Making spelling practise more fun?

[winklegirl]

No doubt this has come up before, but does anyone have any good ideas for helping to make learning the weekly list of spellings more fun? (DS in year 3)

Thanks, Jo

As a primary TA for over twenty years, I think for some children it is not just enough for them to MEMORISE spellings, but they need to UNDERSTAND the Phonics theory that lies behind why words are spelt as they are.

Remember, English has gradually evolved from many other languages over hundreds - maybe thousands - of years, so no wonder it can be so difficult!

There is a book that can help clarify things:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.

So, if your child checks their spelling list against words in this Phonics Dictionary (though not all words are in it) it may help 'fix' it in their mind. People also say writing words down helps. I can't guarantee it is ever going to be 'fun', but things may become a bit clearer.

Make a word search with the words (plenty of online sites do this if you input words), make flashcards with the words, group into easier to learn and trickier. Look at patterns and group those. Make up silly sentences with words from the list, make a PowerPoint with one word per page.

My ds and his friends like the Squeebles spelling app

You could try:
Junior Scrabble
Crosswords
Spelling Bees

There are probably plenty of apps/online spelling games that might help and there are several spelling games on amazon. There is Spellodrones which is an online spelling competition network which encourages children to have fun learning, it's a bit like mathletics (the maths version of spellodrones)

I am coming to the conclusion that it is best to admit some tasks are no fun. Cleaning the loo, going to your dentist, learning spellings are all boring or unpleasant, but have to happen.

The relief on my child's face when I said "I used to hate this too, but we will have to do it, let's just get it over with" was immense. Going through this with times tables at the moment, I guess getting 10 out of 10 eventually will be sort of fun.

How about these for starters!!
Sixty-Nine ways to practice spellings

1. Play Dough Words - use play dough to form letters to spell out each word.

1. Pipe Cleaner Words - use pipe cleaners and bend and form to make the letters to spell out the words.
2. String Words - supply some string and scissors and let kids snip and create letters to spell out the words.

1. Stamp It! - use alphabet stamps and ink pads to stamp out words or let child use fingerprints to write words if you don't have letter stamps.
2. Paint It! - use a paintbrush and paint to spell words.

1. Finger Paint - let them get messy and have some sensory fun and finger paint to spell their words

1. Reverse Chalk Writing (aka Water Writing) - an easy and fun twist on writing words on the chalkboard. Use chalk to cover the chalkboard and have your child use a paintbrush dipped in water to write their words over it.

1. Type It! - if your children enjoy getting computer time, let them type their spelling words on the computer/ipad/lap top.

1. Rainbow Words - spell words using different colored markers or crayons for each letter.

10. Salt/Sand/Flour Tray - spell words using finger or paintbrush (great sensory experience too). Put coloured paper under the salt, sand or flour to make the letters really stand out.

11. Trace - have fun and let your child trace their words on your back or palm. Have them focus on properly forming each letter so you can feel it being drawn.

12. Chalk (or Paint) - go outside and spell your words using chalk on the pavement. Just taking the spelling practice outside makes it more fun for children.

13. Shaving Cream - This is another fun sensory experience. Make a thin layer of shaving cream on a tray and use a paintbrush or better yet a fingertip to spell out the words. Have some tissues on hand!

14. Trace in the Air - watch as children trace the letters in the air to spell each word.

15. Alphabet Blocks - use ABC blocks to spell words

16. Letter Beads - use alphabet letter beads and thread onto string or pipe cleaners to build words

17. Letter Tiles - spell words using letter tiles like Scrabble pieces.

18. Alphabet Stickers - build words using ABC stickers

19. Small/Medium/Large Words - How boring is it to write words 3 or 5 times each? How about jazzing it up by having them write the word using the smallest letters they can possibly write, then doing it normal sized and finally jumbo sized. It makes tedious writing practice so much more fun.

20. Build a Word with Lego - using some tape write the letters needed for each word ahead of time on some lego. Mix them up and then call out a word and ask your child to build it using the appropriate Lego, you will end up with some spelling word towers.

21. Crayon Bits - use your broken crayons to make letters and spell the target words.

22. Cotton Bud Writing - Use cotton buds and paint to dot letters to spell the word or write the word using the cotton bud as a paint brush.

