Reading's and Spelling's Close Relationship

In the past it was believed that reading and spelling were only kinda related, like third cousins once removed. However, in recent years it has been proven in multiple studies that children's spelling ability and reading level are very closely related, more like....siblings. The article by Cunningham and Cunningham (1992) that I read for class this week acknowledge this fact about young children's reading.

When I think about this fact I have kinda mixed feelings. On one hand it does not surprise me, simply because that just makes sense. However, on the other hand I am a little surprised whenever I hear this fact, because I am a horrible speller, yet have a very high reading level....so I am just like wHy CaN't I sPeLl?!?! Now I am left to wonder about how my teachers in elementary school may have affected my abilities. I have been trying to remember the lessons, and different things.

After reading this article one theory that I have come up with is that maybe I did not do enough work

that involved invented spelling as a child. Due to this I believe that I just may have memorized most words enough to recognize them, but not use skills build upon skills needed for spelling like phonetic awareness. This makes sense to me, because of how when write something down I will check to see if the words "looks right," instead of attempting to sound the word out.

For this reason as a future educator I believe that it is very important to incorporate activities that build phonetic awareness by allowing children to invent the spelling of words is important in the early elementary classrooms. So, here are some ideas to incorporate invented spelling:

•  Making Words: Children are individually given letters to create their own words using these letters that increasingly get bigger, starting out with two letter word and moving to six or seven letter words. This activity should take about 15-20 minutes. (This is from the Cunningham and Cunningham article (1992)) 
• For parents you could even do this at home with your children in a very fun way by making them spell words out of cookie shaped letter. Then, once they have finished you can pour a class of milk and eat up! (Inspired by an idea I found on Pinterest, which came from the blog Dirt and Boogers.)

• Personal Journals: Provide the children with their own journals, and give them some time at the end of the day to write freely. I would estimate that this activity would need about 20 minutes, but it could take less or more time depending on the topic and length of writing being asked for. The teacher can let  the children write about whatever they want, or a provide specific topic for children to journal about. Additionally, a teacher you can relate this topic to something that was done in another subject earlier in the day/week. This is a great way to integrate reading/writing in other subjects, which common core loves. ;]
• Here is Still Playing School's Introduction to Journaling with young children.

Today I am leaving you with two questions: (1.) Why do you think I might be a high level reader, yet a terrible speller? (2.) How would you incorporate invented spelling into the classroom?