Every child is different and unique. What works like magic for one child might not help another. When it comes to spellings, each child requires a different approach to retain what he has learnt. Kids who are slow at mastering spellings require more time and attention. Parental help at home can be immensely helpful.

Talking of help at home, let’s take a look at what parents can do to help their kids get better at spelling:

• Fun Writing Activities: Encourage your child to write more. It will help him become aware of the mistakes he makes. Get him colorful writing pads and tell him to write whatever he feels like. It could be something about his favorite movie or book. Encourage him to write for a few minutes only on a topic of his interest so that it doesn’t get boring.
• Tracing: Tracing is an effective way of teaching kids the spellings of difficult words. An adult helps the child to trace the spellings with his fingers while his eyes are closed.
• Communicate: A two-way communication channel aids in effortlessly improving a child’s language skills. Talk to your child as often as possible. Encourage him to read books. Discourage television as it is not pro-communication.
• Practice: Learning spellings takes time, effort and lots of repetition. Formulate a schedule for working on spelling practice daily for short bursts of time. For example, when your child comes back from school, practice a few words casually. Repeat the words in the evening and then again at bedtime.
• Explore The World Of Spelling Games: Games are fun and every child loves fun. Teaching kids spellings through games is a win-win strategy for parents. Your child will look forward to the game sessions and learn at the same time. There’s a wide gamut of online spelling games to explore. Examples of offline games for spellings are spelling word race, spelling puzzles, stair steps etc. Look for something your child loves and pursue it.
• Creating Pictures In The Mind: This is a well-researched trick for boosting memory. Encourage your child to remember words by creating images in their mind. For instance, if your child is trying to memorize the word ‘tank’ but spells it as ‘tanc’, tell him to imagine ‘kicking the tank’ to memorize the ‘k’ in the word.
• Use Post-Its: The more your child sees a word, the better he will remember it. Write the words your child is struggling with on sticky notes and post them strategically where your child spends a lot of his time, in his lunchbox, on the bathroom mirror, etc.

We, at See-N-Read Reading Tools offer a variety of help your child with spellings. For more information, call at (630) 236 – 5592.