how to give spelling homework

 Spelling Homework Ideas

Need some ideas for spelling homework? Check out the gigantic list below of great ideas! You'll find the first 20 ideas here, and the remaining ones here . Each idea can be used with any list of weekly spelling words. Choose the ones that work best for your grade level. Vary the activities frequently.

Note: You might also want to consider our new  AnyWord Spelling Practice eBooks . They are full of ideas for lots of spelling practice with any spelling words. The 3 eBooks provide practice with creative writing, word play, and partner games.  Check them out !

Printable List of Spelling Homework Ideas

1. Write each word 5 times, using a different color each time.

2. Type your spelling words 10 times, using a different font each time.

3. Create a comic strip. Add captions that use 5 of your words.

4. Write the words in ABC order.

5. Write the words in reverse ABC order.

6. Write a TV ad for a product that uses 5 of your spelling words.

7. Find each word in the dictionary. Copy a definition for each one.

8.  Cut each spelling word out of a newspaper or magazine. Glue all the words on a piece of paper.

9. Write a sentence for each spelling word, but leave out the spelling words. List all the words on the page. Ask a family member to add the correct spelling word to each sentence.

Remember: Spelling homework not only prompts students to practice their spelling words. It can also help engage family members in the learning process.

10. Find each word in the dictionary. Write the page number on which it appears and the guide words at the top of the page.

11.  Write each word in a sentence. Make pictures for 3 sentences.

12. Write your spelling words. Add a rhyming word next to each one.

13. Write a story that uses 10 spelling words. Remember: Spelling homework not only prompts students to practice their spelling words. It can also help get family members involved in the learning process.

14. Scramble each spelling word. Have a family member unscramble the words and sign your paper.

15. Spell your words with alphabet pasta. Glue them onto paper.

16. Cut out paper letters for half of the words and glue onto paper.

17. Make a word search puzzle in which you hide all of your spelling words. Give it to a family member to solve and sign.

18. For a different type of word search, draw a Boggle-type game board. Make sure it contains at least 5 of your spelling words. See if a family member can find the spelling words.

19.  Make two copies of your spelling words on index cards. Use the cards to play a memory or "Concentration" game with a family member.

20. Write each word forwards and backwards.

Find our next 20 ideas here .

Ideas for using our list:

At the beginning of the week , give students a written list of 5 of these  ideas. Ask them to complete them in any order throughout the week.

Or, make a monthly spelling calendar. Write a different idea on the calendar for each school day in the month.

For more spelling homework ideas:

Need more ideas? See this list of 20 more homework ideas and/or our AnyWord Spelling Practice eBooks . 

Fun spelling practice ideas - Great ways for kids to help each other practice writing almost any spelling words. Time saver for you!

For additional spelling practice, try our spelling worksheets and spelling word games . 

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Spelling Homework Ideas for Effective Learning

Are you unsure if your students are learning spelling properly? Are you looking for some effective spelling homework ideas that will boost your kid’s spelling skill in no time? Then this article is just for you.

In the past, teachers gave a list of words to write at home and bring them back to class the next day. No wonder students got bored after a few classes. But nowadays, keeping students hooked to learning spelling is one of the top priorities which is why teachers (and parents) need interactive spelling activities instead of the traditional ones. And to help them, we have gathered a number of spelling homework ideas that will successfully do their job to grow your kid’s interest to learn spelling.

Spelling Homework Ideas for 1 st Grade

Let’s start with the beginners. Students in this level are naturally interested to learn new words as they are discovering a whole new world. That’s why choosing a spelling activity for them should be done carefully.

For beginners, most of spelling practice should be done at class. You can give a few words to practice at home to improve their skill further but make sure:

• Not to give too many words for homework
• Not to give a word that wasn’t practiced in the class

For 1 st graders, homework should consist of words that were already learned in class and given only to practice further so that students can understand and memorize the words properly.

Check out the spelling homework ideas for 1 st graders:

• Write a word 5 times. Use a different color each time.
• Write the words in alphabetical order, then write them again in reverse order.
• Make word chain. Write a word, then write another word whose first letter is the last letter of the previous one.
• Ask the students to find out the number of syllables in each spelling word. They need to write the word using different color for each syllable.

Sight words

It is a clever strategy to start teaching sight words. These words are frequently used so students would see them everywhere and would learn then faster. You can print them out from SpellQuiz Printable Sight Words List.  The words here are divided in grades so that you won’t have to worry about using words that are harder for students in a certain level.

