I Love Learning to Spell using Sentence Dictation!
Spelling can be fun! And when we connect their spelling with their phonics, ALL students, struggling and non-struggling, connect both sides of the sound/symbol relationship coin! Reading and spelling makes sense. (In my last post shared the connection between spelling success and their phonics. Here’s the link.)
Connecting spelling to their phonics applies to ALL learners:
struggling learners,
non-struggling learners, and
gifted learners.
ALL children deserve to understand how reading and spelling are connected.
As mentioned in my last post, it is essential that their spelling instruction correlate with phonics instruction. They need to understand the connection of decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling the words they’ve learned to read as they use them in their writing).
One of the most important spelling components I included in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® is sentence dictation.
In Silent Elephant “e”®, sentence dictation connects decoding and encoding with comprehension in one meaningful activity that they enjoy and that is consistent throughout Parts 3-14.
As I have mentioned before, this consistency in instruction of connecting phonics, spelling and comprehension is vital for dyslexic learners but truly important for ALL learners.
To make sure your kids connect the relationship of decoding and encoding, sentence dictation does not occur in Silent Elephant “e”® until children are fluently reading the sentences on their Partner Practice pages and have discussed what the sentences are about with you or their partners.
This ensures that they are not trying to learn to spell/write a word that doesn’t have meaning for them. This is so important, because if they are trying to spell/write a word they don’t know the meaning of, it will only cause them confusion and frustration, and they will find spelling difficult if not impossible.
When your kids fluently read and comprehend the sentences on their Partner Pages in each phonics lesson, they are ready to move into the encoding (spelling) part of the lesson—sentence dictation.
Here are a few steps that will ensure your child’s success in sentence dictation when working with their partners or you. Teach these skills before jumping into sentence dictation:
Take turns reading a sentence to their partner. You may be their partner. This necessary step works on decoding and promotes active listening. If you are their “partner”, have them read the sentence to you and then you read the sentence to them having them actively listen as you read.
Discuss the meaning of the sentence by sharing what they are picturing/imagining in their brain—comprehension. They could even draw the sentence, as drawing will activate more parts of their brain thus promoting greater comprehension.
Take turns reading the sentence one more time.
Have them turn their Partner Practice page over.
Take turns repeating the sentence from memory, first together, then separately. Have them think about what the sentence and words look like when they say the sentence and listen to you say it. This works on both auditory and visual memory. If they need to review the sentence again, they can turn their Partner Practice page over.
Only now do they begin writing. This, of course, is encoding as they are thinking, “What sound am I hearing and what letter(s) do I use for that sound when I’m writing?”
If you are their partner, have them dictate the sentence to you and you write it. You are modeling for them.
When you’ve finished writing a sentence, have them first proofread their own work and then proofread their partners/yours. They proofread by:
Checking for space between words
Checking for a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence
Checking for an end mark—a period, question or exclamation mark
Checking for capitalized names
Checking for spelling accuracy
Last, have them proof their work for accuracy by looking at their Partner Practice page. Celebrate with a high-five for their good work. Smiles all around!
As you can see, decoding and encoding skills utilized in sentence dictation engage numerous parts of the brain:
Visual processing, visual sequencing, and visual memory
Auditory processing, auditory sequencing, and auditory memory
Tactile handwriting skills
Comprehension of text
Analytical thinking--comparison of decoding and encoding
Sentence dictation is a fun activity that children enjoy doing together without being completely aware of all the elements enhancing their learning—they just have fun and learn to share and support each other as they read and write.
I encourage doing sentence dictation several times a week. You and they will see the difference in reading, spelling and comprehension very quickly.
If you have further questions about spelling the Silent Elephant “e”® way, contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com.