Spelling Chants

So I've finally bitten the bullet and signed up for Teachers pay Teachers. Here's a link to my store if you want to check it out - Being Inspired Store

I figure worst case scenario I'll get a few more visitors to my blog and best case scenario I'll become a millionaire like the top seller! (Of course realistically I'm just hoping to making a tiny bit of money!). So if you're tempted to sign up and give it a go click here. Nothing to lose right?

At the moment I have a few freebies and a few things you can buy. My aim is to keep a balance, we all love freebies and teachers already spend too much of their own money on school resources! :)

Speaking of which - I've just added these free spelling chant posters.

Click here to download

They can be used by parents or teachers as a fun way to practice spellings. In general I have issues with the way spelling is taught. Often kids are just given a random list of words from a spelling book to learn off each week. And instead of being taught spelling strategies they are just tested at the end of the week. The same kids succeed and and the same kids struggle each week. And most of them forget the new words quickly as they are not using them in their writing and reading.

 But it doesn't have to be like this! The words can be relevant and purposefully selected. They can be chosen from the class novel or the current area of study in science or maths. They can relate to common errors that are being made in the class or link in with a specific word family that is being taught. Or ideally they can be a combination of all of these. There's no reason why each child can't have an individual modified spelling list depending on their ability level and the mistakes they commonly make in their writing. 

So once you've got the words all right, what next? There's still a few more things you can do to help improve your kids spelling. Get them to actually apply their new knowledge and use the words they're learning. Identify the words in the world around you and help make them relevant to your kids. Ask them to look for the commonalities between the words and encourage them to come up with their own spelling rules and mnemonics. 

But mostly - make learning spellings fun! And that's where these spelling chants come in. It's just a list of silly ways to practice spelling new words. Like the "snap and clap" where you snap your fingers on each vowel and clap on each consonant. Or the "explosion" where you start off whispering the letters and gradually get louder until the word explodes at the end! Silly but fun. The way all learning should be. :) 

Happy spelling!

*Really hoping there's no spelling mistakes in this post now... :)

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