Hands on Spelling Activities to improve the skill of beginner level students

Not just homework, you should give some spelling activities also to make the learning process enjoyable. Here are some hands-on spelling activities for your little learner:

Create the words

These activities don’t involve writing the spelling words. We will use different types of letter shapes to build or assemble the given words. Check the activities below:

• Build the words with letter stickers.
• Make words with letter blocks.
• Create words with magnetic letter shapes.
• Use scrabble letter tiles to build the given words.
• Make words with alphabet stones.
• Create words with alphabet pasta.
• Use letter stamps to stamp your words into papers.
• Use Lego bricks to create the words.
• Make letters from play dough and build words with them
• Write letters on papers or cards and place them on the floor. Ask your kid to spell a word aloud while jumping from one letter to another.
• Use letter beads and thread them together to build the words.

Write the words

In these activities, the child needs to write the words, but not in the conventional way:

• Paint the words with brush and colors. You can use watercolor or acrylic paints.
• Write the words with crayon.
• Write each word with a certain colored pencil. Cut each letter apart and mix them. Ask your child to assemble the similar colored letters to build the words.
• Use chalk and board to write the words.
• Use markers and write the words on a whiteboard or on your window. Make sure to use washable markers.
• Ask your child to make letters with their body to spell a word.
• Use cotton buds and dot-paint each letter to build a word.
• Ask your child to type a word. You can use computer or a typewriter if you have one.
• Type each word 10 times. Use a different font each time.
• Use your finger and write each word on sand. You can also use salt. Just spread them on a tray and ask your child to write on them.
• Ask your child to write letters with whipped cream on cookies and build words with them. If spelled correctly, they can eat all the cookies used to spell the word.
• Write the words on the wall using a laser pointer.

Check out our guide on spelling schemes for primary schools , which will help you in determining the perfect spelling homework for your students.

Other activities

• Play Hangman game with your child.
• Assign a number to each word of the list. Make a spinner with the numbers. The student needs to spin to get a number and spell the assigned word.
• Ask your child to spell a word. Then ask them to spell another word that rhymes with it. You can use it when you are teaching them spelling patterns. Ask them to spell as many words as they can with similar pattern.
• Make spelling rhymes or spelling songs with your child. You must remember the spelling song for ‘Difficulty’ from movie ‘Matilda’. Try to make one for other words too. Here is one for the word ‘Mississippi’: M Mrs. I Mrs. S-S-I Mrs. S and S-I Mrs. P-P-I But make sure you’re not creating a rhyme for every word. It will be confusing.
• Make acrostic poem with each word. You can ask your child to make one too.
• Tell the students to draw a picture to describe the word they learned.
• Write the listed words on one side of the paper and write its definition on the other side. Play a game where you ask the definition in one round and the word in the next one.

Spelling Bingo

Play spelling bingo with your students. Give the students an empty chart and draw one on the board. Point to an empty block and say a word from your list. The students need to spell the word correctly to be able to write it in the box. This game can also be played at home.

Learn spelling in a fun way with spelling jokes for adults now!

Spelling Homework Ideas for older students

Not just kids, even adults feel bored after a while with spelling lessons. That’s why we need to add some interesting spelling activities with traditional homework to keep the students engrossed.

Check out the spelling homework ideas given below. They are suitable for students of all levels and not just for students only. If you are an ESL student or just an individual willing to improve your spelling skill, these activities will help you learn and understand words faster.

1. Write a sentence with each word you learned. Try to use multiple words of the list in one sentence.

2. Write a story with the words you learned. If you are not sure what to write about, try some common themes such as: Holidays, Travel, Movie, Fantasy, City/Town, Seasons etc.

3. Divide the listed words in two sets and play ‘memory game’ with a friend or family member.

4. Find definitions of each word from the dictionary. Sort them out for similar meaning or origin.

5. Write a word, now try to make a new word by adding a letter. For example, To-> Toe-> Towel->Towels Go-> God-> Good-> Goods-> Goodness

6. Make a greeting card and try to add as many spelling words you learned as possible.

7. Write a paragraph that contains the word you learned, its synonyms and antonyms. Bonus points if you can do it for multiple words in one paragraph.

Word Search

‘Word Search’ is a great spelling activity for all level of students. Just be careful that the words you are using are appropriate for their level. There are many ways this game can be played:

• Give them a time limit. The one who found the highest number of words wins.
• Tell them how many words they need to find. The one that completes the fastest wins.
• For younger students, give a list of words along with the grid.

You can use play this game outside of the class too. Find a word grid on the internet and try to solve it on your own. Track how much time you need to solve each set and try to break your own record.

Spelling homework ideas can help you accomplish a lot. Check out these spelling practice hacks that you can use as a homework for your students now!

