Spelling Words

Hello all!

I had a question about our spelling words this week, and I think everyone may like to hear it, and the answer I gave.  The question was: are there any tricks or tips for helping kids remember which words are spelling with ee and which are spelled with ea? 

This is a GREAT question.  There is no rule about when to use ee or ea.  ea is more commonly found in words than ee, and if the word is a "meal" (a food word), or a "wet" word (something to do with water) it is usually spelled with ea.  However, for the purposes of this spelling list, that doesn't help much.  What I would recommend is having your child draw a line down the center of a paper and write all ee words on one side of the paper in one color, and the ea words on the other side of the paper in a second color.  Have him/her do this a few times.  If you do this each time he/she practices them, he will come to associate the ee words as being grouped together and the ea words as being grouped together.  This should assist with remembering which spelling is being used for each word.

The words for this week are: please, read, beat, dream, meal, clean, speed, needle, street, freeze

For the spelling test, I will read the words in this order, which should also help them.  The ea words are grouped together and the ee words are grouped together.

Warmly,

Rebecca