INTRODUCTION

Beginning teachers are often nervous and feel daunted about taking on their new role as a facilitator of learning. It is fundamentally important that a beginning teacher’s worries are put into perspective; do not let your expectations put unnecessary pressure on yourself.

A particular dimension of literacy that graduate teachers often struggle with is teaching their students how to spell, and is an area that sometimes attracts frustration from educators. A classroom spelling program is a tool that can help to address these frustrations (Bush, 2008). Hill (2006) states that spelling is imperative, and children need to learn how to spell so that their writing can be read by other people.

Young children’s attempts at spelling moves through numerous developmental stages that involves the use of phonics. Phonics “focuses on the sound-letter relationships used in reading and writing, and involves an understanding of the alphabetic principle” (Hill, 2006, p. 208). This demonstrates the notion that spoken language is composed of sounds, which are then linked to written letters (Hill, 2006).