A few months ago, Emma started showing an interest in spelling. This prompted us to put note cards all over the house labeling items so she could see the words we had been saying to describe them. We knew that she could distinguish the letters from playing with her foam letters and being able to find the one we asked for correctly. Having the note cards up quickly led to her wanting to follow along by touching the letters on the cards as we spelled the words to her. While it made it much more time consuming walking around the house (because she wanted to stop at each note card and ask us to spell each word every time we passed them), it has had a huge impact on her.
In about a month, she has not only started to spell words herself, but she is spelling over 50 of them! I was thrilled when she started spelling some of the words that we spelled everyday (like light, door, and hug), but then she left me speechless by spelling the plural form of words when she wanted more than one (like kisses and hugs). We had spelled them for her, but she knew to spell the plural form when she wanted more than one of something.
As of today, here is her current list of the words she can spell (yes it is categorized and I am tracking the list on my phone- I can't help myself):
PEOPLE:
Emma
- Bug (I call her "Little Bug")
- Squirt (Daddy Ryan calls her "Squirt")
Mommy
Daddy Ryan
Jill
Mimi
Elmo
PLACES:
Home
House
- Chair
- Table
- Door
- Light
- Bed
- Bath
- Potty
- Mirror
- Big girl bed
School
ACTIONS:
Hug(s)
Cuddle(s)
Kiss(es)
Wiggle(s)
FOOD:
Milk
Food
Bite
COLORS:
Gray
White
Blue
Pink
Red
DAYS OF THE WEEK/MONTHS:
Sunday
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
April
May
CLOTHES:
Pants
Shirt
OTHER:
Car
Fish
Piano
Love
Hi
Wind
You
Spell
Hair
Night night
On
Dog
Leg
Star(s)
Up
Most of the time, when we are spelling, we have to initiate the activity and give her something to spell currently. But she has already started initiating it herself and randomly spelling words without prompting! Seeing her not just learning but thriving gives us such a strong sense of pride and hope that we can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. She is certainly one of the most amazing little girls either of us has ever known and we are so lucky to be able to call her our daughter.
