Choosing the Correct Spelling Pattern
Thankfully, the majority of words actually do follow the rules and can be sounded out.  Among those words, however, there are still some that require visual strategies in addition to knowing rules and phonograms.  Words like meet and meat follow phonetic patterns, but have no rule to tell us which spelling is correct for which application.  When there are several “long E” patterns to choose from, how do we know which pattern to select?  For spelling patterns that must be visually discerned, All About Spelling implements several strategies:

  1. When a word is introduced that has a homophone, there will be a cue sentence next to the word to indicate the meaning.
  2. For patterns where there is more than one possible spelling and no rule applies, All About Spelling introduces those patterns many lessons apart.  In the case of ee vs ea, for example, ee is introduced in Level 2, while ea is introduced later in Level 3.  The student has a lot of time to become proficient with one spelling pattern before another spelling pattern is introduced. This helps prevent confusion.
  3. All About Spelling uses Word Banks for patterns like this.  The student reads the Word Banks to establish a visual memory of a pattern and which words fit into it.
  4. Dictation phrases and sentences continue to use spelling patterns and words learned in previous lessons so that there is ongoing review.
  5. The student Material Packets also provide ongoing review.  The words they learn in the lessons are reviewed with the Word Cards until they are mastered.  Several times per level, there is a review of Mastered Cards–students can do all of the previously learned words, or just cover tricky ones.  The cards are shuffled so they aren’t in order according to pattern.  Also, any time a student misses a word in their dictation or in their every day writing, that word can be put back into review until it’s really mastered.
  6. Starting in Level 3, the student will keep a homophone chart, and there are several lessons that cover various homophones.  They write the homophones, and there are exercises where the parent or teacher reads a sentence and the student points to the correct word on their homophone chart (such as meet or meat).
If your student needs additional work on homophones, or if you would like fun games and worksheets to occasionally add to your spelling program, check out All About Homophones.