Spelling can be one of the most challenging parts of writing for many kids! And it’s frustrating – Students perceive that guidelines are presented as “spelling rules,” but there seem to be more exceptions than consistency. It’s no wonder some give up entirely!

If they are working digitally, they can simply use spellcheck, right? WRONG! First of all, it’s possible to misspell something so badly that spellcheck doesn’t recognize it. Secondly, spellcheck cannot catch errors of misusage, omitted words, inserted words, and so forth. We all need to develop basic skills with spelling and learn tools to make sure we get it right before others see it.

Like it or not, people judge based on spelling. If a document, note, memo, or report is riddled with spelling errors, the reader’s first thought of the writer is usually far from kind. The more professional the job, the better the spelling needs to be.

Success with spelling relies mostly on one thing – the ability to notice misspellings and take action to correct them. Teach the kids to use spellcheck when working on a computer, but also teach them to use a dictionary (online or otherwise), and practice spotting spelling mistakes. Once they are found, action can be taken to fix them.

Here are tips to improve spelling accuracy:

• Read, and read, and read some more! Reading will help students build that intuitive recognition that kicks in when they make a spelling error. We usually find these mistakes by noticing when words do not “look right.”

• Do word search puzzles. Again, recognizing when words are spelled correctly will help build that automatic cringe when words are misspelled.

• Find words within words. Remember when you were a kid and the teacher wanted to occupy you on the day before the holiday break? She gave you a big word, like the holiday name or the month and challenged you to find as many smaller words as you could using just the letters in the given word or phrase. This one is easy to do – just pick words or phrases with lots of vowels and common consonants and you’re on your way! Make it into a contest, and you’ll have instand motivation. Play with your students or children, then when you go over the word lists, they will learn from the words you put on your list as well.

• Do at least some writing with pen and paper. One thing I see more and more is students who are over-reliant on spellcheck. If you have them write the old-fashioned way, you can see how their spelling understandings are coming, and you can help them learn to proofread.

• Teach phonics and word roots. In spite of the seemingly huge number of exceptions, English is a phonetic language, and the rules really do apply most of the time. Closer examination of the exceptions will reveal that the problematic words are primarily on those lists of very common words (the sight words), and also those that have their roots in other languages. That’s why the exceptions seem so common to kids – those sight words are needed in almost every writing task.

• Be sure kids can spell sight words. The Dolch list, or whatever sight words list you want, can really help kids learn to spell. The Fry List is also excellent because the words are ranked in order of their frequency. Learn the first hundred or so, and you have a large chunk of the problematic words. As mentioned before, these words are frequently exceptions to the common rules. Think of words like “said” and “have” and then try to explain to a first grader why they are pronounced the way that they are! A better approach is to call these words “outlaws” or some other creative name that cues children that something unusual is happening.

• Watch your own attitude. Kids are quick to pick up on the attitudes of the adults in their lives. If you consider yourself a good speller, it will show. If you struggle with spelling, what are YOU doing about it? How do you compensate? Or do you hope no one will notice or tell yourself that it’s not that important? Whatever you are doing, the kids are quite likely to imitate you, so don’t fall into any traps that you don’t want your child to be in for the rest of their lives!

Need more ideas about how to build spelling skills? Check out my Spelling Secrets: Transferring Spelling Knowledge to Everyday Writing video. It’s just $4.95 over on Teachers Pay Teachers.