what techniques do you use when teaching a child to spell between the ages of 4-6?

Answer 1

I've just answered your other question about this, try playing with sounds and the screening tasks, i thinks these should give you all the answers you need about modern methods teaching of spelling and phonics. And from experiance of using them recently, they do actually work, if done correctly!

Answer 2

I explained that English is a funny language, some words have an odd spelling. I encouraged him to be interested in language, stories etc and to have a go at spelling. Then I'd give the correct spelling and praise his attempt. If he happened to get it right I pointed it out to him to encourage him.
I explained that I wasn't critisizing, and that this would make it easier for him later on. If you learn to do something the wrong way its then harder to have to learn to do it a second time. He sort of understood that, didn't feel flattened or critisized and has always been happy to make an attempt without worrying if he's going to get it wrong.

Try The Works or other cheap bookshop for any books your child is interested in and try getting them to write out sentances they are familiar with. Sit and read together, either the same book or each read your own book.
Gradually introduce new vocabulary a few words at a time when you are talking, explain the meaning of words. And make sure they have kids dictionaries and encyclopaedias.
A little bit every day is better than a huge pressured session once a week, plus at that age you can play at schools.
They need to know the alphabet and the sounds the letters make before they can fit them together into words.

Answer 3

I don't teach kids but I remember how I was taught.

1. Learned (memorized) the alphabet.
2. Put letters together for small, one syllable words like "to" or "go"
or "the." Small words make up most larger words even though
sometimes pronounced differently.
3. Teach the kid to SEE words phonetically -- 're-mem-ber' or
'al-pha-bet'-- break them down. Don't look at them as whole
words.
4. Teach the kid what the words mean in terms the kid can
understand, words from his/her world, not yours.
5. Don't pressure the kid.
6. Relate as much as possible to his world.

There are very few words I couldn't spell at a young age except
"ie" or "ei" words. Like to have never gotten the hang of when 'i'
came before 'e' or 'e' came before 'i.' Big words were easier.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Jolly Phonics workbooks etc give a very strong grounding in reading, spelling and writing for young children.
They are widely used in schools. You can check out their products on their website but can often buy them cheaper on ebay. For a young child, they are the best bet. The child may think they are simple and they already know it - but as the books progress they build on things very well.
They also have videos/dvds that can be bought at Early Learning Centre.
Another vital thing is to chose a good school, some schools are far better than others at laying these important foundation skills.

Answer 5

Make it fun! Flashcards have been mentioned frequently. I've got a slight variation that my parents used for me.

Mom made word family cards ("-an") and had magnet letters. I played with them on the fridge. Put a "C" in from of -an and it spells CAN. "M" spells MAN. and so forth.

They both read to me every day, which probably influenced my love of books.

And Sesame Street!!! The music and the muppets made it easy to learn without even realising I was learning!

Answer 6

Make it into a song. Kids can memorize songs real easy. So if your child has a favorite song change the words to "*Word here**Spelling of word here**Word again here*" It works whenever I have a big test. I make all my vocab words into a song and I have done so well with them!

Hope I helped! Have a very Merry Christmas!

Answer 7

Flashcards. Also, buy a talking spelling word dictionary. I recite the word to my child and he types in the word and the dictionary tells him if it is right or wrong. He can also get the definition of that word at the push of a button.

Answer 8

Flash cards and those talking things do work.. i grew up on those and I was a spelling master from first grade to third grade. Donno what happened~ xD

Buuut.. other than those, you could try getting the kid interested in reading. Reading helps with spelling. i think. I grew up on books and yeah~

Answer 9

smack the s.hit outa them! Always works!