23. Magnet Letters - Take a baking sheet or use the fridge, add some magnetic letters and spell out the words.

24. Glue & Glitter - Write out spelling words in glue and sprinkle some glitter on top.

25. Wikki Stix – these are bendable wax covered string, mess free and perfect to use in building letters to spell words. (You can buy from HobbyCraft, Amazon etc)

26. Alphabet Rocks - You could make a set of painted ABC rocks/pebbles, these can be a fun way to build and spell words.

27. Marble Words – Use decorative marbles to form the letters needed to spell words. You could also use small rocks, decorative gems or whatever you have handy.

28. Coffee Filters & Markers - let your child write the words using markers on coffee filters. When they have finished they can paint over them with a wet brush, watch the colours run.

29. Hidden Spelling Words - on a white piece of paper let your child write out the spelling words using a white crayon. Once all words have been written use watercolors and paint to make hidden words appear.

30. Paint (or Hair Gel) Bags - Pour paint into a ziplock freezer bag and seal. Use fingertips to write words on bag. To erase, simply squish bag and you are ready for the next word.

31. Print Words - Use newspaper or magazine print to cut out fun letters.

32. Twigs or Toothpick Letters - use twigs or toothpicks to build letters and make spelling words.

33. Flower Words - draw a flower for each word, 1 petal for each letter of the word.

34. Other Hand - if you are right handed write your words using your left hand, if you are left handed write words using your right hand.

35. Alphabet Cookie Cutters - use ABC cookie cutters to make words. For extra fun, make some word biscuits.

36. Window Writing - use Crayola Window Markers and write words on windows or sliding glass doors. They wash off easily and writing on windows or doors is so much more fun than boring old paper.

37. Clothes peg Words - Write letters on clothes pegs and peg the letters on a string to make words.

38. Torch Words - set up an Alphabet chart, turn out the lights and use a torch to shine on each letter (one letter at a time) to spell words.

39. Lolly Stick Spelling - write the necessary letters on lolly sticks, mix them up and ask your child to build words using the appropriate sticks.

40. Scrabble Spelling - use scrabble pieces to build words. For some extra maths fun ask your child to total the amount for each word.

41. Bath time Spelling - use foam letters in the bath and stick onto the wall to make words.

42. Shower Spelling - Spread some shaving cream on your shower door or tiled wall over the bath and let your child finger write words.

43. Cereal Words - using circle shaped cereal like Cheerios build letters to form spelling words. Then have a sweet, crunchy snack.

44. Penny or Coin Spelling - use pennies or other small coins to make letters and spell out words.

45. Dried Beans - Write letters on dried beans (butter beans) mix them up and put them in a pile for the children. Call out spelling words and ask your child to search for the appropriate beans to spell each word.

Oral Practice – of course you can just practice spelling your words out loud but wouldn't it be more fun to........

46. Sing - Use whatever song or beat you like but a simple B-I-N-G-O like song & some clapping works wonders especially on that first day of practicing words. It really helps children begin to remember those words.

47. Rap - This is so much fun and a great way to - S to the P to the E to the Double L, spells SPELL! Let them have fun with it and get creative.

48. Partner Spell - take turns adding a letter to spell each word. For example, for the word FUN - child starts by saying the letter F, parents adds letter U and child then completes word by adding the letter N. This requires focus and listening and is a great exercise memory exercise.

49. Cheerleader Chant - Give me an S, give me a P, give me an E, give me an L, give me a L - what's that spell? SPELL!

50. Record - use a voice recorder to record your child orally spelling words.

51. Make a Video - use a video camera or your phone to take some quick video of your child spelling the target words. By watching it back they are reinforcing the correct spellings.

52. Microphone - Spell words into a microphone. There is just something fun about hearing yourself loud and magnified so have fun with it and practice those spelling words too.

Gross Motor Practice – you can make spelling practice fun by getting active while practicing words.

53. Skipping with a rope while orally spelling the words.

54. Hula Hoop and spell words out loud.

55 Hopscotch Spelling - Write letters outside in chalk or play indoors with large letter cards on floor. Hop from letter to letter to spell words.

56. Bounce a Ball - bounce a ball as you spell words - 1 bounce per letter.

57. Balloon Tennis - keep a balloon up in the air while spelling your word.

58. Swat & Spell - put letter cards on the floor and using a flyswatter, swat the letters in the order necessary to spell the words.

59. Froggy Spelling - leap like a frog and spell words - 1 letter for each leap.

60. Star Jumps - do star jumps as you spell words - 1 jump per letter

61. Hop & Spell - hop on one foot as you spell words, this is a great exercise in balance especially with longer words.

62. Trampoline – bounce on the trampoline whilst chanting the letters to spell words – 1 jump per letter. You could give the vowels a special action eg. a = tuck jump, e = star jump, i= star jump, o = bounce to sit, u = full twist.