Now that you learned about spelling homework ideas to improve the spelling skill of your child, you need to monitor if these methods are actually working by evaluating your child’s skill. And in this case, SpellQuiz is your best friend! You can easily assess your kid’s progress with SpellQuiz Spelling Test where tests are divided by grades. You can find vocabulary tests suitable from grade-1 to grade-12 and older. Also don’t forget to check SpellQuiz Spelling Bee Online competition for more fun spelling activities, tips and tricks for improving spelling skills and much more.

Happy Spelling!

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20 Ways to Make Spelling Homework Fun {Homework Helps}

• Post author: Guest Poster
• Post published: January 2, 2013
• Post category: Education / Homeschooling

The following post is from Jennifer, a lifelong educator:

See all of the Homework Helps posts here.

With school now in full swing, homework needs to find its way back into many families’ routines. You can find tips to help you alleviate homework headaches , but let’s look specifically at ways to review those weekly word lists.

Two Keys for Spelling

One is understanding the sound patterns that combine to make the words.

The other is repeated exposure to help you remember which pattern matches which word.

The first step is learning that “oi” and “oy” both make the same sound. Next, you have to remember that joy uses one spelling pattern, and join uses another. Children benefit from working with words over time to help them remember which pattern fits which word.

20 Ways to Make Spelling Homework Fun

Here are some ideas to make the process more enjoyable:

1. Make rainbow words. Write the word with a pencil. Then, trace with a variety of colors.

2. After writing the word, use a highlighter on the vowels and another color to highlight the consonants.

3. Have your child give you a spelling test. Deliberately misspell some words and see if they can correct your mistakes.

4. Make volcano words by adding one letter to each line:

5. Use pipe cleaners or Wikki Stix to form each letter in the word.

6. Smooth out shaving cream on the counter. Use your finger to spell the word.

7. Have your child spell out the word on your back with their finger.

8. Flatten Play-Doh. Use a pencil point to make dot letters to spell a word.

9. Use your computer to record each word being spelled, and then write down the words when you listen to it later.

10. Look up the words on dictionary.com. Listen to how each word is pronounced.

11. Purchase inexpensive alphabet stencils to write the words using fancy letters.

12. Spell each word three times each on the computer, using a different font each time.

13. Make a list of words that rhyme with the spelling word. Underline the parts that are spelled the same.

14. Use puffy balls, beans, or raisins to form each letter in the word.

15. Pull out your Scrabble game . Use the letters to make this week’s words. Add up the points to see which word is “worth” the most.

16. Highlight the words from your spelling list that you find in a newspaper or magazine.

17. Play Code Words. Print a picture of a phone keypad. Write down one of the numbers that corresponds to each letter. Your child can then give the codes to you or a sibling to decode. When finished, they have to check to ensure the words are spelled correctly.

18. Put the words in backwards alphabetical order.

19. If it’s warm out, write the words with colored chalk on the driveway.

20. Make up spelling songs to go with familiar tunes, such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” “Are You Sleeping,” or “Farmer in the Dell.”

What other ideas would you add to this list?

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60 Spelling Activities for Elementary Students

• Janessa Fletcher
• May 12, 2021
• No Comments

How many hours a week do you spend prepping spelling activities? ? What if you had a resource that would allow you to create 60 spelling activities in 5 minutes or less?! What?!!! ? Are you ready to get some of those hours back?!  Take a look at these fabulous EDITABLE Spelling Activities we have created for your students to practice their word lists.

Our Spelling Activities are super simple to use !!!

• Enter your spelling list on the first page of the resource.
• Choose the activities you want to use that week.  (We have 60 different pages  to choose from!)
• Print those activities.

These spelling activities can be sent home as homework, used in a word work center, in small groups, or as independent practice.

* Spelling Activity Line-Up *

1. spelling list .

This is the first page you will see in the resource. All of the “magic” happens on this page! Whether you have chosen our 10, 12, or 15-word option, you will type in your word list on this page.

2. Magic Words?

One of my students’ favorite spelling activities. They write each spelling word with a white crayon and then color over the words with a marker. The spelling words MAGICALLY appear on the paper.

Spelling Activity 3. Alphabetical Order?

This activity is pretty self-explanatory. Students will organize their spelling words into alphabetical order and write them in that sequence.

4 . Rainbow Spelling?

Write the spelling words along the rainbow in different colors to practice.

5 . Write a Sentence✏️

Use each of your spelling words in a sentence. This is a great way to practice spelling words, writing, and additional vocabulary.

Spelling Activity 6. Secret Code Spelling?️

Students use the given code to spell each of their spelling words. This will definitely be a favorite spelling/word work activity in your classroom.

7 . Roll a Spelling Word?

