This spelling development, as explained further by Becky Spence in Teaching Kids to Spell, is the foundation for the letter activities found in Alphabet Sounds App. Typically, the ability to hear and recognize harder features such as, blends and digraphs, comes next (FROG for frog). As kids develop in their understanding of letters and sounds, ending sounds usually come next (spelling FG for frog) followed by the middle vowel sound (FOG for frog). For example, frog may be spelled with just an F. This is evident in their invented spellings. Beginning letter sounds are typically the easiest for young children to recognize or hear. Two important skills for beginning readers and writers are knowing letters and letter sounds. It is hands-on in that it requires students to analyze, manipulate, and create meaningful and logical generalizations of how word spellings work. This is accomplished by looking at the student’s misspellings of certain word patterns (from simple words like man to more complex words such as multitude). Word Study is developmentally appropriate because it takes into consideration what the student understands or does not yet understand about spellings and word meanings to discover where spelling instruction should start.

Word Study is a widely research-based spelling approach whose purpose is to “examine words in order to reveal the logic and consistencies within written language system and to help student achieve mastery in recognizing, spelling, and defining specific words” (Words Their Way, Bear, et.

Effective spelling methods do not rely on rote memorization, but are developmentally appropriate and hands-on. Teaching kids to spell includes much more than a list of spelling words students should memorize and write on a spelling test each week.

Alphabetic spelling words their way