Here's what we do: We go through that day's five words (although I'm upping it to 10, as I'm pretty sure they can manage 10 just fine). They go to their computers and open their Spelling document I've created. In the first part, they type that day's words in lower case. In the second section, they type that day's words in upper case. And then they print out the document and hand write that day's words in the lines that are already on the document.
They have really been remembering the spellings.
But more interesting than that, Ella spontaneously gave us some insight into her method using that spelling document:
First, I look at the end syllable of the word. Say it's "mother." I look through the word, and notice the "h-e-r" part. I put my fingers on the keyboard and see how I would type out the "h-e-r." Then I go back to the beginning of the word, and see the "m-o-t." Then, out loud as I type each letter, I say the letter as I'm typing it: "m-o-t-h-e-r."
Of course, I was even more impressed with the fact that she has identified her mental machinations here than with the fact that she has created this interesting method. But you can see where her method, of going to look at the end of the word first and making a little unit that both mentally represents the sound AND physically represents that in a pattern on the keyboard, can really help her remember the word.
Now, I know that in the case of "mother" (which was her example to us), having "h-e-r" as the end part isn't technically right because the sound of "th" is one sound, the second, voiced, sound that "th" makes, and she breaks apart the t and the h in her method.
But, I don't really care. It's not as though she pronounces the word "mot-her." She is noticing that the "th" makes the one sound, and is making the decision to force them apart for her method. Fine by me.
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