If you're wondering how to teach a specific spelling concept, this collection of articles will set you in the right direction.
How to Use Dictation to Improve Spelling
Writing from dictation is an important way to improve your child's spelling, because it allows the student to concentrate on the writing process without having to compose original sentences. Read more
How to Use Tactile Activities to Practice Spelling
The All About Spelling program incorporates many kinesthetic activities. Here are some additional ways to bring the kinesthetic aspect of teaching spelling to life. Read more
How to Use Kinesthetic Spelling Activities
If you have a child who learns best through kinesthetic activities, you may find helpful ideas here. Read more
How to Correct Spelling Mistakes
It's important to have a strategy for correcting your student's spelling mistakes during the lesson and outside of the lesson. Read more
How to Handle Misspelled Words
During the course of spelling instruction, your student is bound to run into a troublemaker or two. Troublemakers are words that, for one reason or another, are especially challenging to spell. They tend to fall into one of three categories: words with careless mistakes, mispronounced words, and words that don’t follow the spelling rules. Read more
How to Teach Spelling with Letter Tiles
Using letter tiles for teaching spelling is a great way to immediately improve the effectiveness of your spelling instruction. Read more
How to Develop Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness means being aware of how sounds work in spoken language. This awareness helps students learn how to read and spell, and can be taught explicitly (directly). This article provides some activities to help your student develop phonemic awareness. Read more
How to Teach Phonograms
The All About Spelling interactive Phonogram Sounds app is a great tool for learning the basic phonograms. Here are some tips that will help you get the most out of it. Read more
How to Teach Prefixes
A prefix is a word part placed in front of a base word that usually changes the meaning of the base word. This guide offers easy strategies for teaching prefixes, as well as a list of 90 common prefixes. Read more
How to Teach Closed and Open Syllables
Closed and open syllables are the first two syllable types students should learn. Out of the six syllable types, these two are the easiest for students to master. Hundreds of common words can be spelled using these two syllable types, so our students can get a lot of practice even while their spelling skills are still in the early development stage. Read more
How to Teach Contractions
A contraction consists of two words that are combined to form one word. Think of a rubber band that expands when you stretch it out and contracts when you let it go. To “contract” means to “make smaller,” and that is what we do when we form contractions: we take two longer words and contract them into one shorter word. Read more
How to Teach Alphabetizing
Alphabetizing is an essential skill that will help students in many day-to-day tasks both at home and at school. Here are some easy tips and strategies for teaching your student how to alphabetize. Read more
How to Teach Syllable Types
It is important for students to recognize syllables in words. When they are able to say one syllable at a time, spelling becomes much easier. Fortunately, recognizing syllables is an easy concept to teach. Read more
How to Teach Sight Words
The topic of “sight words” comes up frequently, and many programs define sight words in different ways. A frequent question we hear is, “Does All About Spelling teach sight words, and how does it handle them?” Read more
How We Teach the Dolch Word List
The Dolch Word List contains the 220 words most frequently encountered in children's literature. The All About Spelling program includes all of the words on the Dolch Word List. Read more
How to Teach Silent E
Silent E can perform different functions, depending on the word in which it is used. Learning the roles that Silent E can play enables students to recognize similar occurrences in new words they encounter. Read more
How to Spell Long Vowel Sounds
Did you know that there are four different ways to spell a long vowel sound? Read on to find out how All About Spelling teaches the long vowel sounds by introducing one concept at a time in a practical, hands-on way. Read more
How to Teach Spelling in Your Homeschool
Homeschooling is a great opportunity because you can choose the homeschool spelling curriculum that matches your child's needs. As your child's teacher, you decide the method of instruction, how frequent the lessons are, the pace, the intensity, and the amount of review. Individualized spelling instruction is an unbeatable choice. Read more