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//Best of// **Invented Spelling**

If you teach elementary age children you probably know how important it is to encourage them to sound out words they do not know how to spell perfectly. (Expressing ideas fluently always takes priority over perfect spelling!) Children's attempts to spell challenging words often result in highly entertaining versions of common words adults usually take for granted. This is a piece of childhood which is especially precious because the children don't even know their work is representative of innocence and gratifying to adults.

How about helping to start a "Best Of" children's invented spelling? Please start with a transcription (letter-for-letter) or scan of a writing sample showing inventive spelling and then include a translation. Good examples will speak for themselves, but it's still helpful to have a translation just in case a reader doesn't spend all day with little ones and already know how to speak their language. (This is not exclusive to first grade; upper elementary students sometimes have wonderful spelling accidents too.)

By the way, this isn't intended as a showcase for student viewing, although maybe it will serve some purpose down the line. Middle school students in our school love to stand in front of bulletin board displays of first grade writing and decipher cryptic messages. This web page is meant as a teacher-to-teacher sharing to support one another and have a good laugh in the sometimes contested environment of sound-it-out and your-best-will-do world of inventive spelling. If fun examples accumulate, perhaps some clever teacher will find a way to make this collection motivating for his or her students!

It's as simple as that. Please feel invited and welcome to enter your examples below:

Student: Labradog retriever Translation: Labrador retriever