Encoding Essentials

The Superkids Bulletin. Fun and Creative Inspiration for Teachers of The Superkids Reading Program | Zaner-Bloser

ISSUE 25 | DEC. 2021

Decoding and encoding skills are tightly integrated in the Superkids program. Just as children use letter-sound knowledge to decode a word, they need to use that same knowledge to encode a word. The physical act of writing the letters that represent the sounds in a word reinforces letter-sound association. Spelling is where key learning modalities come together as children see a word, say and hear its sounds, and write it. This sensory reinforcement of sound-spelling patterns strengthens children’s decoding skills, making it easier for them to read words that follow these same patterns. In this issue, we will focus on encoding phonetically regular words.

Superkids coaches are often asked if invented spelling, or temporary spelling, during writing is acceptable. Our coaches recommend that teachers help children correctly spell words that consist of the phonemes they have learned. If children spell these words incorrectly in their writing, ask them to correct the words using what they know. Help children hear the sound or sounds they encoded incorrectly. Remind them that they know the letter(s) that stands for the sound. Have them write the word with the correct spelling.

If a child’s writing has many encodable words misspelled, help the child correct just a few words while you quickly correct the others. You don’t want to focus so much on spelling that the child becomes reluctant to write out of fear of spelling words incorrectly.

For words with phonetic elements that haven’t been taught yet, temporary spellings are acceptable. However, it is a good idea to resolve temporary spellings during editing, so that children can see models of standard spelling.

The Daily Routines are essential and need to be done every day. Not only do the spelling routines provide important practice for the children, but also they allow you to get a daily snapshot of how your students are progressing as spellers. Students who are noticeably struggling with encoding during the Daily Routines will benefit from more practice. The more often children read and write words, the more these words and sound-spelling patterns become imprinted in their memories. Practice Pages and Superkids Online Fun are excellent options for independent practice with encoding words with the phonemes that have been taught. For teacher-led practice, the Superkids Skill-Building Book and Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins are ideal for finding activities that focus on strengthening encoding skills.

It is important to keep in mind, some children who struggle with spelling may lack prerequisite skills for encoding words. For example, if children have trouble isolating individual sounds in spoken words, activities that strengthen phonemic awareness skills may be needed. When students have trouble remembering which letter(s) stand for the sounds they hear, phonics activities that reinforce previously taught letter-sounds would be beneficial. The Quick Assessments, found on the back of the Spelling tab in the Superkids Skill-Building Book, can help determine skill deficits so you can provide the targeted instruction and practice your students need.

Whether working with an individual student or with small groups of children, these teacher-led activities are perfect for reinforcing encoding skills.

Build a Monster

On a large piece of construction paper, glue a shape that represents a monster body on the left side (leaving the right side blank). Prepare items that children can use to create a monster such as eyes, a nose, arms, legs, horns, etc. Laminate the items you have created. (Psst…Use the monster pieces from our Letter Muncher activity.)

Using a dry-erase marker, draw blank lines that stand for the letters in a word children should be able to encode. Give a clue about the meaning of the word. For example, for happy you might say, “This word means the same as glad.” Have children take turns guessing letters to fill in the blanks. For each incorrect guess, add a feature to the monster. Challenge the children to correctly finish the word before the monster is complete.

Word Ladders

Use a word ladder work mat or draw a word ladder on a white board. Write a word at the bottom of the ladder that belongs to a word family children know, such as bake. Have a child change the beginning letter of the word you wrote and write a new word above your word. Continue to have children change the beginning letters and write new words in the ladder. As needed, give hints to help children come up with words to write. When they can’t make any more words, start a new ladder. For a challenge, have them change any letter in the word to make a new word. For example, change list to fist to fast.

Big Book Cover-Up

Select one word from each row on a page in the Big Book of Blending or Big Book of Decoding. Using self-sticking notes, cover one phoneme in the selected word from each row. One row at a time, say the whole word aloud. Call on a child to tell which letters have been covered. If the child gives the correct answer, they can peel back the note to reveal the correct letters.

Scrambled Letters

Give children a set of letter cards that can be arranged in different ways to form multiple words. Demonstrate how to use the cards to make a word. For example, the letters s, p, o, and t can be used to make spot, pot, pots, top, and tops. Have children take turns creating words, and then write any correctly spelled word on a recording sheet.

Check out these fantastic independent spelling practice activities we have spotted in Superkids classrooms!

Cover, Copy, Compare, and Correct

For this activity, create a document with three columns. In the first column, type a list of encodable words with the phonemes you would like to reinforce. In the next two columns, provide lines for printing words. Independently, the student reads and studies one word at a time. Next, the student covers the target word and copies the word in the neighboring column. The student uncovers the target word and compares what was written. If the word is written incorrectly, the student writes the word correctly in the next column.

Fading Letters

Using a teacher-created Fading Letters work mat, the student reads the word on the first line. On the second line, they print the letter(s) for the one missing sound in the word. On the third line, they print the letters for the two missing sounds in the word. This will continue until the child has written the whole word on the bottom row.

Crack the Egg

For this activity, supply plastic eggs that contain letter cards that can be arranged to make a whole word and a recording sheet. The student breaks an egg, forms a word with the letter cards that are inside, and then writes the word they create on the recording sheet. They continue until all the eggs have been cracked!

Building Mega Words

In this center, the student is provided with large snap blocks that have graphemes printed on them, word cards with encodable words, and a recording sheet. The student reads the word on the word card, studies the spelling, turns the card over, and spells the word using the blocks. When ready, the student turns over the word card, checks that the word is spelled correctly, and then records the word on a recording sheet.

Word Tins

Create these spelling boxes using small, metal tins and magnetic letters. For each unit, just add craft sticks that have encodable words that correspond with the phoneme(s) the children are learning. The student selects a craft stick, reads the word aloud, turns the stick over, and spells the word independently with the magnetic letters. Once finished, the child will turn the craft stick over, check that the word is spelled correctly, and write the word on a recording sheet.

Practice Pages

Many Practice Pages are ideal for a spelling center. Simply laminate the selected page, cut any activity pieces if necessary, and place in a baggie with a dry-erase marker. Your students can complete the tasks again and again for repeated encoding practice.