Saturday, August 17, 2013

Spelling

I have never been a great speller. I am so thankful for spell check that will edit all the words that I continually spell wrong. I can remember being in 3rd grade and working so hard on my spelling lists and still not get a 100% on them. Fast-forward 20 something years and Elizabeth has spelling tests now. It brings out all the old anxiety that I use to feel but if we work on the words every night she almost always gets a 100%.
On Mondays her teacher gives her class a practice spelling test. If you get a 100% on it then your words for the week are the challenge words which are 5-7 letters if not you have the regular list which is 3-5 letters. This past week she comes home on Monday and has missed 4 words on the practice test. I asked her what happened because in the previous 3 weeks she has only missed one word. She tells me "I wanted to miss a few words so I didn't have practice the challenge words."  I was impressed, she is 7 and thought about how can I make my homework easier for this week. Trying not to smile I explained to her that she always needs to try her best so that she can continue to learn and get smarter. I am sure I wouldn't have thought to do this at her age. It stinks having smart kids. =)

2 comments:

  1. Oh boy. They are all bright kids, but now starts the fun stuff. You might ask why there are spelling tests, and see if she gets to the idea that they are to help her learn new things. Maybe a reward if she 'gets' to do the harder test. Have fun!

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  2. Yeah, little kids figuring out the system and, more importantly, how to game the system is so frustrating. It does make me smile, though, when you can see the wheels turning. We love you guys so much, and wish we got more interaction with our Castillo cousins.

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