Help Your Child Spell and Write to Success

My earlier blog article listed some unique strategies to guide your child to read and comprehend a given text so that he/she derives meaning from it and enjoys the reading process.

In this article, I will elaborate on some special approaches to help your child spell words correctly and to express themselves in writing in an interesting manner.

Spelling Strategies:

The spelling of words is the basis of a language, and your child will be a winner if he/she is adept at it. Practice in spelling may be done at home in various ways; some of which are as follows:

1. Boggle Board: Create a Boggle board each week that reflects the spelling pattern for that week. A boggle board will have letters of the alphabet placed in different squares on the board. The challenge is to create as many words as your child can with the letters on the board.
2. Spelling Scramble: Challenge your child to unscramble age-appropriate words to make meaningful words. Increase the difficulty level as he/she progresses steadily.
3. Look, Cover, Write, Check: This is a strategy to help children learn their spellings. Give your child a word to spell. Encourage him/her to:

• Look at it.
• Cover it with a piece of paper or with his/her hand.
• Write the spelling again next to the word.
• Check if it is right by uncovering the spelling.

Related Topic : Help Your Child Read and Comprehend for Success

This is a good method to teach your child spelling as he/she will practice spelling of words, and learn by testing himself/herself.

4. Newspaper Spelling: Encourage your child to search for familiar words in a newspaper each week, and highlight each spelling word he/she finds.

Writing Strategies

Reading and practicing in spelling will be of no use if your child does not develop proficiency in writing. Here are some strategies that you may adopt at home to hone the writing skill of your child.

1. POPBEANS: Teach your child to use the technique called POPBEANS when writing about an abstract topic. Each of the letters spells a different aspect of the topic that is to be elaborated on. This will help your child to expand the horizons of his/her ideas regarding the given topic. They are as follows:

• P: Person
• O: Objects
• P: Places
• B: Beliefs
• E: Events
• A: Actions
• N: Nature
• S: Scientific

Adopting this technique ensures that the topic is examined from many sides and is expanded in all ways for better comprehension of the reader.

2. Paragraph Hamburger

The paragraph hamburger is a writing organizer that outlines the key concepts in a paragraph. Topic sentences, detail/supporting sentences, and closing/conclusion sentences are all the main components of a good paragraph. Each component is a “piece” of the hamburger. This strategy can be used by the whole class, in small groups or even individually.

Procedure to follow:

• Discuss the three main components of a paragraph or story.
• The introduction (top bun)
• The internal or supporting information (the filling)
• The conclusion (bottom bun)
• Ask your child to write a topic sentence that clearly indicates what the whole paragraph is going to be about.
• Have your child compose several supporting sentences that give more information about the topic.
• Instruct your child on ways to write a concluding sentence that restates the topic sentence.

All the best in adopting these approaches and helping your child spell age-appropriate words and expand ideas and opinions in writing. Follow the approaches mentioned above, and see your child read, write and spell all the way to success!

If you are looking to learn more, Do Feel free to visit our Indo Scots Global School website

Indo Scots Global School

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