Just as the reading and writing workshops were born out of studying the habits of great readers and writers, I spent a little time researching the habits of great spellers. I read lots of articles from national spelling bee winners and even interviewed a few people from my life that have always had a knack for spelling things correctly. From there, I gathered my notes and turned them into mini-lessons that might encourage students to become people who find patterns, look for things to alphabetize, or notice when words break spelling patterns in their every day life. Essentially, this curriculum is designed to encourage kids to become word lovers and word investigators by nature. These lessons are designed to provide kids with what I call spelling habits of mind. These units are designed to give your spellers a teaching-tip that is good for ALL spellers, and then they will go off to complete their differentiated spelling tasks, games, and activities to help them become better spellers.
