Do you want to see improved spelling in your students’ writing? Research shows that 90% of English text consists of just 1000 words. This book focuses on teaching the most commonly used and misspelled words and ensuring that students of all ability levels receive intense instruction on core words. The book is divided into four main parts; Incredible English, Spelling and Teaching, Recommended Teaching Techniques, and Spelling Lists.

The Incredible English chapter lists rules for spelling and then lists exceptions to the rules. It also compares the difficulty of spelling other languages to spelling English and covers the history of the how the English language has evolved. It also gives arguments for and against spelling reform in a humorous manner.

The Spelling and Teaching section discussing ways a spelling program can be transferred to writing. Many students spell words correctly on tests but then forget to use the correct spelling in their writing. This part of the book gives ideas to keep that from happening. It discusses the importance of good spelling and explains why schools do not do a better job teaching it. It talks about the different types of memory a student uses to assist with spelling and gives suggestions for improvement.

Recommended Teaching Techniques is the section of the book that suggests a few teaching methods that provide the greatest amount of practice in the least amount of time. Daily Practice provides six guided practices per word per day, each in about thirty seconds. Homework provides eleven independent practices per word per day, each in less than one minute. Diction provides distributed practice and allows the teacher to continually reinforce spellings, homophones, punctuation, capitalization, and form. Personal Words provide an optional method for dealing with misspellings in student writing in an effective and flexible way.

The Spelling Lists section includes the 1000 Word Core List. It provides lists for grade levels K-6 and pretesting, review testing, and post-testing to assess students’ learning. It also includes spelling rules and lessons and worksheets that correspond with the lists. This instructional book also includes a word bank and other teacher resources like a step-by-step checklist and challenge spelling lists. ~ Rachel

Customer Review

 
Dena L. from Wasilla, AK wrote the following on 11/05/2008:
We have used this book for three years now. It is more a philosophy of spelling (rather than a collection of worksheets) as well as carefully selected wordlists including explanations, mnemonics, common mistakes, and words for extra practice. Taking the author's advice, I dictate sentences using the spelling words. This puts words to practical use and forces students to edit mistakes without any pressure to create sentences. I enjoy making up the sentences for my daughter (usually basing them on a book we're reading together, such as 'The Hobbit'), so I suppose for parents who don't like or want to put in that extra effort or whose child prefers to work more independently, it wouldn't be the best choice, but my daughter (who groans at the sight of most workbooks) looks forward to dictation work and is developing good editing skills along with sound spelling knowledge. Although the lists are grouped by level, homeschooled students can easily work at an individual pace, another nice feature. I recommend it highly.