Roll a die to see if you will be writing your spelling words in crayon, with squiggles, in multiple colors, or bubble letters. Which number did you roll the most?

8. Word Illustrations?

Choose four of your spelling words and draw an illustration for them. To add an extension to this activity, ask your students to write a sentence to go with their illustration.

Spelling Activity 9 . Word Boxes?

Is the letter tall or short? Does it stretch above the middle line or fall below? Students use the boxes to determine which word will fit as they practice spelling and writing them.

10. Trace Words?

Students can choose to trace their spelling words in pencil, crayon, or marker. Sometimes they just enjoy using a different tool to write with.

11. Emoji Spelling?

Your students love using emojis, why not put those to educational use?! LOL Students will spell the words by using the emoji code.

Spelling Activity 12. Pattern Block Spelling?

Give your students some fun hands-on spelling work with this pattern block activity. This page is great for an individual or small group center, or if you need some quiet time to catch up on assessments or small group RTI.

13. Vowels and Consonants

We all have those blue and red colored alphabet letters in our closets somewhere. Well, it is time to pull them out to spell words with. After they build the letter, students will color the consonants in blue and the vowels in red.

14. Scrabble Spelling

Combine math and word work in this activity. Students will spell each word, writing the numbers on the tiles down. Then add the numbers together to come up with each word “sum”.

Spelling Activity 15. Spin It, Spell It?

Each student will create a spinner with a paperclip and pencil. Spin the spinner and see which number it lands on. Write the word that matches the corresponding number. Was there a word that you wrote more often than all of the rest?

16. Spelling Maze

Can you find your way out of the maze? As they come to a word, have them read it, spell it, and then check it off the word list at the bottom. You can have them complete this activity with a partner as they both try to navigate through the maze. Can they guess the other student’s word after it has been spelled?

17. Spelling Spiral?

Round and round the spiral goes, how many spelling words you can fit, nobody knows…

Spelling Activity 18. Word Syllables??

Students practice separating their spelling words into syllables. Count on fingers, clap hands, or stomp feet to see how many syllables are in each word. Then circle the corresponding number.

19. Silly Writing?

Your students will have so much fun practicing their spelling words while writing upside down, or with their eyes closed.

20. Pyramid Spelling

Build your spelling words pyramid style. Start with one letter at the top and add another letter with each line as you move your way down the pyramid.

Spelling Activity 21. Spelling Rhymes

Can your students think of a word that rhymes with each of their spelling words? How many rhyming words can they come up with?

22. Spelling Colors ?

Students match the color word to the spelling word in order to write the correct word on the line under the crayon. Added bonus: students learn to identify color words!

23. Word Search

For your higher-level kiddos, this word search is GREAT! They write their words either across, down, or as a challenge, diagonal on the grid. Then place random letters among the grid. Share with a partner to see if they can find all of your “hidden” words.

Spelling Activity 24. Word Art

For your more creative students, color in the fancy letters and decorate around each of the spelling words. Plus, who doesn’t love to color?! ❤️

25. Create a Story

How many spelling words can you fit into your story? Students write a short story that makes sense and illustrate it using their spelling words.

26. Keyboard Words

Students use the computer keyboard to practice typing their spelling words. Can they put their fingers on the correct keys?

Spelling Activity 27. Stamping Spelling Words

Everybody loves dot markers!!! Grab a few different colors and stamp your spelling words as you read them.

28. Synonyms and Antonyms

For a more challenging activity, connect spelling practice with vocabulary skills by finding a synonym and antonym for each spelling word.

29. Sign Language Spelling

This will definitely be a class favorite! Your students get to learn sign language while practicing their spelling words. And it is a socially distant partner activity, as they can sign a word to a partner and see if the partner can write down the word signed.

Spelling Activity 30. How Many Sounds

Students practice sound segmentation with this activity. Sound out your spelling words and circle how many sounds those words have.

31.  Shape Spelling ??

Your students can combine math and spelling skills by writing their spelling words along the inside of each shape on the page.

32. Parts of Speech Spelling

Give your spelling practice some grammar skills as well. Students will sort each of their spelling words into the different parts of speech. As an extension, can they create a Madlib with their spelling words?

Spelling Activity 33.  Spelling with Both Hands ?

Are you right or left-handed? Well, with this activity, you get to practice your spelling words writing with each hand. In the end, I bet that your non-dominant handwriting will start to look pretty nice. ?

34.  Silly Sentences ?

Students try to write as many of their spelling words in a sentence as they can. Once the sentence is written, they go back and underline their spelling words and count how many they used. Who can use the most in one sentence?

