Improving Spalding
Explaining the Ending “e” is today’s addition to the Guide on the sidebar.
Sorry about the 404 error if you tried to locate yesterday’s addition. I forgot to switch it from draft to published. It’s the entry above today’s on the sidebar, titled Reasons for Modifying Spalding.
Today’s suggested modification is the big one. If I were to ever use Spalding in a classroom I would drop the five rules for the final “e” that Ms. Spalding devised and borrow from Phono-Graphix to explain the ending “e” on so many English words. No rules, just a few more phonograms, and pretty easy ones to learn at that.
This change would really clean up the notation Spalding uses, which can even confuse adults at times if discussions on websites are any indication, and I think it would make it even better than it now is. But, of course, everyone who makes changes to an existing reading curriculum thinks they’re making “improvements.” It’s just that Phono-Graphix is so straightforward that it’s very easy for a young child to comprehend, and I’ve seen it work well with so many kids besides. In my judgment, what I’m suggesting would be an improvement to a curriculum that is already excellent.
Incidentally, I used to work with a child who really struggled due to low cognitive skills. The best reading he would do would be when he would read sentences written at prior sessions, using words that had already been introduced via The Spalding Method, so I think Ms. Spalding was definitely onto something with her Writing Road to Reading.
Read all the gory details regarding this proposed change here: Explaining the Ending “e”.