Now that we are into the first full week of school, we are beginning to get into many of our weekly academic routines. One that began this week is spelling – Ms. Ursino’s favorite thing to teach! On Monday, Mrs. Banks’ first graders joined us and all the first grade students experienced creating their first spelling list by selecting their words for the week from a list of words that fit our pattern of the week – short vowels!
Vowels are the foundation of even the simplest words and every word must have a vowel (even if the vowel is “sometimes Y”). Short vowels are when a vowel says its “sound”, while long vowels are when a vowel says it’s “name”.
Did you know? Vowels are letters that represent speech sounds where air leaves the mouth without any use of the tongue, lips, or throat?
Each week, students will practice the spelling pattern through a wide variety of activities. We use a multi-sensory approach to help students learn and retain the information. For short vowels, we listened and sang along to songs, practiced our short vowel sounds with related words and motions, and sorted words by their short vowel sound.
During the week each week, students will practice their unique list of spelling words at school, and are encouraged to practice at home each day! Remember – students use their list at school each day to practice so it is important to have it in their backpack each and every day! If you want a copy for home, I recommend having your child handwrite a second copy for the fridge on Monday nights! This is great practice for both spelling and handwriting and helps ensure that they will have their list at school each day when they need it!
Throughout this week, students practiced identifying and using these sounds in words through independent work, sing-alongs, and many other classroom activities. On Friday, they got to take their VERY FIRST spelling test of first grade! We had fun practicing our routine as a whole group before getting started on our tests. Check out their happy “thumbs up” when completing a word.
