While it is important for students to be able to finger spell, I have found it helpful to have students use Silly Bulls to combine visual and tactile components in the spelling process. Check out the videos below for step-by-step instructions on how to do Silly Bull Spelling.
More examples to come!
While it may seem like a lot of steps to learn, it is really the same process as finger spelling, only using the cards and tokens instead of fingers, and explicitly breaking out some of the necessary steps like isolating the base, determining how many syllables and checking their work. It won’t be long before you get the hang of it! In the meantime, here’s a “cheat sheet” (download here: Silly Bull Spelling Cheat Sheet) that has prompts you can follow to guide your student. If you put it in a plastic sheet protector, you can tick off the steps with a dry erase marker as you go to keep your place.
This post is part of a series of articles on how to get the most out of your Silly Bull Syllable Kit:
Silly Bulls: head-body-tail segmentation
Silly Bulls and the Blending Drill
Silly Bull Syllable Type Cards
Silly Bulls and Introducing New Concepts
Silly Bulls and Spelling (you are here!)