How do you Illuminate? Spelling and Vocabulary

stacey lane · June 4, 2010 at 9:50 am

How do you Illuminate? Spelling and Vocabulary

By stacey lane 15 Comments

Spelling

The recommended spelling program in Illuminations is the award-winning Natural Speller by Kathryn Stout. Now for me, this is a hidden gem in Illuminations! The book itself provides: great ideas on how to study spelling, word lists by grade levels, and spelling rules. What it doesn’t do is plan the daily lessons – that is left up to the parent. Well, great news! Kathryn Stout wrote lesson plans for Illuminations users! She divided the levels into 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B, and included teacher guides and answer keys. There is even a handy placement test to get you started. Illuminations schedules spelling for 28 weeks of the program. In the yahoo group for Illuminations Year 1, there is a sample lesson of spelling in the files section. (Although the book is fabulous and good for all ages, you can actually do the spelling program in Illuminations without the Natural Speller.)

I just printed out level 2B for my daughter, it came to 59 pages. I will hole punch and place it into a 3-ring binder. Then I will photocopy the section from Natural Speller called “How to Study a Word” and place it in the front of the binder. Tonight I will have my daughter place loose leaf notebook pages in between each lesson, and one spelling notebook is complete!

One thing I am going to do differently this year is to design a table for misspelled words. I want to provide a format to help my children to remember to keep a list of misspelled words.

Vocabulary

Illuminations has more vocabulary then a student can complete in a year. This allows the parent to choose the words you want your student to focus on each week. In each Family Study Guide (FSG) you will find a list of vocabulary words to choose from. Most FSGs provide flash cards and/or definitions of the vocabulary words. For an added “I Spy” approach to vocabulary, I have my children listen for vocabulary words while I am reading aloud. When they hear one, I stop reading and let them define the word. (There are additional creative ways to learn vocabulary in the files section of Illuminations Year 1 yahoo group.)

This year I am going to buy composition books and have my kids keep lists of the vocabulary words they are learning. Then for fun, I will randomly pick up their books and ask if they can tell me what a word means or use it in a sentence. If they get it right I might reward them with extra time to stay up, extra video game time, or an extra snack.

Giveaway Fun!

This week if you sign-up for our Bright Ideas Press E-zine you will be entered to win an Over Our Heads in Wonder: Science and the Sky book. I have TWO copies to give away! Don’t worry if you are already getting our newsletter, just post in the blog that you have done it. If you are a new newsletter subscriber, remember to come back and post on the blog that you have signed up. We will choose winners randomly from our blog.

In our newsletter each month, we send out a coupon book for special sales only available to our newsletter subscribers!

God bless you as you plan your schooling –

This post is part of a series by Stacey Lane on her experiences with Illuminations. For the first post in this series, click here!

How do you Illuminate? Spelling and Vocabulary