• Home
  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Subscribe
  • Shop

Real Life at Home

  • Learn
    • Printables and Worksheets by Age and Subject
    • Homeschooling
    • Book Lists for Kids
    • Play
    • Teaching Life Skills
  • Create
    • Crafts and Projects for Kids
    • Easy DIY and Projects
    • Homemade Gifts
  • Holidays
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Lent
    • Easter
    • Mother’s Day
    • Father’s Day
    • Independence Day
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Printables
    • Printables and Worksheets By Age and Subject
    • Exclusive Printables for Subscribers
    • Terms of Use
    • Coloring Pages
    • Word Search Printables
    • Crossword Puzzle Printables
  • Recipes
    • Easy Recipes Index
  • Catholic
    • Catholic Printables
    • Catholic Activities
    • First Communion
    • Catholic Monthly Activities
    • Catholic Word Search Printables
    • Saints and Heroes Printable Packets
You are here: Home / Early Elementary School / Early Elementary Learning Activities / Spelling Help: 5 Reasons Kids Misspell Words

Spelling Help: 5 Reasons Kids Misspell Words

August 27, 2018 By Becky Spence · PRINTABLES TIP: Always go toward the end of a post to find the printable. · Disclosure: This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. {I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.}

3.8K shares
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

advertisement

Spelling Help: 5 Reasons Kids Misspell Words is from Becky of This Reading Mama:

There’s no question about it. Spelling is tough for many kids. (Spelling is even tough for some adults.) There are many reasons kids misspell words, but today I want to explore just five of them.

Spelling Help: 5 Reasons Kids Misspell Words - There are many reasons kids misspell words, but here are five main reasons. Learn more about them to help guide your spelling instruction.

advertisement

Spelling Help: 5 Reasons Kids Misspell Words

1. Spelling is much more demanding than talking.

When a child in the younger primary grades draws a picture, we sit beside her and say, “Tell me about your picture.” We sometimes listen for a full minute (if not more) as she explains her picture. We respond, “Awesome! Let’s write a sentence about your picture now.” The child looks at us in panic. How is she supposed to fit all of that into one sentence? (Yes, I’m being a little far-fetched with that example, but it is a reality.)

As those young readers become older readers, we may ask a comprehension question, such as, “If you were that character, how would you have responded?” The reader orally shares a detailed plan. But ask that same reader to write her response and you may only get a sentence or two (if you are lucky). Writing and spelling are much more demanding. They take a lot more energy from the reader and can be a hindrance for some kids, especially reluctant writers.

20 Super Spelling Centers (book)

2. Spelling is more demanding than reading.

While reading is a recognition task, spelling is a production task. This means spellers have to produce a product (a spelling), while readers only need to recognize what is already there. When we spell, we must produce the correct spellings, not merely recognize words.

Spelling, even in adults, usually lags behind reading skills. For example, if you are reading and come across the word miscellaneous, you can read/recognize it without a problem. But spelling miscellaneous correctly leaves us at the mercy of spell check. This is especially true of developing readers. If your child is a better reader than speller, then congratulations. She’s normal!

Although we don’t want our readers to be way behind in spelling, developmentally speaking, spelling is harder, just like talking lags behind listening/comprehending in our very young toddlers.

Related Post: 10 Strategies for Parents to Help Struggling Readers

Is your child a reluctant or struggling reader? Here are strategies you can use at home to help struggling readers.

3. Spelling is memorized instead of learned in a purposeful way.

Sometimes spelling is nothing but a list of words we ask kids to memorize for testing purposes. Many times, these lists are random words, unrelated in spelling patterns or word meanings. An example of this would be if said, have, of, under, and shout are on the same spelling list for the week.

We need to be teaching kids WHY words are spelled the way they are in a developmental way so that kids can begin to make meaningful connections with word patterns and word meanings. Believe it or not, the English language is logical and there aren’t as many exceptions as you may think.

4. Spelling “rules” are too heavily emphasized.

There are two main problems with teaching so many phonics “rules”- (1) they are easily broken and (2) they can distract kids.

I’m sure you are familiar with, “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” The problem: it has just as many exceptions as it does rule followers!

Instead of teaching blanket rules that are full of exceptions, teach specific word patterns. For example, study words that have ai in them. Talk about what ai says. Find words in your child’s reading that contain ai. Zero in on those common vowel patterns and exceptions will become less and less.