Games - you can use flashcards or you can take your spelling practice to a whole new level by playing games and even having some online fun.

63. Ask your child to spell and write 2 sets of words onto flashcards and then play a Memory Game with them.

64. Which is Correct? Write words on a white board and include misspelled words. Have child identify the correctly spelled words.

65. Wordsearch you can visit sites like PuzzleMaker (www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker) type in your child's spelling list and create a word search that you can print. Then have your child search for the correctly spelled spelling words and circle them. Let them use different colored highlighters for some added visual fun.

66. Mystery Letters - write words with missing letters. Child must figure out which mystery letters are missing in order to complete words .

67. Word Puzzle Scavenger Hunt - Write words onto coloured paper and cut up the letters. Hide the letters around the room. Have child find letters you've hidden and put words together correctly like a word puzzle.

68. Spelling BINGO - Make or print a few blank BINGO cards to use with spelling practice. Kids love to play BINGO. Write spelling words in boxes and randomly call out (or use flashcards) words. Child should cover appropriate words when called. To make things extra challenging, write words spelled incorrectly in a few spaces as well so child has to discriminate between the correctly spelled words and the incorrect ones.

69. Unscramble - use magnet letters or letter tiles for each word, scramble them up and have child put letters in correct order to spell words.

ENJOY!

Some lovely activities, Arabella. I don't think a year 3 child would be fooled, they'd immediately realise they are practising their weekly spellings. Might work with a younger child.

I am sure they would realise but it makes it more fun..

One that works for my DS is doing it through the walkie talkies..

Year 3s do a list of 20 words like "occasionally" or "accidentally" round here. It would take forever to spell them even once with Lego or toothpicks, I can see spelling 5 words like "cat" or "the" might work.

Walkie talkies are an idea.

The squeebles app has made spelling practice a bit more interesting for DD1. She is also in year 3 and she knows it is spelling practice but she seems to actually quite enjoy it using the app. Her results are better too.

Do you relate the words to their phonic and morphemic structure? Much easier than trying to remember strings of letters.

Thanks so much to everyone for so many ideas. Feeling a bit overwhelmed now, so will have to reflect on this for a while....

I was wondering how important it is that the spellings are practised by actually writing them vs using non-writing methods (e.g. typing on computer/apps, spelling out loud, etc) - what I am wondering is does the motor memory of physically writing words out help? Or is it irrelevant? (I'm happy to read research evidence on this if it exists.)

Ferguson - thanks will have a look at that.

MaizieD - no I know nothing about this, but think I have seen you mention on another thread when I searched on spelling here....can you give me a link to explain what this means please?

Reni2 - no my 7 year old wouldn't be fooled, and I don't necessarily want to, but I don't think she'd mind doing it if I could find the right format. She likes worksheet type activities, and have used reading eggs in the past, but what we do next relates a bit to my question above about spelling and motor memory.....

Thanks again all!

Yes, motor memory does count for a lot in spelling. I know that not many people write much by hand these days but, if you do, you will notice that many words which you have frequently written don't require much conscious thought at all (apart from thinking the word in the first place); you think the word, your hand writes it. This is the power of muscle memory. I am sure that touch typists develop much the same muscle memory for words that they frequently type.

But handwriting has to come first because the very best way to learn a spelling is to break a word down into its very smallest sounds (phonemes) and then spell each sound in the order in which it comes in the word.

So, for 'easy' words with simple spellings, such as 'caravan' you would break it into its sounds /k/ /a/ /r/ /a/ /v/ /a/ /n/ and spell each one, 'c' 'a' 'r' 'a''v' 'a' 'n'. Ideally you would say each sound as you write its spelling as this helps even more to promote muscle memory of how the sound is spelled in that word. If a child is writing the word I would then ask them to sound out and blend exactly what they have written to check that they do have all the right 'sounds' in the right order.

This can often be done without ever having seen the word but for more complex words or words with alternative sound spellings it is best to let the child read the word first (by sounding out and blending if need be) and to note any bit of it which might be tricky to spell. There' usually only one 'tricky' spelling in a word, all the rest is straightforward.