35. Spelling Cake ?

Oh, how I wish it was real cake… LOL. Students will write their spelling words on each layer of the cake, changing the size of the words as they move up the tiers.

Spelling Activity 36. Tablet Spelling ?

This modern-day version of keyboard spelling allows students to practice typing their spelling words on a tablet keyboard. After they type the word, they are to write it in the “text bubble” on the screen.

37. Graph your Words ?

How many letters are in each spelling word? Students can graph their words based on the number of letters in each one. Which number has the most, the least, or are there any ties?

38. Tally and Color

Students write each of their words into a box, then count the number of letters in each word. They tally each letter. Once every word has been tallied, they will choose a color for each number and color code the boxes of words.

Spelling Activity 39. Fancy Spelling

This activity will allow your students to use their creativity. They can spell their words using fancy lettering. Will they write in cursive, dotted lines, or some invented script?

40. Garden Spelling ?

Find the open spaces in the image and write your spelling words. How many can you fit within the picture? Once done, they can color the rest of the picture.

41. Flower Spelling

Students write their spelling words along the “petals” of each flower, making sure that they match in color and are spelled correctly.

Spelling Activity 42. Scribble Spelling

Write the spelling words in each of the spaces in the picture in different colors. Can you write the words without the same color being used in spaces that touch?

43. Bubble Spelling

Did you ever write words in bubble letters?! It used to be a big thing when I was in school (now I’m really dating myself… LOL). Your students can practice writing all of their spelling words in bubble letters.

44. Bubble Spelling Alternative

Just like the activity above, students will write their spelling words in bubble letters.

Spelling Activity 45. Spelling Snapshots

This is a very creative way to practice spelling words. Students will write the words on the bottom half of the polaroid square and then draw a picture to illustrate that word at the top.

46. Spelling Jellybeans

Students write their spelling words on each jellybean in the jar. Continue writing your words until the entire jar is full.

47. Stamp Spelling

Do you have letter stamps? If so, then this is a great word work center activity. Students will spell their wordlist by stamping them in each of the boxes.

Spelling Activity 48. Yoga Spelling

Bring mindfulness and calming techniques into your classroom while practicing academics. Each word is next to a yoga pose. After they write a word, they are to practice that pose.

49. Spelling Strings

Raise your hand if you have alphabet beads in your classroom. ??‍♀️??‍♂️ Using the beads, students will spell their words on the “string” given in each box.

50. Text Your Words

In the new technology age, our students are well-versed with cell phones. They will LOVE this spelling activity!!! Students will write the word on the line, and then the number code needed to text it to a friend.

Spelling Activity 50. Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe

Students will play tic-tac-toe by trying to write three of their spelling words in a row before their partner can do it. Make a bunch of copies of this worksheet and place them in a center. It is a “fun” way for students to practice their spelling words without really knowing it.

52. Spelling Riddles

This is another activity for your higher students. They will create a riddle about one of their spelling words and write it down. Once they have written all of their riddles, they will trade their paper with a partner and see if their buddy can figure out what words they were describing.

53. Spelling Battleship

Just like the famous board game, students will each have two papers. There grid to write their words on and the other to record their hits on their partner’s grid. Instead of laying down ships, they will write their words vertically or horizontally on the grid. Once all of the words have been written, it is time to play. Guess the letter/number combination to see if you get a ‘hit’ or a ‘miss’.

Activity 54. Spelling Squares

Who has played this game in the fun children’s menu magazine or placement that you sometimes get?! Students will write play against a partner, trying to build squares. Once they have boxed in a square, they will need to write a spelling word inside. Such fun!!!

55. Doughy Spelling

Playdough meets spelling words in this fine motor building activity. Students will spell their words by rolling out and shaping playdough for each word. This is one activity your students will quietly sit and do for a LONG time!

56. Build Your Words

LEGO your way to completing your spelling words. Using the famous bricks, build each of your spelling words.

Spelling Activity 57.  Hopscotch Spelling

Use this miniature mat to practice spelling words. Students will write their spelling words in the spaces. Then, using a small game piece, such as a button, they carefully toss it onto the paper. Wherever it lands, you will ‘hop’ to and read the word under the button. You can also recreate this activity outside by drawing the words and hopscotch in chalk.

58. Spy Spelling

Use the spy code at the top of the paper to spell each word. Students will write the numbers that correspond to the letters under each word. Make sure to add dashes between the numbers.

59. Words Inside Spelling

Using the letters inside each flower, how many “new” words can you make? Write each new word onto a petal.

Spelling Activity 60. Write the Room Spelling

Get your students up and moving with this spelling center activity. Each word will be printed on the card that corresponds to a picture. Students will carefully walk around the room, locating the different cards you have placed around the room. When they find a card, they need to write down that word next to the corresponding image.

