Teaching spelling to a toddler

[aangeles]

I recently started teaching my 28-month-old to spell. I got her some 3-letter and 4-letter word puzzles, a set of wooden letter beads to string (she loves stringing activities), and a set of upper- and lower-case letter stamps. I also started showing her some words on spellingcity.com and she seems to like it. I was wondering if there are any other good resources for teaching spelling to a toddler? She is already reading comfortably at a second-grade level so I thought this would be the right time to introduce spelling. Do you think it's too early? I have read somewhere that kids who learn to read by the whole-word approach (vs. phonics) may have a harder time learning to spell later on or they become atrocious spellers. Is there any truth to this assertion?

Thanks!

[Twinergy]

My DD spelled her first word at around 2.5 yo with ASL.  It was a word she had never seen spelled before.  I have also read that young children that learn to finger spell in ASL become fantastic spellers, but haven't seen any studies.

[mom2bee]

I think its brilliant and you should go right on with what you are doing. Especially if you use a systematic spelling approach to teach spelling, her phonics and reading skills should continue to blossom. Says my intuition.

[aangeles]

I think its brilliant and you should go right on with what you are doing. Especially if you use a systematic spelling approach to teach spelling, her phonics and reading skills should continue to blossom. Says my intuition.

Hmm... actually, I don't have a systematic approach to teaching spelling. Know of any?

[mom2bee]

Well spellcity I thought uses the Sequential Spelling program, maybe it is only an option. But I dont see any harm in "freestyling" her spelling either, so long as she's learning.

I posted about Ultimate Phonics, why not give that a shot, even if you just use the free pdfs for its lists and sentences?
If you want, look under Teacher Resources for SpellCity and begin using the Sequential Spelling lists, I hear they are great.

Really, you could use almost any of the lists on Spelling City. Play spelling games with her and continue to build on whatever she is learning right now.

You could use 3x5 cards and cut them in 1/2's or 1/3's and make letter tiles and play with them like spelling tiles. IF you laminate them they will become extra durable.

[TmS]

The Glen Doman how to teach to write pdf contains a whole section on teaching to spell before teaching to write. I highly recommend it.

[Jaava]

I recently started teaching my 28-month-old to spell. I got her some 3-letter and 4-letter word puzzles, a set of wooden letter beads to string (she loves stringing activities), and a set of upper- and lower-case letter stamps. I also started showing her some words on spellingcity.com and she seems to like it. I was wondering if there are any other good resources for teaching spelling to a toddler? She is already reading comfortably at a second-grade level so I thought this would be the right time to introduce spelling. Do you think it's too early? I have read somewhere that kids who learn to read by the whole-word approach (vs. phonics) may have a harder time learning to spell later on or they become atrocious spellers. Is there any truth to this assertion?
-------------------------------------

From the iahp bookshop you can buy a little booklet called ''teach your baby to write''. (U have to request it as not listed on the website).   It neatly explains how to teach spelling as one of the steps to writing.  I got a set of big wooden letters and followed the method.  It only took 3 month of playing the spelling game to teach my son to spell.  25-28 month.  The funny thing was that he was just as interested in remembering 'misspellings' as the correct ones.   Now he can spell pretty well, even long words if it's something of interest to him.

[lizaveta]

i also think that if your daughter is reading fluently, and from your video one can appreciate her level of reading, she should be ready for some gentle spelling learning. if beads are her favorite toy, then go for it. plus you will be developing her manual skills. whatever works. keep posting on your progress.
liza

[TracyR4]

No, there is no truth to that since reading, spelling and writing use different parts of the brain. Bascially spelling requires retrieval from the brain and either you have it or you don't.  My oldest is a good reader ( was taught using phonics approach) and she's a horrible spelle and has wretched handwriting regardless of the millions of handwriting programs I've tried. Granted she has a memory of an elephant, just not with spelling. My 2nd daughter learned using phonics and she is an excellent speller yet her long term and short term memory are extremely poor due to her having seizures as a baby. My third daughter learned to read phonetically and is a good speller, and has mild cerebal palsy. So what have we learned here? It depends on the child, and their ability to retrieve words from that part of the brain.
Both my husband and I are very good spellers, and I don't remember being taught a lick of phonics, and if I did it wasn't enough to teach anyone to read. I was just a natural reader and writer. I taught myself many things growing up as a child. My husband also said he does not have any memory of learning to read using phonics as a child ( and trust me he has a GREAT memory) and he, being an excellent speller,  can spell words that I might have forgotten how to spell (not very common but happens to me from time to time).

My 2nd daughter was an early reader , not as early as your daughter. But she learned to read before she could write  at 4.5, and she loved using puzzle pieces from her alphabet puzzle to spell out simple words, like cat, hat, mat, can, ran, etc. She also loved using those ABC refrigerator magnets to spell on the fridge. You can buy a cheap set at a store or go as extravagant as the Leap Frog Fridge Words Magnetic Word Builder, where they spell the word and it will say the sounds of the letters and the word so they can hear it.
You can use Starfall's website as a list for words to use to teach her to spell. I would wait for a formal program until she can write letters, and honestly a bit older.

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