- Author: Don McCabe
- Pages: 69
- Included in these packages:
Teaches students to recognize patterns of spelling based on the rules of the English language, but without all the complicated explanations.
Some of the patterns covered: -in, -en, -et, -ot, -ay, -ime, -and, -ight. Representative words your children can expect to learn: beginning, disagreeing, permitted.
You only need one of this product per family.
Don McCabe, the author, faced a great dilemma. He served in the Army Security Agency during the Korean War. He suffered from dyslexia, but he either had to learn the Russian language or receive a first-class ticket to serve in the infantry in Korea. He overcame his dyslexia and learned Russian. After the war, he founded the AVKO (Audio-Visual-Kinetic-Oral) Dyslexia Research Foundation, Inc., and dedicated himself to teaching dyslexics how to spell and read through a multi-sensory approach. The result: Sequential Spelling.
Your children get immediate results with Sequential Spelling. Minimize study time and reduce test-taking anxiety! You ask your children to spell a simple root word or suffix, such as -in (from Volume 1), and, to help them understand the meaning, you use the word in a sentence. Once your students have attempted to spell the word and before you give the next word, you give them the correct spelling and let them correct their own work immediately.
Each successive day you ask students to spell more words that contain -in, such as pin, sin, spin, skin, and twin. You add more patterns through a sequence based on research and the structure of English words - from the root word to expanded forms. In Sequential Spelling 1, students begin with -in on the first day and within five days they can spell beginning all on their own.
Notice that you never ask your students to "study" more words, only to spell them. As they recognize more and more patterns and begin to spell words correctly that they've never seen before - all without "studying" - their confidence and spelling skills soar!
Sequential Spelling comes in 6 progressive levels of difficulty. It's a Required Resource in Language Arts from Level D-Level 100, and a component of Multi-Subject Packages 3-5. If you have never used Sequential Spelling before, McCabe urges you to begin with Volume 1 because, while your students might be "ready" to spell frightened (Volume 4), they really ought to know the patterns associated with spelling presidential (Volume 1). The truth is, the levels have absolutely nothing to do with grade levels per se.
Help your child build spelling confidence. In order to allow your child to advance naturally without pushing them too far ahead before they have mastered foundational concepts, Sonlight recommends starting Sequential Spelling at Language Arts D (usually used by grades 3-5). For the Language Arts programs that coordinate with Cores A-C, children study spelling in a format designed to reinforce the phonics concepts they are learning. Once students have mastered phonics and gained reading confidence without the need to "decode" words, they are ready to move onto learning the spelling rules found in Sequential Spelling.
McCabe used a scientific method to evaluate 5,500 words from The New Iowa Spelling Scale (Greene), rank them from easiest to most difficult, and then to identify the patterns in those words. The words in Volume 1 tend to have a higher number of words to each pattern and are essentially the "simple" words of our language. Volume 1 students spell the word presidential but only after they have studied many, many, -ide words in their progressive, structural permutations. Examples: hide, ride, side, reside and preside gradually build to resident, residential, and, of course, president and presidential.
The Sequential Spelling program we are carrying is based on the original, but has been reviewed completely and edited--primarily to remove numerous typographical errors that were present in the previous edition.
Average Rating:
22 Reviews
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by Nicole S on 2011-11-10
In theory, I was excited about the way this book was going to work. In practice, my daughter and I both hated it and we stopped on Day 25. I will now be using All About Spelling, once the budget allows me to go shopping again. ;) First strike: random, out of the blue words with no introduction. Second strike: No instructions for me beyond the first few days. Third strike: Having to get all 25 words right in a day was too much pressure for my daughter. The idea was that you only got a sticker if you got all the words right. But the way the system works is "Test first, instruction second." She started to cry whenever she missed one item. After a few days of that, I had had enough. This is our classroom. We don't need to do anything like this in it! Thank God we can be flexible and change direction. :) I would not recommend this at all!
by Angela A on 2011-09-02
first time home schooling. hate this book. it's difficult with the current layout. it needs to be fixed. i will try the other spelling power.
by N B on 2011-04-04
I am using this with my 2nd, 4th and 6th grade students and it is a hit! I have struggled with spelling my whole life and I just know that this kind of spelling instruction would have helped. Spelling rules may not be taught but you can add this is if you feel it is needed for your child. Whenn i see something that needs extra instruction i take a minute before the spelling lesson to go over it. Really, this is a great program and I wish I had used it earlier in my homeschool journey. After 12 years, this is the first spelling program I would put on my must have list. The price is great too!
by Sean D on 2011-02-04
Thanks, Sonlight, for suggesting this book. Our son has struggled with spelling, but we have seen a huge improvement with Sequential Spelling. It makes my heart happy to see the delight on his face as he is realizing that he's learning & spelling words correctly.
by KIM C on 2010-09-10
We tried this last year and stopped half way. What's the point of spelling when the kids aren't even learning spelling rules? Besides, it seemed so repetitive. I think the kids dreaded it because there's no real sense of accomplishment. We're using Spelling Power this year. I think the kids like learning just how many words they already spell correctly and knowing they don't have to study them! For some reason I gave this a 5 star rating last year. It must have been from lack of sleep!
by K. J on 2010-08-18
This may sound strange, but I couldn't get past the layout and alignment. Being an editor and in graphics, I wanted to redo all the books!
by BRENDA F on 2010-04-29
My kids LOVE this program, and so do I. Having tried many tedious and dry programs in the past, this one is fast and fun (they get to correct as they go). Level 1 iss too easy for my 4th grader, but great for my 2nd. I liike how they give homophones, and show the root words, adding prefix/suffix as it progresses. Repeating the root with different forms day after day exposes them to the same word, thus studying as they go. I bet this will be great if we decide to learn latin. No, they do not give spelling rules, however, I teach them simple rules as we go. I feel that a program they enjoy produces better results than one they don't.
by AMELIA H on 2010-01-24
I have found that it has really improved my daughter's spelling by teaching her to listen to the phonemes and spell them instead of learning pages of phonetic rules which always have exceptions so they aren't really rules after all, more like guidelines. An example of spelling by phoneme: When she hears "oat" she knows that long o is spelled "oa," but when she hears "ode" she knows it's "o-e." I also appreciate the way they slip in apostrophes and proper nouns. It makes her think about what she's writing and really learn when to use apostrophe s and capital letters.
by CRYSTAL K on 2009-12-09
I see reviews about it not teaching the rules, what would you recommend for teaching the rules? (thanks ahead of time for any responses to this question). I put 3 stars only because I have no opinion either way, we only JUST started using this. Personally I like the idea, but also know the rules need explaining too.
by NOREEN L on 2009-10-08
This spelling program is amazing! I am using it with my 7 year old. He spelled "beginning" and "disagree" today pretty much on his own. This is our fifth day using the program. I feel like it has been the easiest and most tear free way to learn how to spell. I'm not sure that they always have to know the rule in order to become good spellers. I grew up doing word lists which was not fun at all! This way is much more fun and pain free!
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sequentialspelling1.pdf
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