I love invented spelling. I love watching young children learn to express their ideas on paper. My daughter who recently turned 5 has just started doing this! While we were camping recently we found some sweet baby kitties in our woodpile. She wanted to write a story about them, so I simply suggested she listen for the sounds she heard in the words and write those down. She was thrilled and kept going and going.
When we got home, I scanned in her story with my translation. The bolded parts are what she wrote to stand for that word. I sat with her and helped her hear the sounds, but she wrote only the sounds she knew.
Here’s a video of her reading her story to me. At this stage kids sometimes forget what they wrote, you’ll see her stumble a bit and me help her along. You’ll also see how excited she was at the end. She proceeded to go show the kittens her story and was just so proud of herself!
New to the idea of invented spelling? Here’s a great post about Invented Spelling from my friend Becky over at This Reading Mama. Ladybug is in the early stage so she is hearing beginning or ending sounds, some both, and just a couple of middle sounds {was able to sound CAT with help}.
I do encourage invented spelling when a child is learning to spell words. I want ideas to flow freely when writing and invented spelling allows for this. I have taught many Kindergarten students using this method and all three of my children {well, I am teaching the third now}. We transition into correct spelling as we learn words and more sounds. As we work through You Can Read I will begin to expect her to write words she has learned correctly. Our sight word caterpillar will help with this. When we begin All About Reading Level 1, I will begin to expect her to write phonetic sounds and words she has learned. It is a gradual process and I like to keep things fun and creative for a child. She loves to draw and write and invented spelling will give her the freedom to express herself even now as she learns new spelling rules!
I am beyond excited to walk this journey with her, it is my favorite stage of teaching! My Kindergarten teacher heart is melting every time she writes something!