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There is a discussion about dictation going on in another group, and I want to seek clarification of how we are "supposed" to be doing it. Some people are only giving their kids a few words at a time to dictate to break it into what they call "managable chunks",

As tempting as that may be, my understanding is that we are to give them one PHRASE at a time, stopping only at periods, and that the student has to remember the passage up to that period.

Can anyone clarify?

I realize that spelling is the main POINT of dictation, but memory and sustained attention is part of it too, right?

I only dictate 3 to 5 words at a time. I got this idea from Julie in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12604&hilit=dictation+few+words

I wouldn't call an entire sentence a "phrase." I feel like just stopping at punctuation in one sense might actually make it easier because it gives them a hint that there is a period/comma there. However re-reading this thread was good for me, as I often repeat the phrase & I see Carrie specifically says we're not supposed to do that. I hadn't thought that remembering words was the point at all: just spelling & grammar.

I think it depends on the child. For my girls, I can give them many more words at a time than my son. My oldest gets frustrated if I only give her a few words at a time. She usually wants me to read up to the punctuation when I can because she said the flow sounds better to her. My son - my goodness! He can only get about 3 words at a time! My youngest, she is in level 2 and I just give her one sentence at a time. That works really well for her.