How to Use Finger Spelling to Help Your Child Become a Better Speller
How to Use Finger Spelling to Help Your Child Become a Better Speller
If you have ever been frustrated with trying to help your child with their spelling
words, you are not alone. Spelling is hard for many students, but especially difficult
for dyslexics. If you have ever really looked at their spelling, many times there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to why they spell the way they do. Many teachers have their students write their spelling words five times each or more. I used to do this as a classroom teacher until I discovered that the students for whom spelling correctly came easily didn’t need to do this, and the students who struggled with spelling may have written the word correctly only one time out of five.
There are much better ways to conquer spelling.
Finger Spelling, especially for beginning words is amazing. This is how it works.
Let’s use the word cat. Ask your child (or student) how many sounds are in cat. Have
them hold up one finger as they make each sound /c//a//t/. Then ask, “How many sounds are in cat?” Hopefully, they can look at their three fingers and know that there are only three sounds in the word cat.
Next, have them write the letter for each of the three sounds: /c//a//t/. Let them know that they do not need to add any other letters to the word. This may seem strange to some; however, in my experience, I have seen many students spell a word correctly only to add two or three extra letters to the end of the word because it seemed too short or didn’t look right to them. Therefore, they misspelled the word. Counting the sounds by using their fingers, and then writing just those sounds is a great way to spell correctly. Of course, English is complicated and not all words can be sounded out this way, but it helps a young child to spell correctly and not just give it their “best guess” as the Whole Language approach to reading dictates.
When the words become longer, I like to help them hear and spell each word one syllable at a time. This helps them break down the words into smaller pieces. Again they can start by counting the syllables with their fingers so they know how many syllables they must write to form the word. Many teachers use “claps” for each syllable. This also works well, but they need to remember how many “claps” they had so they can break down the word to spell correctly.
Here’s an example: “How many syllables are in the word backpack?” It would be divided /back/ /pack/ so that would be two syllables. In this case we have a compound word. Now how many sounds are in back? Three: /b//a//ck/ and there are also three in /p//a//ck/. Now have your child write down the sounds for each syllable.
This may seem a little confusing at first, but the more it is used, the easier it becomes. The reward is more words spelled correctly the first time around. I have used this method with many students who could never spell any words correctly on a spelling test. The look on their faces when they spelled most of the words correctly is priceless.
Being successful in such a small thing for us can be a huge win for them. This is a true self-esteem builder.
Remember, this is a starting point for spelling. There are many other little tricks to spelling as the words get longer and harder. I often think how lucky we are to live in a time where technology can help us become better spellers. I always wondered why we were told as kids to look up the word in the dictionary so we could spell it correctly. If we didn’t know how to spell the word, we didn’t know where to find it in the dictionary. I bet a lot of you reading this post heard those words as a child only to be frustrated.
Happy Spelling!
Beginning Sight Words
I to he
can me look
for some many
have and with
his this where
from says done
the go is
of what good
goes any should
we you little
they help who
Mr. could again
see do she
said put come
your would was
a my does
want has Mrs.
as been there
like are how
hear play walk
Note to Parents:
Remember when teaching sight words to your child, it’s best to put them on 3”x 5” cards and start with 5 at a time. When your child is comfortable with the first 5, add in 2 or 3 more at a time.
I would probably look at the list with a reading book in hand. Start with the sight words that they will need to be able to read fluently in their reader. Since different readers have different sight words, this is the best way to get started.
You can start by having them just read the word. When they are proficient with remembering the word, you can also have them learn to spell it. That is the goal: reading and spelling each sight word correctly.
Important Kindergarten Skills to Practice During the Summer and Beyond
A lot of kindergarten work is oral. There are only a few things on this list that requires writing. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
1. High Frequency and Sight Words: (Put them on flash cards if you can)
a. List 1: I, am, see, a, can, we, the, in, and, go, to, like, said, you, is, it, here, come, up, look, at, me, on, this, my
b. List 2: she, was, he, went, by, out, big, little, yes, with, no, not, going, down, where, are, they, from, have, for, run, his, will, one, of
2. Practice identifying upper and lowercase letters and their sound, including the digraphs ch, ck, sh, th, wh.
3. Practice writing their name legibly.
4. If your child knows his/her sounds, they may practice sounding out CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. To do this say each sound and then put them together to say the word. Here is a list of sample words to start with: mat, bam, map, Sam, fat, tap, cab, pig, rim, ban, tag, gap, nag, bin, am, pin, rat, lip, at, hit, cat, rat, sat, fig, dog, jam, lid, dim, bog, dip, dig, kid, cob, cub, gum, us, wax, quit, wag, ox, cut, yum, path, neck, chin, rock, back, rush, chop
5. Work on Rhyming Words. Examples Set One: mat, bat, sat, cat, etc. Set Two: jump, bump, lump, etc. Set Three: sing, ring, bring, etc. Set Four: run, bun, fun, etc. (Rhyming words are strictly by ending sound and not the spelling such as fun and done.
6. Math Skills:
a. Practice counting from 1 to 100 by 1’s and practice counting by 10’s to 100.
b. Practice writing numbers from 1 to 20.
c. Practice adding numbers reaching 5, such as 1+2=3, 2+3=5, etc.
d. Practice recognizing flat shapes: triangle, square, rectangle, circle, hexagon.
e. Practice 3-D shapes: sphere, cone, cylinder, prism, cube.
7. Besides these academics, working on small motor skills is also critical for kindergarten children. Suggestions include:
a. Practice cutting with scissors – straight lines and curves
b. Coloring – Staying in the lines
c. Playdough – pinching and shaping
d. Any other activity that requires using fingers with small things
Spending 10 to 15 minutes each day practicing some of these things will really help your child excel.
