"Best Guess" Spelling
as a Starting Place
by Maria Chesley Fisk, Ph.D.
Help your child develop thinking skills as he is learning to spell. "Best guess" spelling is great for thinking because it calls on children to think for themselves, problem solve using what they know about sound-letter correspondence, and write independently.
Children and adults can continue using "best guess" spelling for rough drafts, but around the middle of 2nd or 3rd grade, students should start using a dictionary or other reference so that the final copies of their texts use only "adult spelling." Praise getting ideas down on paper...spelling can be corrected later. 
"Best guess" spelling involves saying the word very slowly, listening to the sounds in the word, and writing the sounds. Here's an example of a parent teaching "best guess" spelling:
Mom, how do you spell funny?
Use your best guess spelling. You start by saying the word very slowly and stretching it out so you say all the sounds in it. Let's try it together: ffuuunnyyy.
What sound do you hear at the beginning? Go ahead and write it down. What's the next sound? OK, write that sound down. Say the word slowly one last time and write down the last word you hear. Great!
Depending on where your child is in terms of reading/writing development, when working independently she may end up writing F or FE or FUNE or FUNY (if she knows that the long e sound at the end of a word is usually spelled with a y.) Ask your child to read what he has written when he is finished. Rejoice with him, and if he wants you to, show him the "adult spelling" of frequently used words. You could also point out the adult spelling the next time you run across it when reading together.
Maria is an enthusiastic learning and home-school partnership consultant, tech fan, author of Teach Your Kids to Think, and realistic mom of two.
