Spelling

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After seeing the different levels of each of the students on our first spelling test, I decided it would be best to give a spelling pretest each Monday. Your child will bring the pretest home on Monday afternoon for your signature. If he/she misses less than 10 words, then additional words will be added to his/her list from frequently misspelled words in his/her writing and he/she will not be responsible for the words he/she got correct on the pretest. He/she will only be tested on Friday on his/her originally misspelled pretest words and their own personal words.

Every Monday your child will bring home a list of 20 spelling words that he or she should study during the week.  The final test will be given to students on Friday.  All words on weekly lists will follow a common spelling pattern or rule. Attached to the weekly spelling list that comes home every Monday will be two things:

1. Practice Spelling Test

A blank practice test will always be attached to your child’s weekly list of spelling words.  A parent or guardian should use the worksheet to administer the practice test to students at home as a way to prepare them for the final test in class on Friday.  Any words that your child spells wrong on the practice test should be rewritten three times on the back of the practice test.  The practice spelling test should then be signed by the person who administered the test and returned to school on Friday morning (the day of the final test in class).  The at-home practice test can be given at any time during the week.   

2. Teacher-Selected Spelling Activity

At Open House, you will receive an information packet with a list of activities that students can do to practice their spelling words at home each week.  I will choose one or two of those activities as a mandatory assignment each week.  The activity will be explained on a separate sheet and stapled to the practice test that comes home with the weekly list of new words every Monday.  It should be returned to school on Friday morning (the day of the final spelling test) along with the completed practice test.

 Click here to download weekly spelling lists

Click here to download the weekly spelling activity

Click here to download practice test forms

 What more can you do at home?

In addition to administering the practice test, you can also encourage your child to do additional activities that require students to practice spelling the words on their weekly lists. 

10 FUN Ways to Practice Your Words!

1. Eating Your Words- Buy a box of alphabet shaped cereal at the store. Pour a cup of the dry cereal onto a table or plastic place mat. Pick out the five most difficult spelling words from your child’s weekly list and have him spell those words from the letters in the cereal. After you check his work, he is free to eat his words!
2. Bathtub Spelling Practice- Get a package of foam letters for the tub. During bath time, call out a word and have your child spell the word by sticking the appropriate foam letters to the side of the tub.
3. Sidewalk Spelling- On a nice day, take your child outside with a bucket of sidewalk chalk and call out her spelling words. She can write the words on the sidewalk and later go back and draw a picture to illustrate each word. The chalk washes off with water.
4. Back Rub Spelling- this may grow to be one of your favorites! Both you and your child need to sit on the floor. She should be facing your back. As you call out spelling words, she will draw the letters on your back. This will not only give her the experience of remembering the spelling of the words but also give her practice forming the letters.
5. Poker Chip Mix-up- Purchase inexpensive poker chips and write the letters of the alphabet on them with a marker. You will need to make several of the commonly used consonants and vowels. Choose the poker chips that contain the letters of one of your child’s spelling words. Give them to him without telling him which word and ask him to spell the word.
6. Scrabble Spelling- Play a game of Scrabble, using your child’s spelling words.
7. Go Fish- Grab a package of goldfish crackers and your child’s spelling list. Call a word out for your child to spell and each time she spells one correctly, she can take one gold fish cracker for each letter in the word. If she makes a mistake, she cannot take any until she is able to spell it without help.
8. Word Processing Practice- Have your child use the computer to type his spelling words. Encourage him to use a different color, font, size or style for each word.
9. Spelling Word Finds- Create a word find for your child using Puzzlemaker at http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/index.html. Click on Puzzlemaker and choose Word Find. Type in your child’s spelling words, print it and let her solve it!
10. Spelling Puzzles- Write each spelling word on a 4x6" index card with marker. Cut each card in half, creating a jagged edge on both sides. Mix up the cards and have your child sort them and find the match to complete the puzzle.