Program Approach of Spelling

Biblical Worldview

God created mankind to declare His glory through being like Him. He has made each of us in His image and has called us to imitate His deeds. One way we imitate God is in the use of language. God's attributes are reflected in the characteristics and usefulness of language. The Bible is His Word, and in it He communicates to man His truth and His love.

God has created people with the ability to use language to glorify Him and to show love to others. In order to do this, we must develop our two types of language skills: receptive language (listening and reading) and expressive language (speaking and writing). Spelling is one of the skills needed for effective writing. A biblical worldview sees spelling as a vital tool in the production of God-honoring written communication.

Throughout the BJU Press Spelling program, proofreading and writing activities portray real-life situations in which Christians use writing. Whether using writing to participate in worship, to minister to the needs of others, to provide information, or to complete routine tasks, a Christian realizes accurate spelling is essential for clear written communication.

Academic Rigor + Critical Thinking

Learning to spell is an essential part of learning to communicate accurately in writing. The BJU Press Elementary Spelling product line is designed to equip students with the ability to spell correctly a bank of known words and to apply spelling generalizations to unknown words.

It also equips the students to use a dictionary to check or correct spelling and to proofread effectively. This is accomplished through the development of critical thinking rather than rote memorization.

Meaningful Instruction

Our product line incorporates key elements of the word study approach. Through a balance of direct instruction and interactive learning, the teacher models the thinking process students need to develop. The teacher uses demonstrations, questions, and discussion to guide students in identifying and applying spelling generalizations.

The use of the word study approach strengthens critical thinking so that students understand, retain, and apply spelling skills. In word sorting activities the students investigate words by identifying, comparing, contrasting, and drawing conclusions about spelling patterns and rules. Word sorts help students organize what they know about words and learn generalizations they can apply to unfamiliar words. Dictionary skill lessons support learning to spell the words and help students effectively use the information in a dictionary entry.

Carefully Crafted Word Lists

In the primary grades, students learn that spelling represents the sounds in words. Word lists contain high-frequency words with reliable phonics and structural generalizations. Lists also contain the most common words with irregular spellings as memory or challenge words. In the intermediate grades students discover that spelling also represents meaning. Lists progress to include various syllable patterns, derivation formed by adding suffixes, and words with Greek or Latin word parts.

Vocabulary skills are presented throughout our program. These skills are tied to the spelling generalizations being taught and are used to support learning to spell the words. Review features help students develop spelling mastery. Each weekly list includes review words taken from the previous week's list.

Purposeful Application

Spelling skills give teachers insight into how well students hear sounds and how well they are connecting those sounds to reliable patterns. Also, spelling is an effective indicator of what students know about words and about language.

Our Spelling materials provide opportunities for students to apply the spelling skills and strategies they are learning. Many activities involve using words spelled correctly in a proper context for meaning and usage.

Proofreading and writing experiences transfer the responsibility for accurate spelling to the students and promote a desire to spell correctly. Students grow in their awareness of their own spelling and increase their skill in finding their own spelling errors. Many of the proofreading passages and writing activities portray real-life situations in which Christians use writing. This reinforces our goal that students view spelling as a tool to be used to honor God and to love and serve others.

Love for Learning

Making Spelling Enjoyable and Encouraging Success

The BJU Press Spelling program includes colorful Worktexts with enjoyable themes. Our Worktext pages have age-appropriate art, photo, and page design features that are not distracting. Spelling skills are presented in a variety of interesting ways. Interactive lessons provide opportunities for the students to actively participate in the learning process. We use review activities and games to stimulate interest while providing worthwhile practice.

The Spelling program is designed to foster success in each student. Our desire is that each student understands that he can learn to spell, he can remember the spelling of the types of words he has learned about, and he can apply what he has learned to unfamiliar words.

Writing lessons provide opportunities for real-life application of spelling and writing skills. Activities include journaling, designing a brochure, making a list to organize information, writing in response to a Bible passage, and writing a card or letter. Lessons begin with a story or discussion, and then the students complete an activity related to the lesson. For example, after a story in which the characters write a thank-you note, the students write a thank-you note they can give to someone.