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I don’t have fond memories of the rote memorization in spelling class, so I wanted something different for my kids. We’ve been using Spelling You See Level D this year and here’s our thoughts.
A special thank you to Timberdoodle Co. for sponsoring this post by providing complimentary copies of these materials in exchange for our honest review.
4th Grade Spelling – Language Arts
Timberdoodle’s 4th grade curriculum Language Arts by default, comes with Spelling You See Level E. My daughter finished Happy Cheetah language arts program last year and placed into Level D, so we took advantage of one of my favorite features of Timberdoodle – customizing kits. With a click of a button, you can swap grade levels or curriculum brands, depending on the subject.
Spelling You See
Spelling You See was developed by Dr. Karen Holinga, the same professor who created the Happy Cheetah program that caters to children who are struggling with standard reading approaches. The beauty of Dr. Karen’s programs are that they allow students to develop reading and spelling skills naturally, with guidance from the parent/instructor, but without rote memorization and tests.
Instead, this approach uses context, and the integration of writing, reading, speaking, and listening to develop long-term visual memory for words. There are 7 levels in Spelling You See, levels A through G, generally spanning from Kindergarten through 6th grade.
Levels D and E feature 2 student books, part 1 and part 2, and an instructor guide. There are 36 lessons in each level with 5 page-spreads each, allowing the student to work daily if desired. We usually only do bookwork 4 days a week and skip one of the spreads.
Both Level D & E are focused on American history, giving rich storytelling nuggets of the past in a low-pressure way. I love the questions and conversations that come from my daughter after she reads her lesson. Because it’s not a whole chapter of history, her mind isn’t bogged down and it’s a natural curiosity-led conversation.
So while the focus of spelling isn’t learning history, it’s definitely an added bonus, and a great way to remember that learning is entwined and subjects don’t need to be in separate categories all the time. For instance, the page where she read about Rosa Parks led to a raw conversation about civil rights and how equality had to be fought for, even if that meant breaking the law.
How it Works
There are 5 page spreads per lesson. Page A introduces a small passage that you read to the student. Then you read it again together and have your student “chunk” the assigned letter patterns. They will use different colors to color letter combinations such as consonants, vowels, common endings and bossy Rs (vowel followed by R). Then they will do a page of copywork from the passage.
Chunking is all about visual memory, and helps students to recognize and recall difficult or confusing parts of words.
Page B follows the same pattern, but the copywork is typically the second half of the passage.
Page C is also the same and sometimes the copywork is the entire passage, or sometimes it’s just half of it. For those who follow a 4 day school week, this is the page that is recommended to skip.
Page D is reading and chunking, followed by a lined page for dictation, where you read the passage and the student attempts to spell the words correctly, asking for help as needed.
Page E is reading and chunking, with a lined page for dictation, where the student is encouraged to try to spell the words correctly without asking for help.
As you can see from the pictures, Level D and E look very similar in the student workbooks. Level E uses more advanced words, but still follows essentially the same weekly pattern.
The Instructor’s guides, however, do look quite a bit different, with Level D being colorful and expansive, and Level E being more concise and directive.
How It’s Working For Us
As a parent, I appreciate the simplicity and gentle learning that Spelling You See provides. I can tell it doesn’t stress my daughter out as much as rote memorization and tests would. That being said, I do see it challenging her. I have to encourage her to not rush through the copywork, to take her time with the chunking and to read each word carefully. She also isn’t fond of dictation, so we take it slow, just one sentence at a time, as her skills and confidence builds.
We are halfway through Level D, and will continue to work on it through the summer. We will then continue into Level E for 5th grade.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to find yourself stressing out if your child seems behind or struggling to read, write, or spell. I want to offer the encouragement that progress is what really matters. Daily practice will improve their skills over time, and once they truly gain confidence, they will likely take off on their own. What’s most important is staying positive, and staying strong in requiring daily work. The more consistent we are, the more improvement I’ve seen this year.
You can see the full Timberdoodle 4th grade curriculum kit here.