The Spelling Strategies series has six books that can be used with children from about grades one through six. They address specific spelling challenges students run into, while also reinforcing spelling skills in general, teaching through copywork and handwriting rather than exercises. Some books also teach vocabulary. These are not your typical spelling workbooks.
The Spelling Strategies books are not labeled for particular grade levels, so you can choose whichever books seem most helpful each year.
The series uses ball-and-stick printing (vertical lines), slant print, and cursive, sometimes mixing one or more formats in one book. I list the formats used after each title below.
All books are spiral-bound and will lie flat when open. Inside, the student pages are presented in a landscape layout with the spiral at the top of the pages. This allows either right- or left-handed writers to use the books with ease.
A few brief instructions at the front of each book show and explain student posture and positioning for writing. The spelling strategies covered in the entire book are all described briefly on one page.
Some of the books are divided into sections, and the teacher is to read the page at the beginning of a section that presents one or more rules to be practiced and applied in that section. The rules are generally presented in poems that make them easier for children to remember.
Lessons are designated for four days per week. Periodic review pages are included, sometimes as a designated lesson day.
Summary of Each Book
I’ve listed the books in a very rough approximation of their order, although they don’t need to be used in sequence. How Do You Spell “Cup”? will generally be best for first and second graders. Those Terrible Twos and Cool Rules and Spelling Tools are best for grades three through five. You might wait till grades four through six to use Double, Double, No More Trouble! and the books listed after it.
How Do You Spell “Cup”? (Spelling Simple Words with Ease) - ball-and-stick and cursive
This book is the lowest level since it teaches the spelling of consonant-vowel-consonant words learned by beginning readers.
Those Terrible Twos (To, Too, Two) and Other Sound-Alike Words - slant print and cursive
Homonyms like bear/bare and brake/break are taught in this book, making it helpful for vocabulary development as well as spelling and handwriting. Illustrations help students remember which word is which. Four-day lesson plans teach one pair of homonyms per week, requiring students to choose the correct one to write on day four. Answers are printed upside down at the bottom of each page.
Cool Rules and Spelling Tools - slant print and cursive
The eight sections in this book each focus on one rule, such as “Put ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’,” or when sounded as /a/ as in neighbor or weigh.” Exceptions to the rule are also taught. Other rules address the sounds of /c/, ways to spell the /f/ sound, ways to spell the /k/ sound at the beginning of words, how to spell the /g/ sound after short or long vowels, adding “s” or “es,” forming contractions, and spelling plurals of words ending in “f.”
Double, Double, No More Trouble! - only cursive
Focusing on rules for doubling consonants before adding suffixes, this book presents rules and examples to be copied and written. Most words students copy require doubling consonants, but lessons include many that do not so that students can better understand how the rules apply. Note that students copy and do not need to make their own determinations of how to apply the rules.
Spell Check: Find It, Fix It! - models in slant print, but writing can be cursive or slant print
This book differs significantly from the others in two ways. First, it uses slant print throughout, followed by lines for students to copy and to write in either slant print or cursive. Secondly, rather than teaching spelling rules, it presents badly misspelled words in sentences for students to interpret. For example, students need to figure out the meaning of “Hw ar yu doin?” and then write “How are you doing?” There are two misspelled sentences per page, and there’s a word bank at the bottom with properly spelled words. This approach prods students to think about how words are spelled and should prove to be a fun format for some students. Students who struggle a lot with spelling and can’t easily spot misspelled words might find it frustrating.
How Do You Spell “Lieutenant”? (and Other Challenging Words) - ball-and-stick manuscript and cursive
This book is for advanced students. Students learn one word per day for three days, then review the three words on the fourth day. The lessons teach the meanings of words and then break words into syllables for students to trace and write (in ball-and-stick print) within boxes. Children also learn to tap, clap, and snap as they say syllables. After identifying syllables, students copy and write the entire words in cursive. Examples of words taught are adjacent, adieu, anathema, and aluminum.
Summary
The Spelling Strategies books work well as your primary spelling resources, as spelling supplements for targeted learning, for handwriting practice, and for learning vocabulary. That’s the kind of multitasking homeschoolers often appreciate in a resource.