So, for more complex words, such as 'accident' (mentioned upthread); Read the word, identify its sounds and note that the /s/ sound is actually spelled with a letter 'c' ('c' with 'i','e'. or 'y' after it is most likely to be said as /s/). The sounds (phonemes) are /a/ /k/ /s/ /i/ /d/ /e/ /n/ /t/. This is the sort of word where children can't remember whether or not it has a doubled letter (or where it goes..), relating the letters to the sounds they spell makes it absolutely clear that 'cc' is needed - the first 'c' spells the /k/ sound while the second spells the /s/ sound. The doubled consonants also indicate that the vowel sound is probably /a/ as in 'cat'; this is not so important in this word but it can help with sorting out whether a doubled letter is needed in a particular word. I always have problems with 'occasion' (I often spell it as ocassion first time round ) but I can keep myself right by recalling that the 'o' is an /o/ as in 'dog' sound (well, roughly) so needs the 'cc' while the 'a' is an /ae/ sound so doesn't need two consonants after it. Studying words in this way for spelling is really quite interesting and gives lots of useful pointers for spelling unfamiliar words.

Once the word has been spelled (saying each sound as it is spelled) it should always be sounded out and blended to make sure every sound is there and in the right place.

This is what I meant by relating words to their phonic structure. it is simple and far less stressful than trying to memorise a string of letters in the correct order.

A useful 'trick' for words whose pronunciation has wandered wildly away from the way they are spelled is to say them in a 'spelling voice', pronouncing every sound; Wednesday becomes 'wed nes day', 'library' becomes 'li bra ry' etc. Nmemonics can be helpful but are best kept to a bare minimum to avoid memory overload.

Sorry this is a bit long, it's easier to do than to explain! Hope it helps.

Most words that get sent home for learning for spelling tests have silly bits in them,
e.g. accident (rather than axident, as in exit). So it's important to take notice of the silly bits.

Looking at them carefully and writing or typing them out a few times helps to fix those silly bits in our brains. Some children need much more of this than others. It depends mainly on how good their visual memory is.

If all words could just be sounded out and spelt logically, learning to spell English would not take the minimum of 10 years that it does.

Bath crayons are good for us - she gets extra bath time but is doing her practice too. Also a phone app as we have a 20 minute drive to school so she does them then. And then little rhymes to remember difficult things like ght is great hairy toes / because is big elephants can always upset small elephants.

Nothing academic here but we make it fun for DS by making up a silly sentences for each word or by making up a very short nonsense story using all of the words in the list of spellings in turn. Adding in characters from school (teachers, friends) adds to the giggles as does toilet humour .

If all words could just be sounded out and spelt logically, learning to spell English would not take the minimum of 10 years that it does.

What piece of peer reviewed research did that little nugget come from, marsha?

And why should 'axident' be any better than the current spelling? To be really logical and transparent it should be spelled 'aksident', or, 'acsident'.

Thanks again for all those further explanations, I can see that this is a controversial issue....

My 7 year old is good at spelling using phoneme rules, but almost seems to have got stuck a bit at that point and if they have tricky bits that don't follow those rules she gets stuck, and practicing using the read, cover, write method is just getting painful at the moment with her, but I have a feeling that is what she needs if only we can jazz it up a bit. Will look further at all your ideas, and see if they can add that jazz for her.

Thanks!

I would like to suggest that some posters could usefully start by learning the correct spelling of ‘practiSe’ (verb) and ‘practiCe’ (noun). No amount of playdough is going to help if the word is spelt incorrectly to start with.

Sage, there is a whole board on MN where you will find kindred spirits: Pedants' corner. I hope you'll make lots of friends.

My dc (Y2 and Y4) hate the writing out of words that they can often already spell, so I get them to spell the words out loud and then a couple of days later to go over the ones they got wrong (if any).

Usually on the way to school, as the sitting down at home is so tedious.

If a child can already consistently spell a word correctly there's not a great deal of point in making them practise writing it. The writing & saying the sounds technique is most useful for practising new words in order to fix them in memory.

Sorry about the narkiness, winklegirl, but marsha is a determined campaigner for simplification of English spelling. She has no understanding of modern phonics instruction, nor has she ever taught it. Her aim is to make you all think that English spelling is impossible to learn We have crossed swords many times over the years..and I'm not her only 'opponent' on mumsnet

Despite having no religious beliefs, I close my eyes in silent prayer asking for strength, patience and forgiveness for my impure thoughts when Marsha's name comes up on a reading/spelling/phonics thread.

Making spelling practise more fun?

oh, the irony!