After more than thirty years of teaching writing skills and developing his own unique mechanics exercises at a top New York school, Jim Halverson decided to share his successful methods with a wider audience. The result is Spelling Works, a book that makes the difficult task of English orthography both engaging and fun. As Halverson says, “Every teacher knows the inefficiency of teaching spelling by rote memorization. The kids study for the quizzes, do well on them, and then misspell many of the same words the next day in their own writing.” To involve students, he created exercises that are each part of an ongoing story, and at the end of each unit they review the new concept with games and a “spelling maze.” An added benefit of exercises that are stories is that the students also learn better proofreading skills as they scan sentences for misspellings.
Dividing Words into Syllables
Halverson is the author of, Spelling Works, a handy book that takes the mystery out of the most difficult spelling rules in the English language and makes learning them easy, engaging and fun.?Knowing how to spell is crucial in professional communications, he said. ?It can be very awkward when your smartphone corrects the simple things you are trying to say and turns them into something funny, lewd, or downright raunchy.
?People may accept a few improperly spelled words in email that carries the words ?Sent from my iPhone?, but if they catch errors repeatedly, it can have a serious effect on professional performance and may even be career threatening?.
Singular vs. Plural Possessives
Spelling Works is a simple-to-use book for learning spelling rules and how to spot your own errors. Halverson developed the techniques over decades of teaching students how to spell. He created a series of exercises that are each part of an ongoing story. The end of each story unit reviews the key concept with games and a ‘spelling maze.?
Without a doubt, this book has helped me spot my own errors and learn how to correct them! The mazes are super fun not only for children but also for adults! Spelling Works not only helped me learn simple concepts, but helped me remember them through their learning activities and mazes.
So if you have a child that needs help with spelling, or maybe you yourself need help, pick up this book! I promise, you won’t want to put it down!
You can buy the Spelling Works for $14.99.
