My second grader started having “Spelling” homework this year; each week he builds a list based on words he has used (but misspelled) in his own writing. This individualized list then comes home for four nights of practice. By the week’s end, he has a quiz at school determining if he met his goal of 10 out of 10 words.
Here’s one list from earlier this year.
Here’s one list from earlier this year.
Loathe.
Really?
Loathe?
When I asked him how he used this word in his writing, he explained: “I loathe having to empty the dishwasher.”
I both laughed and rolled my eyes. How will I ever survive this boy in middle school?
Now that both our boys have spelling lists, we usually verbally quiz them at dinner time; although occasionally the boys choose to write down each word. Back-in-the-day, when our youngest was still in preschool and kindergarten, we involved him in the nightly spelling ritual by asking him to use each of his brother’s spelling words in a sentence (or provide a word that means the opposite). As a first grader, we often encouraged him to quiz his brother – noting each letter as his brother spelled the word out loud. All that early exposure helped him with his own language development.
So perhaps, we’re to blame for the flamboyant vocabulary that sneaks into his speech these days. Or at least, that’s what I’ll tell myself the next time I comment on the lunch spilled on his shirt and he replies: “Ah Ma, it’s practically imperceptible.”
Ugh.