Effective Spelling Tool

Over Spring Break, I visited the first grade teacher that I helped during my senior year of high school. I was excited to visit her and meet the students. During journal time, I helped the students spell out words. Each student had a spelling book, which provided about twenty commonly used words for each letter of the alphabet. This book was designed for first graders. Therefore, it had words such as family, friends, there, and their. On each page, there were additional lines to write other words that start with that particular letter. Whenever a child asked for a word that wasn’t in the spelling book, he/she had to turn to the page/alphabet letter in which the word started. Then, the teacher writes the word on that page. I really like this concept that the students have a list of words that they should know, but they can also add to their vocabulary and have the word spelled correctly the next time they need it. I could tell that the students who used the spelling book the most were able to write their journals fast and correctly. On the other hand, the students who did not have additional words written in their spelling book had a more difficult time writing the journal. I think the spelling book is an effective tool.