If we teach spelling as simply a list of rules, we will find that there are too many rules for kids to remember. These rules can actually get in the way of decoding as kids are almost enslaved to the rules.

100 Sight Word Mini Books (book)

5. We do not hold kids accountable to what we have taught them.

Once we have taught kids specific word patterns or sight words, we need to hold kids accountable for what they know. A great way to do this is to keep a record of the word patterns or words you have taught your child.

A word wall is a great place to start or some kind of word study notebook. This way, kids can use it as a resource for spelling words as they are writing. For examples of each, visit my word wall/sight word post or my free resource chart for the most common vowel patterns.

Please rest assured that your child is normal if she misspells words. But knowing why can help fill your toolbox with a few teaching and spelling strategies to combat it!

Teaching Kids to Spell by Becky Spence

For more information about kids and spelling, you can purchase a copy of Teaching Kids to Spell: A Developmental Approach to Spelling by Becky Spence.

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

Teaching Young Readers How to Summarize (includes a free printable graphic organizer) | Real Life at Home

Prepositions Worksheets Printable Packet - free eight page preposition printables packet for elementary students just becoming more familiar with prepositions up to middle school students needing a prepositions refresher course


Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. They don’t change the price you pay. However, when you shop through them, we may receive a small compensation.

Spelling Help: 5 Reasons Kids Misspell Words was originally published on August 11, 2014. It was most recently updated in August 2018.

Join 40,000+ Other Awesome People

Subscribe to the Real Life at Home weekly newsletter to get our latest content, exclusive free printables, learning activities, and ideas for celebrating with your kids all year

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. P.S. It's important that you confirm or you won't receive any more emails with free printables, fun tips, and other helps to make your life just a tiny bit easier.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by Kit
3.8K shares
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

Filed Under: Early Elementary Learning Activities, Spelling, Upper Elementary School

About Becky Spence

Becky Spence is a homeschooling mama to four little blessings. She is passionate about teaching, specifically literacy. She is the author of This Reading Mama, where she shares reading and writing activities as well as free literacy curricula and printables. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Previous Post: « 20 Awesome Mermaid Crafts and Activities Your Kids Will Love
Next Post: Back to School Word Search Printable Puzzle for Kids »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. sarah @ little bus on the prairie says

    August 11, 2014 at 10:12 am

    I loved this, great points.

    Another idea that I’ve seen mentioned elsewhere is the idea of teaching children the origination of the words and the languages they come from and why that spelling gives it that meaning (how the prefix “bi-” means “two” in latin rather than “by”, etc).

    I remember seeing that documentary on spelling bee champs and they all studied latin and greek to help identify words. I don’t think you necessarily have to go that far, but the premise makes sense.

    Reply
    • Becky Spence says

      August 11, 2014 at 2:17 pm

      I totally agree with your comment. The origin of the word plays a HUGE part in how it is spelled. And the English language has adopted A LOT of words from other languages. While I do talk about this with younger spellers, we study it more in the upper elementary, as we get into spelling meanings. Meanings DO affect spelling. 🙂 Thanks for sharing that comment.

      Reply
  2. Stephanie says

    August 12, 2014 at 4:43 pm

    This is a great post but may I ask why you didn’t address issues like dyslexia? My daughter’s reading/comprehension was 80% at grade level but her spelling was atrocious. We had her evaluated and are treating her for dyslexia solely based on her spelling difficulties. I would appreciate your feedback on learning disabilities and how they can cause spelling issues.

    Blessings.

    Reply
  3. Becky Spence says

    August 13, 2014 at 6:24 am

    Dyslexia is definitely one of those learning disabilities that affects spelling because it interferes with the ability to hear sounds (phonemes) in words. I did not address dyslexia in my post, but it is one that affects many children. Thank you for bringing that up.

    Reply
  4. Brooke Roberts says

    December 2, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    Oh, spelling is a tough one! When I think about all those phonetic languages that don’t deal with this issue, I’m kind of envious 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Meet Angie

Angie, mom to three very fun kids, is the founder of Real Life at Home.  With degrees in elementary education (B.A.) and special education (M.S.Ed.), as well as being a former homeschooler, she is passionate about supporting both parents and teachers by providing printables, crafts, and activities to help children learn and grow. Read More…

Search

Connect with Real Life at Home

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Footer

  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure Policy
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms of Use and Conditions
  • Disclaimers

Amazon Affiliate Statement

Real Life at Home is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Categories

© 2006 - Present Real Life at Home / Tiny Owl LLC. All Rights Reserved.