TRT Podcast #155: The power of spelling inventories with Dr. Pam Kastner
Dr. Pam Kastner walks us through the wonderful complexity of the English language and explains why spelling inventories are a powerful tool for informing instruction.
Full episode transcript
Recommended resources
- The Kastner Collection: Dr. Pam Kastner’s Wakelets
- Speech to Print, by Louisa Moats
- Unlocking Literacy, by Marcia Henry
- Spelling for Life, by Lyn Stone
- Beginning to Spell, by Rebecca Treiman
- Uncovering the Logic of English, by Denise Eide
- Structured Literacy Interventions, by Louise Spear-Swirling
- The ABC’s and All Their Tricks, by Margaret Bishop
- Spell it Out, by David Crystal
PaTTAN’s Literacy Symposium
YOU’LL LOVE THIS PRACTICAL BOOK!
Looking for an easy-to-read guide to help you reach all readers? If you teach kindergarten through third grade, this is the book for you. Get practical ideas and lesson plan templates that you can implement tomorrow!
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.
Tina
Thank you for offering this! I struggle to know if my children are spelling on grade level. How can I determine that? Grades 8, 4, and 1. Our district utilizes the Words Their Way spelling inventory. Also wondering if schools considering spelling when considering specific learning disabilities.
Anna Geiger
I’m really not sure about either question. For the first one, I reached to others and here are some things that were shared:
1) Morrison-McCall spelling scale – apparently it’s pretty old though – it’s slightly updated herl: https://spalding.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/spalding-spelling-scale-lists-1-8-and-scoring-guide.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1HCEcl6vM_xIVuif74TxKghVYdHioc_PyfqLPJaDFQpdMB0Ol8yMXqbdM
2) Something else to consider – consider lining up expectations with the phonics knowledge taught by that particular grade; this depends on the scope and sequence