Level 2: From Letters to Words

Increasing Spelling & Writing Practice

Establishing a Daily Writing Block

You’ve already done the important work of teaching your child how to form letters correctly. Now it’s time to move from letters to real words — while continuing to strengthen neat handwriting.

This next phase combines spelling instruction with ongoing letter formation practice. In my classroom, I called this our Writing Block. Having a consistent daily writing block helps children know exactly what is expected, builds writing endurance, and makes spelling rules stick.

At home, you don’t need a long block — 10 to 15 minutes is plenty to start. The key is consistency and keeping it positive and playful.

The Goal of This Stage

  • Continue practicing correct letter formation (size, shape, spacing, and direction)

  • Teach common spelling rules and patterns in a natural way

  • Help your child learn to sound out and spell words independently

  • Build confidence and writing stamina gradually

Helpful Tips for Homeschool Moms

  • Keep sessions short and positive.

  • Focus on one or two rules per session until you have several rule under your belt, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

  • Practice writing the lowercase abc once a month to continue correct formation of the letters.

  • Recognize and praise the things you want repeated.

  • Use the Make a Word template you already introduced — it pairs perfectly with this writing block . Switching between handwriting and making words keeps your child engaged and prevent writing fatigue and provides variety and yet practices the same skills

Progression of Skills

  • Weeks 1–2: Simple CVC words (cat, dog, sun, pig)

  • Next: Words with beginning blends (drip, stop, clap, frog)

  • Then: Silent e / magic e words (bake, like, home, cute)

  • Then: Digraphs (ship, chick, bath, sock)

  • Later: Mix them together and begin writing short sentences

How to Run a Simple Daily Writing Block

Start small — Begin with just 6-10 words per session. As your child’s hand strength and confidence grow, you can increase to 12-15 words.

Step-by-Step Routine (The Mrs. Bee Way):

  1. Choose words focused on the skill you’re working on (I’ll share word lists below).

  2. Say the word clearly Ask your child to tell you how to spell it —then you both write it together, this is one of the most powerful steps!

  3. Identify any blends, vowel sounds, spelling rules, etc.

  4. Mark the special features together (model everything with your child) using a red pencil or red pen. ( note: red is used only for marking, not general writing because we like red)

Marking Ideas (use a red pencil or pen to make learning visual and memorable):

  • Underline blends (dr, bl, st, tr, etc.) in red

  • Draw a happy face mouth above short vowels

  • Draw straight line above long vowels

  • Draw an line through the silent e

  • Circle digraphs (sh, ch, th, ck, ng, etc.)

  • Underline doubled letters (ll, ss, ff, zz)

  • Write “Red Word” in red. (note: these are Dolch words. words that can not be sounded out.)

  • Conclude your writing session with a sentence and an opportunity to illustrate your sentence. Keep your sentences short and use words they can read. ( Teach capitals at the beginning of a sentence and punctuation at the end.)

Examples:

Word: drip Parent: “Tell me how to spell drip.” Child: “d-r-i-p” Discussion: “Great! dr is a blend — those two letters are friends and stay together.” Child writes: drip Marking: Underline dr in red + happy mouth over the short i

Word: bake Parent: “How would I spell bake?” Child: “B – A – K?” Discussion: “The “a” wants to say its long sound /ā/. It needs a silent e to help it. Remember: When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and says its name., what does the other vowel say? NOTHING.. it’s busy helping the vowel say it’s name” Child writes: bake Marking: straight line above the vowel with red, cross out the silent e with a single slash)

Word: hill Parent: “Tell me how to spell hill.” Child: “H – I – L?” Discussion: Remember we double the l'l’s and the s’'ss on ‘baby words : Underline or box the ll

Read Words: Write these words in Red. Say each letter s-a-i-d, then raise your hands above your head like a cheerleader and say S-A-I-D said!! Do this 3 times. Then write the word on your paper as you say each letter. The and Out are also good red words to work on. For out say “ Eeny, meeny, miny, moe O-U-T spells out Goes you! Then teach if you can spell o-u-t you can spell about and shout.( put a box around the word out. ( you can do the same thing with about. For THE do a cheerleader ( pretend you have pom poms T-H E raise your hand over your head and say the… also Y-E-S spells yes…. Y-O -U spells you. Just saying the letters for yes and you seems to work.

For variety switch off between writing using pre-primer paper, using a white board, and doing “Make a Word.” You can do all these skill using all three resources.