Elementary School Spelling Goals for IEPs

Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d

• Come up with a list of CVC words that capture a wide variety of letter sounds and see what a student does– do they get the first sound? The end? The middle? If they can do that, how do they do with blends or digraphs?
• The goal of a spelling sounds assessment is to see how many letter sounds a student encodes. If a student spells cat as “k,” they were able to encode the initial consonant sound. If they spelled cat as “kt,”  they were able to capture the initial and final consonant sounds. So give the student CVC words to spell and score it for how many and what type of sounds are captured.

Need more ideas? Check out the PreK-2 Writing Present Levels and Assessments Page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

When given a CVC word like “cat” to spell, Rodrigo captures the first consonant sound 40% of the time and the last consonant sound 20% of the time. He is not yet putting down letter for medial vowel  sounds.

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• Kindergarten goal 1: _______ will spell  simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships so that at least two sounds for every word is encoded (e.g. ct for cat) on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d
• Kindergarten goal 2: Given a spelling test, ________ will spell simple  words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships so as to spell 80% of beginning consonant sounds, ending consonant sounds, and medial short vowel sounds phonetically as measured by teacher records and observations  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d

This standard focuses on the isolation of sounds in words. You can modify the goal by adjusting which sounds the student has to isolate and their percentage of accuracy.

• Change the types of sounds encoded
  • Change the number of sounds encoded: _______ will spell  simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships so that at least three sounds for every word is encoded (e.g. ct for cat) on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d
  • Changed the types of sounds encoded: Given a spelling test, ________ will spell simple  words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships so as to spell 80% of beginning and ending consonant sounds, phonetically as measured by teacher records and observations  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2
• Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
  • Kindergarten goal 1: _______ will spell  simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships so that at least two sounds for every word is encoded (e.g. ct for cat) on 80% of opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d
  • Kindergarten goal 2: Given a spelling test, ________ will spell simple  words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships so as to spell 90% of beginning consonant sounds, ending consonant sounds, and medial short vowel sounds phonetically as measured by teacher records and observations  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d

 Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e

• Come up with a list of CVC words that capture a wide variety of letter sounds and see what a student does– do they get the first sound? The end? The middle? If they can do that, how do they do with blends or digraphs?
• The goal of a spelling sounds assessment is to see how many letter sounds a student encodes. If a student spells cat as “k,” they were able to encode the initial consonant sound. If they spelled cat as “kt,”  they were able to capture the initial and final consonant sounds. So give the student CVC words, words with blends, and words with digraphs to spell and score it for how many and what type of sounds are captured.

Need more ideas? Check out the PreK-2 Writing Present Levels and Assessments Page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

When given a CVC word like “cat” to spell, Lee captures the first consonant sound 50% of the time, the last consonant sound 40% of the time, and medial vowel sounds 20% of the time.

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• 1st grade goal 1:  ______ will spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions so that at least two sounds for every word are recorded (e.g. fa for fan) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e
• 1st grade goal 2: Given a spelling test, ________ will spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions so that 80% of short vowels, consonant blends, and digraphs are spelled phonetically as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e

This standard focuses on the isolation of sounds in words. You can modify the goal by adjusting which sounds the student has to isolate and their percentage of accuracy.

• Change the types of sounds encoded
  • Change the number of sounds encoded:  ______ will spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions so that at least three sounds for every word are recorded (e.g. krm for cram) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e
  • Change the types of sounds encoded: Given a spelling test, ________ will spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions so that 80% of initial and final consonant sounds and medial short vowels are spelled phonetically as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e
• Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
  •   ______ will spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions so that at least two sounds for every word are recorded (e.g. ct for cat) on three of four trials CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e
  • Given a spelling test, ________ will spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions so that 90% of short vowels, consonant blends, and digraphs are spelled phonetically as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2

• The goal of a spelling sounds assessment is to see how many letter sounds a student encodes. If a student spells cat as “k,” they were able to encode the initial consonant sound. If they spelled cat as “kt,”  they were able to capture the initial and final consonant sounds. So give the student CVC words, words with blends, words with digraphs– and, if they are successful, words with long vowels, “r” controlled vowels and so on to spell. Score the assessment for how many and what type of sounds are captured.

Need more ideas? Check out the 2nd-5th Grade Writing Present Levels and Assessment Resources page  or the PreK-2 Writing Present Levels and Assessments Page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

Drake is proficient at spelling beginning and ending consonant sounds. He can spell medial, short vowels with almost 80%  accuracy, digraphs (sh, th, ch) and consonant blends (sl, nt) with 60% accuracy, and long vowels with 40% accuracy. 

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• ______ will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English spelling by spelling consonant blends, digraphs, and common long vowel patterns phonetically on 80% of opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2

The language of the standard around spelling is vague, giving you flexibility to adjust the types of words or sounds that a student can spell. I am a strong believer in spell check and similar tools and so my goal is not for a student to spell perfectly, but for them to spell close enough for a spell check to guess. Therefore, these goals focus on the sounds captured in words, not on perfect spelling.

• Change the types of sounds encoded
  • ____ will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English spelling by spelling medial short vowels, consonant blends, and digraphs phonetically on 80% of opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2
  • ____ will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English spelling by spelling medial short vowel and long vowel sounds phonetically on 80% of opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2
• Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
  • Given a spelling test,____ will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English spelling by spelling consonant blends, digraphs, and common long vowel patterns with 80% or higher accuracy as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2
  • In an untimed writing sample with time for editing, ___ will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English spelling by spelling consonant blends, digraphs, and common long vowel patterns phonetically on 80% of opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2

Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2f

• The goal of a spelling sounds assessment is to see how many letter sounds a student encodes. If a student spells cat as “k,” they were able to encode the initial consonant sound. If they spelled cat as “kt,”  they were able to capture the initial and final consonant sounds. So give the student CVC words, words with blends, words with digraphs– and, if they are successful, words with long vowels, “r” controlled vowels and so on to spell. Score the assessment for how many and what type of sounds are captured.

