Quiz 1: How Children Spell

Young children are exuberant writers! If they are not inhibited by "proper spelling" worries, they will boldly tackle any word they know how to say. Proper spelling comes gradually as children gain more experience and learn to edit their work.

The words below have all been found in first grade writing samples. See how good you are at deciphering them! Type in your answers. Then click on SCORE to see how you did, and to learn the right answers.

PUZZLER: The words above all demonstrate the most common type of spelling error for emerging writers. What is it?

ANSWER (highlight the area below with your mouse to read):

Children made these errors because they were using the letter name rather than the letter sound.

If you are seeing this pattern with your child, he or she needs more games with sounds -- more phonics -- as well as more reading and writing practice to become fluent with the alphabet code.

When a baby makes errors in speech, like "I goed to the zoo", we instinctively praise his effort, "YES, you went to the zoo!", quietly correcting his error by example, without making him feel wrong. Young writers need this kind of feedback as well-loving praise for their efforts, and non-judgmental occasional corrections as they work at perfecting their skills.