*Bonus – Spelling Assessment

At the end of the unit, use our assessment page to see if all of the spelling activities practice your students have been doing paid off. ?

All of these spelling activities can be created within seconds with our No Prep Editable Spelling Bundle. Just type the words onto the word list and watch them immediately auto-populate onto all the other pages in the packet. Print those worksheets you want, make copies and spend time doing other activities you enjoy. So, which one of these 60 spelling activities for elementary students is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below! ??

Written by: Janessa Fletcher

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18 Ways to Practice Spelling Words

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As your children learn writing and spelling, they are likely to come home with spelling word lists. It’s their job to study and learn the words, but simply looking at them isn’t always going to do the trick - they will probably need some tools to help them remember the words . Here are 18 creative and interactive ways to practice spelling words.

Make a Spelling Word Origami Fortune Teller

These are also known as Cootie Catchers. It’s easy enough to create spelling word Cootie Catchers, and having your child spell the word out loud is very helpful for auditory learners .

Make and Use a “Word Catcher"

These modified fly-swatters can be a lot of fun to use. Give your child a copy of her spelling words, and you might be surprised to see how enthusiastic she is to start swatting the words in all the books, magazines, posters, and papers in the house.

Magnetic Letters, Alphabet Blocks, or Scrabble Pieces

Just as saying the words out loud can help an auditory learner, literally building the words can be helpful for more visual learners. Just keep in mind you might need more than one set of magnetic letters to spell all the words.

Create Your Own Crossword Puzzle

Luckily there are free online tools like Discovery Education's puzzlemaker program to help you make puzzles. All you have to do is type in the word list.

Use Sensory Play

Some kids learn better when all their senses are involved . Doing things like spraying shaving cream on the table and letting your child trace the words in it or having him write the words with a stick in the dirt can help cement the words in his memory.

Play Spelling Word Memory

There are a couple of ways to do this. You can make two sets of flashcards with the spelling words—it’s a good idea to write each set in a different color—or you can make one set with the words and one with the definition. After that, it’s played just like any other Memory game.

Trace the Words in Rainbow Colors

This is a variation on the old “write your words ten times” homework. Your child can trace each word over and over to remember the order of the letters for each word. In the end, though, it’s a lot prettier than a simple word list.

Let Your Child Text the Words to You

This way to practice spelling words depends, of course, on whether your child has a cell phone and what the plan includes. With unlimited texting, it’s easy enough for you to receive the text , correct the spelling if necessary, and send back an emoji.

Use Sandpaper Letters to Make Spelling Word Rubbings

Though it requires a little prep work, this is a fun way to practice the words. Once you have a set of sandpaper letter stencils, your child can arrange each word, place a piece of paper over it, and make a rubbing with pencil or crayons .

Make Word Searches

This, too, is an activity that is easy enough with online resources. SpellingCity.com is a fantastic site that allows you to make word searches and create other activities for your child.

Play Hangman

Hangman is a great go-to game when it comes to spelling words. If you have your child use a copy of the spelling list, it will be easier to narrow down which word you’re using. Remember, you can always use the definition as a clue!

Make up a Spelling Word Song

It may sound silly, but there’s a definite connection between music and literacy. If you and your child are creative, you can create your own silly tune. For the less musically-inclined, try setting the words to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or another nursery rhyme song.

Play the “Add-A-Letter” Game

This game is a fun way to interact with your child. One of you starts writing the spelling word on the paper by writing one letter. The next one adds the next letter. Since many word lists include words that start with the same sounds, it may be challenging to know which word your game partner started writing.

Write a Story Using Each Spelling Word

Many teachers ask students to do this with their spelling words for homework, but you can add a twist by giving your child a topic to write or tell a story about. For example, challenge her to write a story about zombies using all the words.

Highlight the Words in the Newspaper

Give your child a highlighter and a pile of newspapers and time him to see how long it takes to find and highlight all the words on the list.

Play a “What Letter Is Missing?” Game

Slightly different than Hangman and similar to the "Add-a-Letter" game, this game is played by writing or typing the words, but leaving a blank space or two for key letters. Your child will have to put in the correct letters. This works particularly well to practice the vowel sounds.

Act Them Out

Essentially this is playing the game Charades with your child’s spelling words. You can do it a couple of ways—give your child a list of the words and have her guess which one you are acting out or put all the words in a bowl, and have her choose one and act it out.

Put Them in ABC Order

While alphabetizing the list won’t necessarily help your child learn to spell each individual word, it will help him recognize the words. For some children, just moving the strips (on which each word is written) around can help them keep the word in their visual memory.

