What foundational skill should a fourth-grade student who consistently misspells familiar words focus on improving?

The appropriate focus for a fourth-grade student who consistently misspells familiar words is segmenting all the phonemes in a word sequentially. This skill involves breaking down words into their individual sounds, which is crucial for accurate spelling. When students struggle with spelling, it often indicates that they may have difficulty recognizing or articulating the sounds that make up words. By honing their ability to segment the phonemes, students can improve their spelling by gaining a clearer understanding of how each sound corresponds to letters and letter combinations in written form.

While identifying letter-sound correspondences and recognizing sight words are also important foundational skills, they pertain more to the initial stages of literacy and reading fluency rather than the specific challenge of spelling familiar words. Writing sentences using proper grammar, while important for overall writing skills, does not directly address the issue of misspelling familiar words.