Reinforce beginning, vowel and ending sounds when spelling.
It is important to help students understand how a syllable is made up of a beginning sound, a vowel sound and an ending sound. We practice this by having three piles of cards in the blending drill, but do you also help students see that this same concept applies when spelling?
In order to encourage students to think about beginning, vowel and ending sounds when spelling one-syllable words, try have them using a different writing medium for each of the beginning, middle and ending sounds. Use a combination such as a magnadoodle, a rice tray and a lift-off erase board. Or swap out for a small white board or chalk board. Once they are done, show them how the letters they wrote on each of the boards or trays are just like the cards they sounds out in the visual drill. Hopefully this will help them see how taking words apart for spelling and blending them back together are related.