Making Words

      I think that the idea of encouraging students to invent the spelling of some words is very interesting.  Because if I didn't know any better, I would think that letting kids make up their own spelling of words would be bad for their education by encouraging bad spelling.  However, I have learned that inventive spelling indicates that the students are developing in their phonemic awareness and starting to understand relationships between different letters and their sounds.

     I also really liked the making words game where the teacher gives the students letters and instructs them on the words they are suppose to be making, but lets the students make the words for themselves.  Once a student gets the spelling correct they go to the board and make the word for everyone to see.  I think that this is a great way to give the students some freedom to play with letters to make words, but at the same time showing them the correct spelling for the words.
     What are some other ways that teachers could encourage inventive spelling?
      When should teachers not encourage inventive spelling?
 picture from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=R_uICemT-dXetM&tbnid=5e5vNWdl0oc-OM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftoedukate.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fcorrect-spelling-or-inventive-spelling.html&ei=i-RSUsqVE4-o4APPooDwAg&bvm=bv.53537100,d.dmg&psig=AFQjCNEXUkBb4A4aFbm9naeqLrz396Vkxw&ust=1381250548924968