Building Spelling Skills

Building Spelling Skills (Christian Liberty Press) is based on two fundamental premises of developing excellent spelling skills, this worktext series for grades 1-8 incorporates spelling/phonics rules but likewise utilizes exercises that employ word writing repetition. Since this series is from Christian Liberty Press, you can also count on two things: the content is biblically-based, and the books are a good value for the money.

Weekly lists of twenty words are covered in a series of daily lessons. Lesson activities are varied but include writing/identifying list words in sentences, reinforcing phonics rules, writing list words, taking pre and final tests. Books 1 and 2 are primarily concerned with phonetic concepts and simple prefixes and suffixes. Starting in Book 3 there is an increased emphasis on vocabulary development with activities involving the identifying and/or supplying list word definitions. Book 5 is more than a spelling book; it's a mini-encyclopedia of spelling. The first six units feature the names of major countries and cities of the world. The next two units focus on American states and capitals. Then follows units featuring the terms used in a wide variety of favorite subjects such as health, food, trees, arts, entertainment, travel, transportation, etc. Lessons in this book also require the alphabetizing of the list words. Book 6 is an examination of the great diversity and variety in spelling the rich sounds of English language. Book 7 and 8 are basic studies in etymology with Book 7 devoted to word-building with prefixes and suffixes while Book 8 is dedicated to word roots.