A Few
Words About Inventive SpellingWhen children begin to write we encourage them to use "inventive" spelling. In class we call this "Best Guess Spelling". We constantly encourage students to sound out and write what they hear. We want them to practice and use the phonetic elements they are learning this year. As children start to make the links between the sounds of spoken words and the letters of written words, they may write a whole word using one, two, or three letters. Sometimes children write words in their own unconventional way. They may use mainly consonants: 'down' may be written as 'dn', 'cage' may be 'kaj', 'people' is often written as 'pepl'. As a kindergarten teacher I am thrilled when I see children take the risk to spell creatively. Some children constantly ask adults to spell for them and we often have parents ask us what they should do when this happens at home. We believe that children will enjoy writing more (and therefore do it more often) if they are encouraged to put their thoughts down on paper without worrying about conventional spelling at this age. It is very important that children try to spell words they don't know when they are writing. If they do not have the chance to 'try' to spell using their phonetic background they will miss the opportunity to experience this new strategy. If children only use words that they know they can spell, they may never make a mistake, but they will not get the chance to become fluent writers. Therefore, when children write creatively in class, we will not be correcting their spelling or telling them how to spell a word. We will give them lots of praise for using the letter sounds they have learned this year. A child may see a word correctly spelled on a chart or in a word bank and copy it correctly in their journal or story and that needs to be praised as a good strategy as well. We would encourage you to try a similar technique at home. Enjoy their inventive spelling. Celebrate it as a natural phase in their development. |