Teaching Strategies

These articles highlight the best strategies for teaching spelling.

What Works in Teaching Spelling

There are many methods for teaching spelling. When you are evaluating which program you want to use with your students, keep these important considerations in mind. Read more

What Doesn't Work in Teaching Spelling

 When evaluating methods of teaching spelling, it is just as important to consider what doesn’t work as what does work. Here is what you want to avoid in a spelling program.  Read more

 Spelling Review: Making It Stick

As teachers, our job is to make sure that what we are covering in class right now will be available to the student later in life, and we do that by reducing the material down to what is most important and working on getting that material into the student's long-term memory.  Read more

Phonograms and How They Work

Phonograms are the building blocks of successful spelling. This article introduces the basic phonograms taught in All About Spelling and offers tips on how to teach them.  Read more

Choosing the Correct Spelling Pattern 

 The majority of words actually follow spelling rules and can be sounded out. Some words, however, also require visual strategies in addition to knowledge about spelling rules and phonograms. Here are some strategies that All About Spelling uses.  Read more

Why Teach the Phonograms and Spelling Rules?

Our brains like to find logic and structure. When we are taught something that "makes sense" to our brains, we remember it much more readily. The basic phonograms and spelling rules provide the logic and structure that our brains crave. Read more

Whole Language or Phonics: Which Approach Is Best?

There are significant differences between the Whole Language and phonics-based approaches to teaching spelling. Read on to find out more about these approaches and the methods All About Spelling uses to ensure spelling success for your child.  Read more

Effective Spelling Strategies

Good spellers use a variety of strategies for spelling. These strategies fall into four main categories—phonetic, rule-based, visual, and morphemic. All About Spelling teaches all four strategies to help your student become a successful speller. Read more

Does Invented Spelling Have its Place?

No doubt your preschooler has "invented" new spellings of words, and you've had fun trying to decipher them. But parents often wonder if the "invention" of new spellings should be encouraged as kids get older. Does invented spelling serve as a building block on the path to learning? Will your child grow into a better speller because of it?  Read more

The All About Spelling program incorporates all of the top strategies for teaching spelling.