Spelling is a primary skill in phonics instruction and literacy development. It equips children to communicate effectively through the written word, express themselves creatively, and succeed academically. 

Explicit phonics instruction empowers children with the knowledge and skills they need to decode unfamiliar words, spell words accurately, and become confident readers and writers. But how should beginner spelling be taught? This article explains a few practical principles for teaching spelling using an effective approach.

The Importance of Spelling in Phonics Education 

Spelling, also known as encoding, is crucial for a child’s education as well as the development of necessary life skills. The ability to spell and write well is how people communicate through print, preserve stories, and complete important tasks in society.

It also plays a dual role in a child’s literacy journey. A child’s spelling can be a window into their understanding of written language. Their attempts at spelling can reveal their grasp of letter sounds, phonics concepts, and basic spelling patterns. 

Conversely, the act of spelling itself reinforces reading skills. As children sound out words to write them down, they solidify the connection between letters and sounds. Interestingly, spelling difficulties can highlight underlying reading challenges, as well. By observing a child’s spelling patterns, we can gain real insights into their reading development.

Foundational Phonics Concepts for Beginner Spelling Instruction 

Spelling instruction involves several key phonics concepts. Children must systematically learn these concepts to build their first spelling skills.

• Phonemic Awareness: This foundational skill involves understanding the sounds within spoken words. Children learn to identify, isolate, blend, and manipulate sounds, all of which are necessary for connecting sounds to alphabetical letters. The most important phonemic awareness skill for learning to spell is ‘segmenting’. This means breaking up a word into its individual sound (phonemes). 
• Letter-Sound Relationships: This core concept involves recognizing the connection between individual sounds of language (phonemes) and the letters that represent them (graphemes). For example, learning that the letter <a> can represent the /a/ sound (as in “cat”) is one letter-sound relationship.
• Phonics Patterns: As children progress in early reading and writing, they encounter recurring patterns in the way letters are used to represent sounds. Examples include short vowel patterns (CVC words like “ran”), consonant blends (/bl/, /cr/, /tr/, etc.), and digraphs (/sh/, /ch/, etc.). Learning these patterns empowers children to decode and spell more complex words.
• Syllable Structure: Understanding how syllables are built—using combinations of consonants and vowels—helps children syllabicate or break words into smaller units for spelling. They learn that some syllables are closed (ending in a consonant) while others are open (ending in a vowel).

These concepts are best taught systematically and explicitly, building upon each other as children develop their abilities to write and spell.

Systematic Spelling Instruction 

People spell using several types of information involved in language. It begins with the simplest and moves up to the most complex.

• Consonants and Short Vowel Sounds are the foundation of spelling. Children learn to spell basic CVC words when they have an understanding of these beginner concepts and rules.
• Digraphs and Blends are combinations of multiple letters that represent singular sounds (for example, /sh/, /ch/, /th/). Digraphs and blends are essential for learning to spell more complex words.
• Long Vowels inform readers of the different sounds represented by vowels. This knowledge unlocks a wider range of spelling (and reading) possibilities.
• Syllable Patterns can be helpful for students to learn as they read more advanced texts. Identifying different syllable structures (open, closed, vowel teams) helps children break down words for spelling.
• Base Words, Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes become a major focus in later stages of phonics instruction. Children learn about morphemes—the building blocks of words. This includes identifying base words (the core meaning), roots (word origins that carry meaning, like “graph” in “telegraph”), prefixes (added at the beginning, like “re-” in “rewrite”), and suffixes (added at the end, like “-ing” in “walking”). Understanding these morphemes empowers children to tackle more complex vocabulary and spelling.

Developmental Sequence for Teaching Spelling 

Students must learn patterns and rules of phonics in order to grasp spelling knowledge. A structured approach is key to effective spelling instruction. Here’s an example of a  developmental sequence for early literacy learners.

1. Phonemic Awareness Activities

Lay the foundation with phonemic awareness activities. It can be highly effective for children to practice phonemic awareness while learning alphabetical letters. Play rhyming games, isolate sounds in words (“cat” has /c/ /a/ /t/ sounds), and practice blending sounds together to form words (c-a-t = “caaaaat”), while continuing to teach letter-sound correspondences.

2. Short Vowels and CVC Words

Start with introducing short vowel sounds (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) in isolation using clear pronunciation and visual aids. Additionally, ensure students have learned some consonant letters so they can begin creating whole words. Connect each sound to its letter symbol and practice blending sounds to form simple CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant). Then, move on to segmenting individually-identified sounds in spoken words. Finally, children practice writing these CVC words using the learned sound-symbol connection.

3. Consonant Blends and Digraphs

Once short vowels are learned, introduce consonant blends and digraphs following the same approach: sound introduction, connecting sound to letters, blending and segmenting sounds, and writing practice.

4. Long Vowels and Other Vowel Patterns

As children gain spelling confidence, they become more familiar with long vowel sounds—or various spellings for the same letter, such as “ai” in “rain” and “a_e” in “cake”. They then learn other vowel patterns (/ou/, /ow/, /oi/). The same systematic approach of sound introduction, blending, segmenting, and writing practice is applied.

Spelling Activities to Help Beginners Learn 

Learning to spell should be an engaging and interactive experience! Here are some fun and effective activities for beginner spellers.

Printing and Letter Formation

Fast and accurate printing is a foundational skill for spelling. If a child cannot print a letter quickly and easily, it will be even more difficult to spell an entire word. The more automatic letter formation is, the more cognitive space remains to think about spelling a word. 

Phonics Manipulatives

Provide hands-on learning with letter tiles or magnetic letters. Children can use them to build CVC words, sound out words you dictate, or create their own simple spellings. 

Another common phonics manipulative for spelling instruction is called an  “Elkonin Box”. Each Elkonin box represents one sound in a word. A child can first slide a chip into a box for each sound and then write the letters associated with the sounds. The word ‘fish’ would have 3 Elkonin boxes, one for each sound (not letter): /f/ /i/ /sh/. 

Dictation Activities

Dictation activities are a classic way to strengthen phonemic awareness and early spelling skills. Start by saying individual sounds contained in a simple word (such as /s/… /i/… /t/), then progress to blending sounds and dictating CVC words. As children develop, you can introduce more challenging consonant blends and digraphs.

Interactive Spelling Games and Apps

Try using educational spelling games and apps that align with systematic phonics principles. These can provide a fun and engaging way for children to practice letter-sound relationships, blending sounds, and spelling CVC words, setting a solid foundation for further instruction.

Remember, the key is to make learning fun and engaging. Celebrate your learner’s progress and encourage them to practice what they learn in the world of written language.

Get More Phonics and Spelling Resources for Kids

Building strong spelling skills is a journey. By incorporating systematic phonics instruction with engaging activities, you equip your child with the tools to become confident spellers and successful readers. 

Explore additional resources at Phonics.org and stay tuned as we share more tips on how you can support your child’s spelling development.