Helping Your Child Learn How to Spell
By Sandy Rajsic

Learning to spell simple words is a huge milestone for young children. It takes a lot of work and practice for both the child and the parent. It is important for the parent to remember that this is a slow process and that event the smallest amount of progress should be celebrated and rewarded so that the child continues to be motivated to continue.

Children usually learn to spell when they are around first grade. Some children may start a little sooner. However, first grade is the time when children start to have the mental abilities. Still, even first graders have a short attention span and limited memory capability. Therefore, it is important to keep the words short at this age so that they will be able to memorize them.

Words that this age group can handle include: cat, bat, sat, bad, bag, had, fan, fat, dad, has, hat, jam, dog, log, sad, can, tan, pan and tap. Parents should quiz their children every day in order to help them memorize these vocabulary words.

In addition to quizzing the children, parents can reinforce learning by making spelling a game. Listed here are some games that will help children to learn to spell.

Obviously, there are plenty of software games for your computer that can assist your child in spelling. My suggestions tend to be less expensive and can be incorporated in every day life.

First are flash cards. Flash cards are a wonderful way to teach a child to spell. You can buy them or make them yourself. Your child will have instant feedback with each card. This will give you the opportunity to reward him/her with cheers and claps. (Maybe some hugs and kisses too. ;-))