Homework helper: letter tiles for spelling

Brady's wonderful teacher shared an idea with me when I emailed her asking how I could help Brady with spelling.

Brady's a very good student. Tries hard. Loves math and tests and homework. But spelling confounds him.

His teacher assures me it is because of his analytical math-minded brain which doesn't understand why spelling breaks the rules.

I often wonder, how can "ea" as in seat and "ie" as in baggie and "y" as in jury and "ee" as in keep and just an "e" as in genie (wow, TWO types of long e in one word), all make the same sound?

Anyway, she suggested going through the spelling list in a pre-test first and seeing what he already knows, then focusing only on the problem ones.

Second, have him write each problem word 5 times because repetition helps. Lastly, cut out some letters (I printed them, laminated them and cut them out) and give them to him to unscramble.

Here he is spelling "seat." Such a great idea!