare it to the correct spelling.
• Get your child to write the chosen word in a large size with his/her finger on sandpaper, in sand or flour.
• Get your child to say the word in a ‘funny’ way (Wed- nes- day). Or chant the letters as if in a rhythm or song.
• Make up silly rhymes or sentences where the first letter of each word makes up the word to be spelled. It can be helpful if the first word of the silly rhyme is the word you want to spell, for example: They - they had eggs yesterday, out - out you trot, come - come on my elf, about - about big oranges under trucks.
• Find smaller words in the bigger word for example ‘ there is a hen in when’
Sarah Gillie has shared with us her really useful blog to help understand difficulties with writing and literacy and tips of how to help at home ‘giving her Shared experiences of different ways of thinking – because every learner is individual.’ Click here to read more.
Some useful, creative ideas and links for resources for making grammar fun for children can be found at theschoolrun.com
For example :
Help your child understand antonyms (opposites) by calling out words like hot, big, slow, easy and getting him to shout out the opposite. Alternatively, get your child to shout words that mean the same as the ones you’re calling out (synonyms).
One parent I worked with came up with the idea of getting her child to write out sentences and then stick a sticker at the end of each as a full stop,’ says John – instant reinforcement as your child learns
The ‘thinkpix’ blog supports both teachers and parents advocating that dyslexic people use their mind’s eye; to visualise, to imagine, to dream…to ‘see’ what it possible, not what is. As a AMBDA dyslexia teacher, assessor (APC), trainer and mum the blogs are passionate about dyslexic strengths. The blogs have many tips and ideas to help at home
A good friend of Dyslexia Assist Charmaine Mckissock has just published a book to help with spelling. Charmaine has helped many individuals find ways to learn more easily and succeed in their goals. She has contributed widely to the understanding of dyslexia and other learning differences. Charmaine has kindly let us share some pages of her book with us; to take a look please click here or see the intro clip on YouTube
Her promise to wobbly spellers:
(and the people who really want to help them)
1. No long lists of words or sounds to learn by heart.
2. No copying out words over and over again.
3. No horrid spelling tests.
4. You learn only words important to you.
5. Fun and adventure with words.
Find our more and how to purchase your copy at wobbly learning
Dictionaries and Spellcheckers: If your child cannot spell a word at all then it is hard for them to find it in a dictionary or on spell check. A child we know just picks the top word from the spell check list as they feel this has the best chance of being correct.... which can make for interesting reading. There are some special dictionaries that use phonic sounds to find the words, and then show you how to spell the word - rather than give a meaning for the word. One example is the ACE dictionary which you could ask your school to purchase for the library or classroom.
Using the text- to-speech facility on your computer might also help identify the correct word. We can recommend the Easy spelling Aid App, you say the word and it displays the spelling, it is designed to recognise children's voices. www.easyspellingaid.com
icanspell have a great A-Z of mnemonics for learning the most difficult to remember spellings, or for spellings that children often misspell, just learn a few at a time or make up your own. Click here to go to the website
We love this example that was share with us:
Could old uncle lie down
Should old uncle lie down
Would old uncle lie down
Spellingframe includes all the words - both statutory and the example words - from the National Curriculum for Spelling for Year 1 to Year 6. Choose a spelling rule and each word is read aloud and provided within a sentence for context.
Students can choose to practise a set of words, take a test, or play a game with those words (games are available to registered users only). If they choose to practise they will see and hear the word broken down into syllables (phonemes for the Y1 words) and will then be given a series of activities to help them to memorise the spelling. The activities develop increasing independence. If a student then spells the word correctly they move on to the next word. If they make a mistake they repeat the process to help them to learn the word.
Games:There are lots of learning games for punctuation for different age groups at funenglishgames.com
Take a look at a the range of books available that help visualise spellings and grammar with cartoons
