Better Spelling in 5 Minutes a Day: Fun Spelling Activities for...

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 144 pages
• Published by: Three Rivers Press May 10, 2001
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0761524304
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0761524304
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches
• Weighs: 3.2 ounces

Product Review
Become a Super Speller?in Just Minutes a Day -- Review

Product Review
Become a Super Speller—in Just Minutes a Day

Reader Reviews
This book looks like a great idea. Reading through it, the theory & exercises all looked great. The "where are you at" test went well. Then we tried doing the first two exercises from "I before E." This chapter teaches children the I before E rule, saying that this can be used to improve your spelling, something like: "I before E except after C as in receive, or in words sounding like A as in neighbor or sleigh, where E before I is the way." I might not be spot-on with this quote, but that is the rule the child is supposed to learn & use. The first exercise has 5 words with letters scrambled & a description of the word (e.g., every room has this, with "ceiling" scrambled). This was fine, but just barely starts to teach the child the IE/EI rule. The second exercise has rows of 5 words. The child is told to use the rule (poem) to determine which words are spelled correctly, and which words are spelled incorrectly. They are to find a path from correctly spelled word to correctly spelled word across a board. Fine, right? NO! The first word on the first row of list DOES NOT FOLLOW THE RULE! The word is mis-spelled, but will check out as okay according to the rule -- seize, spelled sieze. Nothing has been said in the instructions that there even ARE rule breakers! By following the rules -- as instructed! -- the child is being taught to mis-spell words! Then the correctly spelled word in the second row -- the only correctly spelled word -- also does not follow the rule -- foreign. You will take a child who is having trouble with their spelling and confuse them even more. This book DESPERATELY needs the editor to have a team of technical reviewers go through, perform all of the exercises, and correct errors. * * * * After picking up this book from where we had thrown it (litterally) across the room, we decided to give it a second chance. The section for the second rule is very well done, and quite helpful. We are just starting into the third section, and overall the book looks promising. I haven't seen anything out there better than this book -- the others all are "memorize & forget" -- but check the exercise before giving it to your child, and skip the "I before E" chapter.