Understanding your child's learning style can help them to master spelling!
Learning to spell can be very difficult for some people. Time, patience and practice all help! There are many ways of practising spelling and what works for one person might not work as well for another.
Many children rely heavily on one strategy to learn their weekly spellings as a list and use them in their own writing. Some children learn effectively in this way, but for many children one way of learning is not enough because they memorise words for the test and then forget them later or struggle to learn the words in the first place. Most people will find that a multi-sensory method works best, i.e. using senses like eyes, ears, voice and hands.
Look at the following learning styles and see if you recognise your own or the one that best describes your child.
Visual Learners
|
Auditory learners
|
Kinaesthetic learners
|
Neat and orderly
|
Learn by listening and remember what was discussed rather than seen
|
Learn by manipulating and doing
|
Speak quickly
|
Talk to themselves while working
|
Want to act things out
|
Are good long range planners
|
Are easily distracted by noise
|
Speak slowly
|
Good spellers and can see words in their minds
|
Find writing difficult, but are better at telling
|
Touch people to get their attention
|
Remember what was seen, rather than heard
|
Move their lips and pronounce the words as they read
|
Stand close when talking to someone
|
Are not distracted by noise
|
Enjoy reading aloud and listening
|
Are physically orientated and move a lot, gesture a lot
|
May forget verbal instructions unless written down
|
Are talkative, love discussions and go into lengthy descriptions
|
Memorise by walking and seeing
|
Are strong fast readers
|
Can spell better out loud than in writing
|
Can’t remember geography unless they’ve actually been there
|
Would rather read than be read to
|
|
Use action words
|
Doodle during conversations
|
|
May have messy handwriting
|
Forget to relay verbal messages to others
|
|
Like involved games
|
It is highly likely that the majority of children will exhibit some aspects of more than one learning style. However, if you feel that your child shows a particular learning style, try the activities in the appropriate section below. If no one style is obvious, try a few activities from each section and see which is most successful.
Suggested activities for the different learning styles:
Visual Learners will want to learn by...
|
Auditory Learners will want to learn by...
|
Kinaesthetic Learners will want to learn by...
|
Looking at words and noticing patterns
|
Speaking aloud or saying it strangely e.g. weather becomes we-at-her
|
Writing in sand or sugar
|
Saying or repeating words
|
Singing spellings
|
Feeling you spell the words on their backs
|
Listening to syllables
|
Breaking words down in parts
|
Making words with pipe cleaners
|
Copying or tracing words
|
Recording their spellings onto tape
|
Making words with play dough or clay
|
Look Say Cover Write and Check words
|
Rhythms and tapping to spellings
|
Visualising letters as picture clues that link into a story
|
Writing a word in the air using a finger or a wand
|
Follow me – you say it, they say it
|
Mnemonic – make a silly sentence/draw pictures e.g. SAID becomes: Sad Ants In Dustbins
|
Writing a word on your back
|
Saying spellings as a ‘rap’ |
Writing using different colours |
Writing in large felt tip pens
|
|
|
Posting notes around the house
|
|
|
How many words can you find in this word?
|
|
|
| Flash cards of spellings |
|
|
Whatever you choose to do, learning spelling can seem a boring process when it requires so much effort from a child. Make it as much FUN as possible by using a variety of materials and activities.
Click here to go back to the Parents Zone