Spelling Around the Room

Spelling! I know it's a very important and as a kid, I loved it. 

But through the years, I believe that there just are kids who are spellers and those who are NOT!

We don't use a spelling book or series. So I purchased a  Differentiated Spelling Lists from Surfin Through Second.  I absolutely love them. Corinna has 2 lists for each week. I give the first list to everyone on Mondays. If anyone passes 80% or better, then I give them the 2nd list to study all week for the test on Friday. Those who didn't pass the first test will study that for the test on Friday.

So how do I help them practice these words? Corinna has several activities that are included in her product. Usually we pair up with a partner. I put both lists of words on the Elmo. One person sits with their back to the screen while the partner who can see the words, asks them to spell them. Then they switch places and do the words with the other player. My kids like this and as I walk around I can hear lots of good practice going on. Who needs papers to do spelling on all the time?!!!

In the beginning of the year one of the activities we did was to find rhyming words for a couple of the spelling words. As a class we would make a list and hang it in the room. It didn't matter if it was spelled differently as long as it rhymed.

This week I had the kids do the writing as a group. There were five sheets of paper with a different spelling word on it. Some from each list. This week happens to be the long I sound. The groups were given about 5 minutes to brainstorm words to rhyme with the main word. 

Then they rotated to a new word. They had to read the written words first then think of any other words that would fit. They were not allowed to write a word that was already there.

 

We continued switching until they had visited each word. As they got to the end, it was harder to come up with a word that wasn't already written.

My kids loved this. I love how they are so focused as a team to find new words!

When they were finished we put them all on the board in front of the room. We read each one and decided if it actually DID rhyme or if it should be crossed off. 

I know my kids enjoyed this for many reasons. It was different, we were moving around a lot, they were in charge of their actions, and they loved working together. 

Patty