• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Member Login

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Structured literacy
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing Workshop in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Join Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK123June 13, 2013 •  26 Comments

The 5 stages of spelling development

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Do you teach spelling? It’s important to understand the stages of spelling development. Let’s take a look!

how-to-understand-the-levels-of-spelling-development

In my last post I shared a better way to teach spelling.  Children learn best from a developmental, research-based approach to spelling instruction.

It’s called Word Study.  It’s for kids from preK through high school.  It’s inexpensive.  It’s hands-on.  It works.

Can you tell I love it?

But before I get into the how to teach it, I have to get into the technical.

Sorry about that!

I’ll try to make  it as painless as possible.

Kids learn to spell just like they learn to read: they progress through developmental stages.  You know that kids learn to read at vastly different rates. One child starts chapter books in kindergarten.  Another isn’t ready for chapter books until second grade.  Both might be excellent readers, but they learn at different rates.

Keep that in mind as you look at the age ranges.  These are estimates – children may fall at either end of these spans or even out of them.  (And it’s helpful to remember that children with special learning challenges may not progress through these stages.)

The 5 Stages of Spelling Development

The Emergent Stage (ages 2-5)

Children might recognize their alphabet, but they are just starting to write it.

sample of early emergent writing

Here’s a sample from the beginning of the emergent stage.  Writing looks the same as drawing.  My just-turned-Three draws and scribbles, but he doesn’t write letters yet.

How do kids learn to spell? They go through five levels of spelling development. Read about them here!

 For more detailed information about this stage, visit This Reading Mama’s post.

The Letter-Name Alphabetic Stage (ages 5-7)

  Children know their alphabet and sounds – this comes out in their writing.

How do kids learn to spell? They go through five levels of spelling development. Read about them here!

My four 1/2 year old is at the middle of this stage.  His letter and letter sound knowledge is solid, and he is putting that to work in his writing. Sometimes he writes just a single letter for a word (H for have), but other times he sounds out the whole thing (BLO for blue and HAT for hat).

chart about stages of writing

For more detailed information, visit This Reading Mama’s post.

The Within-Word Pattern Stage (ages 7-9)

 Children start to see patterns within words.

sample of within-word pattern

My six-year-old (who just finished kindergarten) is at the beginning of this stage.  She does well with blends (streebarres and plants) and is starting to experiment with long vowel sounds (baens for beans).

chart about stages of writing

For more information, see This Reading Mama’s post.

The Syllables and Affixes Stage (ages 9-14)

Now kids start to understand how to put endings and extra syllables onto words.

(Sorry, my oldest is six years old – I don’t have a writing sample for the last two stages!)

chart about stages of writing

For more information, see This Reading Mama’s post.

The Derivational Relations Stage (middle school through adulthood)

Understanding the meaning of words helps us spell them.

chart about stages of writing

For more information, see This Reading Mama’s post.

That was a lot of information. Now what?

If that was information overload, pin it or print it for future reference.  As you start becoming aware of your students’ spelling abilities, your understanding of the five stages will come together.

In the meantime, you’ll need to determine your students’ level of development.  Words Their Way has an easy-to-use test for just that purpose. I’ll talk about it next time!

An edition of this book is a must-have resource!

 

Read the rest of the series!

  • Part 1: There’s a better way to teach spelling
  • Part 2: How to understand the levels of spelling development
  • Part 3: How to know which spelling words to teach
  • Part 4: Word sort activities
  • Part 5: Meaningful spelling activities

OUR VERY FAVORITE PRINTABLE SPELLING GAMES

$20.00

If you’re looking for printable games that you can use with any word list, we highly recommend this collection from This Reading Mama. Many of the games are editable! Purchase below using my affiliate link.

BUY NOW

Free Spelling Games

Get this fun variety of sample spelling games from the membership site! The download includes resources for spelling CVCE words, long vowel teams, and multi-syllable words.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Spelling Tagged With: first grade, second grade, third grade, kindergarten, word study

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

Give Me a Clue spelling game Valentine’s Day spelling game Word study lesson: Short e & ea
A Better Way to Teach Spelling
11 Crafts for Letter W

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Teach your child a foreign language in just 5 minutes a day!

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Free Spelling Games

Get this fun variety of sample spelling games from the membership site! The download includes resources for spelling CVCE words, long vowel teams, and multi-syllable words.

Shop our store!

Writing Workshop Guide K-8

$26.00

330 Handwriting Worksheets

$10.00

Phonics Books & Games – Complete Set

$49.00

Shop all resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online courses and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Get everything you need to teach writing well, including over 200 ready-to-use lessons.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Lindsay Kemeny
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Heidi Jane
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Christina Winter
More Episodes

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2022 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs