While Spelling You See is a completely different program, based on research as to how children actually learn to spell, its five-pages-per-lesson format also fits well into the typical school week.

Most of us are used to thinking of spelling instruction in neat, weekly packages. You may recall that Monday was generally the day to take the pretest on the words from the weekly list; then, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, you would complete activities with those words, such as writing them in sentences, finding their definitions, using the words in a story, etc. Friday was the day for the final test, which you may or may not have studied for, depending on how comfortable you were with spelling (and how much you cared about the final result).

The same words in Spelling You See appear repeatedly throughout the lessons, which means it isn’t always necessary to complete all the pages in a lesson before moving to the next (although you will want to make sure that your student has the opportunity to experience all of the activities at least once each week). The good news is that you can always look forward to a fresh start on Monday!

Weekly Spelling You See Plan

The following outlines summarize how each level of Spelling You See can be scheduled over a typical school week.

Listen and Write and Jack and Jill

Students at these levels simply complete one page (Listen and Write) or a two-page spread (Jack and Jill) per day. The student should spend no more than 10 minutes on the given activities, whether or not the page is completed. Each week, the nature and complexity of the activities changes, so be sure to follow the directions in the Instructor’s Handbook for each lesson.

Wild Tales

Monday-Wednesday: On these three days, your student “digs into” a new passage. The primary activities here are chunking and copywork, which require the student to look closely at words, analyze letter patterns, and begin imprinting correct spellings into long-term visual memory. The couple of minutes the parent interacts with the student in the Daily Huddle are vital for the student to guide their own learning and help keep them focused on the task at hand. The Daily Huddle is an ideal time to remind your student about the Knotty Word strategy videos available online. While an adult may find the repetition here boring, it serves a vital purpose: building the visual “muscle memory” necessary for a student to commit a wide variety of patterns to long-term memory.

Thursday: It’s time for fun! “No Rule Day”, introduced in the second half of Jack and Jill, allows the student to interact creatively with words and practice correct spelling in a self-directed activity. This activity should be limited to 15 minutes of the student’s time to avoid overextending their concentration capacity.

Friday: The lesson ends with a dictation exercise. Writing the now-familiar passage as he hears it read aloud, one word at a time, gives your student the opportunity to use correct spelling as he writes. Remember to correct errors as they occur so that errant spellings are not inadvertently committed to long-term memory. Parents using Spelling You See are delighted to find that, over time, this skill transfers to writing in other areas of the curriculum and to independent writing.

If your family elects to have a four-day school week, then the D pages, the “No-Rules” day, are eliminated from the week’s work.

Americana, American Spirit, and Ancient Achievements

Monday-Wednesday: The plan for these three days is similar to what your student experienced in Wild Tales. Students interact with new, more complex passages in the familiar activities of chunking and copywork. Again, the few minutes of interaction contained within the Daily Huddle help the student focus on what they need to do to improve their own spelling. Again, the Daily Huddle is an ideal time to remind your student about the Knotty Word strategy videos available online. 

Thursday: Since students are writing more with greater independence at these levels, dictation is given a greater focus. In the first dictation session, students are given as much help as needed to write the passage as they hear it being read in the one word at a time format. If the student can write the passage independently with few errors, you can consider the lesson complete for the week.

Friday: Continue with the second dictation, providing as much help as necessary, until the student’s confidence shows that they are making few errors. Once their success is consistent, then you may withdraw some support and discontinue offering them punctuation and capitalization support in the second dictation of the week. Over time, students find that their dictation skills improve, and they are able to spell more and more words correctly, both in dictation sessions and in other written work.

If your family elects to have a four-day school week, we recommend eliminating the C-day pages so that the student has an equivalent amount of time for chunking, copywork, and dictation.

Modern Milestones

Monday-Tuesday: By now, most students have become competent in spelling basic words; however, they can become confused when adding prefixes or suffixes or making plurals. Therefore, students spend the first two days of the week interacting with a new passage, marking word parts instead of chunks, and then copying the passage to learn correct spelling patterns.

Wednesday: At this level, students can comprehend the rules that are used to form plurals and add prefixes and suffixes to base words. A short Workshop activity gives them the opportunity to apply these rules to words encountered in the lesson passage.

Thursday: Dictation continues to be an important skill at this level. Continue to provide the kind of support you have in previous levels during the first dictation of the week, remembering to prompt for correction as an error is made.

Friday: Remember that this second dictation is an opportunity for your student to have additional practice in the visual recall of the words they have worked with during the week.  Provide support until they are negotiating their way through the dictation with few errors.

While the Spelling You See program is different, is it not difficult. It easily fits into a typical five-day school week, adaptable to a four-day week schedule, and is flexible enough to adapt to the not-so-typical school week (which happens to all of us now and then). If you aren’t currently using Spelling You See, you may want to consider it as an easy-to-use, engaging way to help your students become confident, competent spellers.

Related Blog Posts

What I Wish I Had Known About Spelling You See

The Parent’s Role in Spelling You See

Where to Start in Spelling You See

Proper placement in Spelling You See is crucial and requires careful consideration. This is by design, as we aim to make spelling easier for children than reading. To ensure accurate placement and achieve this goal, we’ve developed a simple, user-friendly placement tool.

If you experience any hiccups with placement, we encourage you to get in touch with us so we can help. We want you and your student to be successful in your spelling journey.

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