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Effective Spelling Instruction

Effective spelling instruction emphasizes the structure of the English language.

I’d like to start this post by throwing my past teacher self under the bus. That’s right, I can honestly tell you that I made a lot of mistakes for years. Was I dedicated? Heck yeah! Did I have the right intentions? For sure! Did I think I was doing the right thing? You betcha!

For many years,  I treated spelling as an afterthought at best. Sure, I had spelling tests and did a little phonics instruction here and there, but I wasn’t teaching it well and I wasn’t assessing it properly either. Most importantly, I wasn’t understanding the role that spelling has on students’ success with learning to read.

I was all about Balanced Literacy and did not see the value in a more explicit approach to word study. In this post, you will (hopefully) see why I’ve changed my mind. I can’t count the amount of times (in the past) I said that English doesn’t make sense and phonics only sometimes works because of all of the “rule breakers”. 

For years I taught “sight words” as words we just memorize from looking at them a lot and seeing them hung around the room or simply pointing them out in books or during shared reading. But then I started digging. I was thirsty for answers about why some students struggled so much. Why couldn’t they remember the words after seeing them so many times? Why did kids ace a spelling test then turn around and spell the same word wrong in their writer’s notebooks? I thought at the time it was our darn English language that makes no sense. Actually, it was my lack of understanding and education with the structure of our language. 

Enough about me! Let’s get to it.

Does English Make Sense?

I feel like these two quotes say it all so well, so I’m going to let them do the heavy lifting. I will explain these two claims throughout this post.

Part 1: What is English Orthography?

Those tools that can unlock the mystery of our language should not be kept secret and locked up in a box, but doesn’t it sort of feel like they are? I started to unlock that secret box when I dug deeper into phonics, but then I realized  it’s more than just phonics. It’s actually about having a broader understanding of English orthography .

A very simplified way to look at orthography is spelling, but it is bigger than that. Orthography is how we represent speech in writing and all the rules (or generalizations) that go along with the spelling of words.

Phonics and spelling together help develop readers. Our students move from sounding out words to instant recognition of words from memory. (To read about how this happens, click here for my post about orthographic mapping.)

According to Louisa Moats,  to understand a word’s spelling,  we need to look at:

•  Sound-symbol (phoneme-grapheme) relationships 
•  The patterns of letters (position of letters in words) and syllable patterns
•  Morphology
•  The history of a word (etymology)

Linguistic Units that Spelling Represents:

• Students learn that familiar phonemes (sounds) are linked to these graphemes (symbols).
• An example of a letter pattern is where the grapheme ck is used in a word. (The grapheme ck is only used at the end of words, following a short vowel.)  In other words, the spelling of a sound can change according to its position in the word.
• More about syllable patterns below.

But it doesn’t stop there!  In addition to understanding phonology , we must also understand morphology .

• With morphology, we are looking at the structure of words (think roots, bases, suffixes, and prefixes). 
• English is morpho-phonemic , which means the meaning of words (morphology) is balanced with the phonology of a word. English spelling represent sounds, syllables, and morphemes.
• For example, when we see the word “jumped”, we understand it as base word jump plus suffix -ed to make it past tense. We do not see it as “jump-ed” with an emphasis on the short e.
• An example we see early on is child and children . The base, child , maintains its spelling but the pronunciation changes. 
• The example I’ve heard often is sign  and signal . That silent g really DOES make sense. It is there to mark a meaningful relationship to signal . Interesting, right?! 

Because morphology plays an equally important role in spelling, many graphemes make multiple sounds. Helping our kids understand the structure of our language will help with their reading and spelling.

Etymology: The History of Words

Orthography also involves the history of a word, or its etymology .  I think this quote from The American Way of Spelling by Richard Venezky is really interesting: “Words, unlike people, have been forever welcomed, regardless of their origins.” The spellings of words from other languages have been retained while “coexisting with native ones”. 

We can learn a lot about morphology through etymology. English is influenced by many other languages, including Latin, French, German, Greek, and Celtic. I have only dug into etymology a little, but I definitely find it fascinating. It puts you down a rabbit hole, that’s for sure! If you’re interested in the history of a word, type it into etymonline.com.

Conventions of Print

Finally, English orthography also includes rules like capital letters signifying a proper noun or beginning of a sentence. It includes symbols like apostrophes that show possession or contraction.

It’s no surprise then, that English is considered one of the most complex languages. Yet, in school we don’t spend a lot of time learning the ins and outs of our language anymore. I didn’t even learn these rules when trying to become a teacher. In fact, I’m still learning them.

