Instead of trying to memorize words letter by letter, your children can become "natural" spellers by learning to recognize sight and sound patterns in vocabulary. This program allows you to customize a curriculum for grades 1 to 8 that teaches commonly misspelled words, Latin and Greek word parts, abbreviations, contractions, homophones, numbers, and more at a pace that's suited to your students. 92 pages, softcover from Design-A-Study.

Average Customer Rating:

4.6

out of

(9 Reviews) 9

Rating Snapshot (9 reviews)

5 stars

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1 out of 1100%customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for Natural Speller

Review 1 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

For a child who likes to discover the rules

Date:October 27, 2010

btysmom

Location:Florida

Gender:female

Quality:

5 out of 5

Value:

5 out of 5

Meets Expectations:

5 out of 5

This is a very versatile program that can be used to develop dictionary skills along with spelling. The approach is the systematic use of words which follow the same rules and make the same sounds. For example, one list your child might study would consist of words that made the long "oh" sound by using the "oa" combinations. The list would include words like oat, boat, coat, float, goat.

After a pretest, any words your child misses can become their spelling words. They can use the spelling words for dictionary practice, finding the meaning of unfamiliar words, noting the syllable breaks and learning phonetic notation. The program also suggests activities with compound words, prefixes and suffixes, Latin and Greek roots, grammar and alphabetizing.

Natural Speller is very flexible. We did not do every activity every week. I could pick and choose to what to use for variety and the spelling lessons could be made short. I believe this program helped my child do extremely well on his yearly standardized tests.

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Review 2 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:September 26, 2010

Rae Stands

Yes this is a good book to use it helps you make lesson plans for spelling and it has more than on grade in it. You can use it by itself or add it to another product.

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Review 3 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Date:September 3, 2010

Darwin Vanderlinden Ii

I am not sure that this book offers more information or ideas than what I have read in the past. It may however be the only resource that has all the information in one place. Spelling is always hard for me to fit into our daily routine and I don't know what would help me accomplish that. I don't blame this book but it hasn't really changed our problem. We will keep trying to accomplish this task.

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Review 4 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Date:May 28, 2010

Tamara Hickman

Although we haven't used this yet, I am excited about implementing it. Everything is provided for teaching spelling through 8th grade. Basically, she provides logically grouped word lists and several ideas for practicing the words each week. What you have to do as the teacher is select the practice activities that are most appropriate for your student, and assign those activities along with 10-20 words a week from the lists. They can do most of the practice activities on their own (I would think) during the week, and you give them a quiz on Friday. Any words that are missed carry over to the following week. This seems like an easy (natural!) way to teach spelling, and one that will not require alot of daily assistance from you as the teacher. Plus, it is non-consumable, and the price is great!

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Review 5 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:January 14, 2009

Micah68

I The lists are divided into grades, with recommendations for dictionary skills, abbreviations, etc. for each grade level. If you find your child's grade level does not correspond to the grade level the book suggests, simply move up or down to the next grade level. I find this system works well. I assign acctivities to do with the words ... sentence writing, alphabetizing, etc. The book does not offer many suggestions for activities or mastering the word lists, but this frees you up to incorporate the lists however you see fit. I think the book is a fantastic take on learning spelling.

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Review 6 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Date:January 10, 2009

Kysha

This was not a good fit for us although I think it would work great for a "not so great" speller. It is a soft cover book with ideas for teaching spelling and includes rules in the back of the book. There are several word listed in the beginning of the book, after the instructions, that are grouped according to phonics. We found the word list were just too easy for the grade levels suggested.

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Review 7 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

Date:September 17, 2007

Melissa Brillhart

I just starting using this spelling book with my 1st, 3rd and 6th grader. It allows me to work with them at their level without having to purchase 3 different books! We are really liking it!

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Review 8 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:February 15, 2001

Ellen

This flexible program delivers what it promises. The word lists and objectives are well done. Now we don't waste time on words the children already know, and we can focus on the words that are troublesome along with their "cousins".

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Review 9 for Natural Speller

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

Date:January 15, 2001

Cindy

This book is WONDERFUL! I have been using it with my 3rd and 5th grade children and we love it.

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