Dictado - Week 1

This year in fourth grade, we have decided as a team to not do spelling with fourth graders - for a variety of reasons and experiences in the past showed us that a traditional spelling list just turned into memorization of spelling words which were quickly forgotten soon after the spelling test was given.  Obviously, we want to be adjusting our practice so that students are actually learning from the time we are spending on spelling and writing.  Additionally, the expectation is that students are using their grammar and spelling learned in their actual daily writing. 

SO, we have decided to take a page from this amazing teacher blog Apples of Your Eye and change our spelling program to a dictation-based program.   Each week on Monday, students will be given the pre-test to see what their current writing abilities are.  Then, students will be shown the correct way to write the paragraph and are expected to edit their own writing.  Tuesday and Thursday, students will be given the dictado paragraph to practice at home.  On Wednesday, students will have time in class to practice with a partner.  Then, on Friday, students will be given the full dictado paragraph as their "spelling test".  Points will be given for EACH word spelled correctly, paragraphs indented, and any punctuation placed correctly where it should go. 

Thus far, the students seem REALLY excited to have something other than the dreaded "list"and I am hoping to see great results.  This week our paragraph is:

Fourth Grade

When you’re in fourth grade, the expectations are high.  You’re expected to complete your work on your own, with partners, and in groups. Mrs. Lippert also expects you to do your best in everything.

It will be a lot of help to practice dictating this sentence to your student nightly, so that they can practice a lot - more practice will lead to better results!  :)

 

Since we just started this week, our homework schedule is a little off and students DO have their dictado homework tonight and the expectation is that students are writing correctly, at least once.  Thanks for supporting their work at home!