Need Help with Spelling Test

You might try a pre-test with her. On Monday you test her on the list. If she gets all correct you will only review with her on Thursday. If she misses any you will study daily the ones she misses and review all of them on Thursday. It sounds like she doesn't want to admit she is having trouble and perhaps this will help give her more control.
I am not a big fan of copying the words as most will tune out what they are doing. I use to have my students make rainbow word - using a different color each time, or use letter stamps to stamp out the words. We also made boxes that showed the shape of the letters in the words - for a word like long you would have a tall box on the line, two small boxes and end with a long box going below the line. It helps kids to see the shapes. Do the words have a pattern to them? Many times they do, but the students may not see the pattern. I like the idea of spelling as cheer.
Remember rewards have more impact at times than punishment. It sounds like she needs her confidence built. You might try to reward her for doing better. If she gets 3 more correct next week (even if it is failing) she gets _________. Or, you may try to build a "bank" of correct spelling words and when her bank reaches say 10 words (or 20, you want it to be attainable in a couple of weeks the first time)she will get to ________. The reward doesn't have to be a money or gift award. It could be having a friend over for the night or painting her nails.
If she is having trouble in other academic areas, especially reading, you might wish to conference with her teacher.

Good luck!

I had one kid who took hours to learn her spelling words. What worked for her was doing everything out loud, since she's an auditory learner. Your kid could be a kinesthetic learner - she learns best by doing. Have her use alphabet blocks to "build" the words. Tell her calmly that screaming at you is not allowed, and that obviously she doesn't know the words since she's failed her tests. Try rewards, then realistic punishments that you follow through on. And lots of praise when she improves!

Have you tried making flash cards or a spelling game. buy the magnetic words. hopes this helps.

Where is she within the three? Is there an older sib who also has homework, or is she the oldest? You "tell" her how to do it, but do you work with her. I was a full-time employee with three and the oldest had a really hard time learning to read. We sat down with him privately and worked thru his reading assignments. If you sit down with her and help her learn to sound out the words and watch her write them it will help. When she can prove to you that she knows them, then if she still fails the spelling tests, you know there is another problem. As for threatening "no birthday party", you know that's not going to happen and so does she. Don't ever make a threat (or promise) that you know you won't follow thur with. They catch on to that real quick and it has no effect at all. Make a game of the spelling words. Have her see how many different ways she can use each one in a sentence, or see how many she can use in the same sentence. There's lots of ways to get around the problem, but yelling (when my child yelled at me she got a good pop on the rear) and making empty promises/threats won't get there. Good Luck.

Hello M.,

I know that I dealt with this attitude before and I just keep pushing, mine are now 3rd and 4th grade and there is no problems in getting them to practice them. So saying that means it will get better. Does your daughter like to cheer? does she like singing? Try to go over the words as a song, by singing them or making a cheer up with each word. My girls love to do both. Think of alterative way to make this exercise fun. Hope this helps.

Contact the teacher. She/he can offer suggestions. My youngest was totally bored with school and did not want to study either. She would do homework easier than study for a test. I got her involved with tutoring at the school after school hours. She would work harder at school, it worked for us. Now she seems motivated to study more at home to avoid after school tutoring but she is now older (5th grade).

You must make her do her homework as soon as she gets home. Don't even turn on the television. You can give her a small snack if you want but that may be a distraction as well. Forget bribery. You are her mother and she must do what you say. No bargaining with kids. Period. These study habits will follow her until her beahvior is nipped in the bud right now.

I am a former elementary teacher and this is an exercise I gave my own three children each week - just to improve their vocabulary, but it also helps on spelling:

Monday - Write each word 5x and pay attention to the spelling.
Tuesday - Divide the words into syllables (dictionary can be
used)
Wednesday - Look up the meaning of each word.
Thursday - Use each word in a sentence, showing that you know
its meaning.
Friday - Home spelling test.

I rewarded them for achieving their weekly goals. This kept the words in front of them each day and, if the teacher wasn't requiring all of this, it put them somewhat ahead. Hope this helps.

P. C.

Have you considered that she might be dyslexic? Dyslexics are usually very bright, high IQ but can't process the letters. My daughter was diagnosed at the end of 2nd grade but I knew something was up as early as Kindergarten. I kept saying to the teacher "She's not reading, she's memorizing." Which was exactly what she was doing. She could memorize anything - to a point. About 2nd grade is when many kids are diagnosed because that is when things get harder to memorize- longer and more words- not as many pictures to clue them in. She's a pretty functional dyslexic-and if you live in Ft Bend ISD they have a FABULOUS program to aid dyslexics- and can now read at grade level (she's in 7th) but she'll NEVER be a speller. Bring it up with the teacher- dyslexics don't always write letters backwards or transpose letters- the things you always hear about- there are many variations. It just may be that your daughter doesn't "get" the letters so it makes no sense to spell them. Mine couldn't differentiate between the vowels- they were always interchangeable- and she used to put "E"s and "H"s on the end of lots of words that you exhale at the end of. Google "Dyslexia" and look at some of the symptoms. And be prepared to have to "push" the school to test her- they usually want to wait until the end of 2nd grade- I heard "It's developmental" all the way through until the spring of 2nd grade. Good luck!!! Oh- and things I tried with my daughter to help her learn words:
Write them on the driveway really big with sidewalk chalk.
Write them on the bathtub wall w/ soap crayons.
Go outside and scream spell them as loud as she can- do it together!
Even if she doesn't have a learning difference- these are fun ways to do something she is obviously NOT interested in!

Make any type of studying "fun". From the time my daughter was a baby, I would "sing" things to her, or make a rhyme for her to repeat. With spelling, she enjoyed making the letters with her body ... example, for x she'd put arms and legs like an x ... for s, she would be silly and try to make herself look like an s.

By acting it out, it helped her remember things easier.

We would sing our numbers at night while brushing her teeth.

Would sing the alphabet in car rides, etc.

Good luck, L.