Need more ideas? Check out the 2nd-5th Grade Writing Present Levels and Assessment Resources page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

Drake is proficient at spelling beginning and ending consonant sounds as well as consonant digraphs (sh, th, ch). He can spell medial, short vowels with almost 80%  accuracy, consonant blends (sl, nt) with 60% accuracy, and long vowels with 40% accuracy. Drake is not yet spelling “r” controlled vowels or vowel diphthongs.

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• _______ will use spelling patterns in writing words so that she spells 80% of words with long vowels and “r” controlled vowels correctly as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2f

This standard gives you a lot of flexibility to write a strong spelling goal for students! Base the types of  sounds in your goal on your student’s assessments– the goal is a challenging but attainable goal. The standard also includes language on word parts, families, and so on. I typically focus on phonics with my students and so focus spelling goals on phonics patterns. That way I know that I will be working on the goal during intervention time.

• Change the types of sounds encoded
  • _______ will use spelling patterns in writing words so that she spells 80% of words with long vowels, “r” controlled vowels, and vowel diphthongs correctly as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2f
  • _______ will use spelling patterns in writing words so that she spells 80% of words with consonant blends, digraphs, and common long vowel patterns correctly as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2f
• Adjust the accuracy or how it is assessed
  • Given a spelling test, _______ will use spelling patterns in writing words so that she spells 80% of words with long vowels and “r” controlled vowels correctly as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2f
  • In an untimed writing sample with time for editing, _______ will use spelling patterns in writing words so that she spells 80% of words with long vowels and “r” controlled vowels phonetically as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2f

 Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2d

• The goal of a spelling sounds assessment is to see how many letter sounds a student encodes. If a student spells cat as “k,” they were able to encode the initial consonant sound. If they spelled cat as “kt,”  they were able to capture the initial and final consonant sounds. So give the student CVC words, words with blends, words with digraphs– and, if they are successful, words with long vowels, “r” controlled vowels and so on to spell. Score the assessment for how many and what type of sounds are captured.

Need more ideas? Check out the 2nd-5th Grade Writing Present Levels and Assessment Resources page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

Drake is proficient at spelling beginning and ending consonant sounds as well as consonant digraphs (sh, th, ch). He can spell medial, short vowels with almost 80%  accuracy, consonant blends (sl, nt) with 60% accuracy, and long vowels with 40% accuracy. Drake is not yet spelling “r” controlled vowels or vowel diphthongs.

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• _______ will spell words with blends, digraphs, and long vowels with 80% accuracy as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2d

This standard gives you a lot of flexibility to write a strong spelling goal for students! Base the types of  sounds in your goal on your student’s assessments– the goal is a challenging but attainable goal. The standard also includes language on word parts, families, and so on. I typically focus on phonics with my students and so focus spelling goals on phonics patterns. That way I know that I will be working on the goal during intervention time.

Note that by fourth grade, I often move towards assistive technology based spelling goals– if the student is still missing blends and such it is time to start looking at how to bridge the gap so the student can get into grade level writing.

• Change the types of sounds encoded
  • _______ will spell words with long vowels and “r” controlled vowels with 80% accuracy as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2d
• Adjust the accuracy or how it is assessed
  • Given a spelling test,_______ will spell words with blends, digraphs, and long vowels with 80% accuracy as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2d
  • In an untimed writing sample with opportunities to edit, _______ will spell words with blends, digraphs, and long vowels phonetically on 80% of opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2d

Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e

• The goal of a spelling sounds assessment is to see how many letter sounds a student encodes. If a student spells cat as “k,” they were able to encode the initial consonant sound. If they spelled cat as “kt,”  they were able to capture the initial and final consonant sounds.
• So give the student words with a wide variety of sound patterns from digraphs to “r” controlled vowels. Score the assessment for how many and what type of sounds are captured.

Need more ideas? Check out the 2nd-5th Grade Writing Present Levels and Assessment Resources page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

Dillon is proficient at spelling all consonant patterns including beginning and ending consonant sounds,  digraphs (ch, th, sh), and blends (sl, nt). He is proficient at spelling short vowels and he can spell long vowel sounds with 70% accuracy.  Other vowel patterns are more challenging for him and he can spell “r” controlled vowels with 40% accuracy and vowel diphthongs (oy, ou) with 33% accuracy.

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• _______ will spell words with blends, digraphs, and long vowels with 80% accuracy as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e

This standard gives you a lot of flexibility to write a strong spelling goal for students! By fifth grade, if students are still struggling with basic spelling patterns, my spelling goals typically involve assistive technology (see below for examples), because I want them to be successful doing grade level writing and engaging in writing for meaning– I will still teach phonics, but I will make giving students tools a big focus. 

• Change the types of sounds encoded
  •  _______ will spell words with common long vowel patterns and “r” controlled vowels with 80% accuracy as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e
• Adjust the accuracy or how it is assessed
  • Given a spelling test,_______ will spell words with blends, digraphs, and long vowels with 80% accuracy as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e
  • In an untimed writing sample with opportunities to edit,  _______ will spell words with blends, digraphs, and long vowels phonetically on 80% of opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e