Turns out, English is not as crazy as it seems, once we understand it. Here are some stats I’ve gathered from different books or articles. Note that they may be off by a few percentages, but overall it’s pretty darn close!

• According to A Fresh Look at Phonics by Wiley Blevins, 84-87% of words follow sound-symbol spelling patterns (this is from research done by Hanna et.al 1966).  This includes many of the “sight words” that we may consider “irregular”.  
• According to Denise Eide (Uncovering the Logic of English), 98% of words can be decoded just by knowing all of the grapheme-phoneme relationship and the rules of our language.  
• To be more specific, researchers have said that about 50% of words are predictable based on sound-symbol correspondences, while another 34% of words are just off by one sound. However, once word origin and word meaning are considered, only 4% of English words are truly irregular. (Joshi, Treiman, Carreker, and Moats: How Words Cast Their Spell) 

I’m less concerned with the example percentage and more focused on the overall message here that we do have the tools to unlock that mysterious code. 

The more I learn about the English language, the more I realize there really are fewer “exceptions” than I previously imagined. Kids are interested in understanding words, too! They are naturally inquisitive and want to know why some words are spelled the way they are. (Is it going too far to say spelling instruction can be fun?)

Part 2:  Linguistic Units in Detail

Before we can dive into spelling instruction, it is helpful to get a little background. I’m going to go through each linguistic unit a little more in depth. 

Phonology: Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences

Phonology  is the study of sound patterns in human language.  Spoken words are made up of  phonemes  (sounds). When we write, we are translating those speech sounds into recognizable symbols ( graphemes – also called  phonograms ).  Phonology looks at how we connect our sound system to written words.

• 26 graphemes are single graphemes (letters of the alphabet)
• 49 are multi-letter (sh, igh, ea)
• NOTE: This says 75 basic graphemes.  There are also more advanced graphemes as well, but those only appear in a small handful of words (in some cases just a couple). Those are usually taught later (3rd-5th grade).
• Click  HERE  for an article from the Journal of Literacy Research that summarizes a phoneme-grapheme frequency count done by Hanna et al. (1966). Paul Hanna developed tables that described the relative frequency of the letters (graphemes) used to represent the major English sounds (phonemes). 
• In kinder, I do teach the alphabet, but I focus A LOT on the sound end of things.
• When teaching a new letter, I now introduce it sound first. For example, I might say, “Today we are going to learn how to read and write this sound: /b/. This sound we hear in so many words like ball, bear, and bat. One way to read and write this sound is with the letter b. When we see this (point to Bb), we will practice saying /b/.”
• Then I go into all of the activities to help learn that sound. I do a lot of o rthographic mapping activities , which focus on sound first. Like I always say, I’m still learning so I’m constantly evolving and tweaking how I do things. This is one way that I’m using the research I’ve found.
• For example, when I teach ai and ay together, I connect back to the long a using the silent e (a_e), showing them all together to remind students that they all make the same sound.
• I will keep you posted on my progress. So far, this system seems to be working well!  To read about  how our brain maps letter sequences  for permanent storage, click  here .   

Spelling Patterns and Rules :

Like I mentioned above, our alphabetic system doesn’t have a straight up 1:1 correspondence between symbols and sounds. Our language is morpho-phonemic, not alphabetic (but we do need to learn the alphabet to apply all of this of course). See the image below to see what I mean:

I used the word  house  because it illustrates two things. See how the sounds and symbols don’t match up with 1:1 correspondence? There are 5 letters but only three sounds. 

• First, students must know the  sound  that the  grapheme  ou makes.
• Second, they need to know that according to the p osition of that phoneme,  we likely will use the letter <ou> instead of <ow>. Position of phoneme can be a huge predictor of spelling. When you hear the phoneme /ou/, use the letters <ou> if that sound is heard in the beginning or middle, but never at the end. Use the letters <ow> when you hear that sound at the end OR if it is is in the middle before an <n> or <l>. 
• Third, students need to know one of the  rules of our language , which is one of the many jobs of the famous silent e. This silent e is a marker put there to show that this word is not plural (because we use the letter <s> to signify plural). Learning all of the graphemes/phonograms and the rules that go along with them can solve much of this confusion. 

To figure out which grapheme to use, we look at the position of the sound in the word (like with ou) and we also think about the rules of letter sequences (like with the e after the letter s). Understanding this information helps our students to be more successful with spelling (and it helped me with my spelling instruction!)

Side note: I learned most of the rules I know now slowly over time haphazardly. In some cases, I learned them through webinars or presentations, and in other cases through articles, random research, and google searches! Then I did some orton-gillingham training and learned more rules in a more systematic way. Over the years, I slowly collected more and more resources that have these rules explained more thoroughly. Now I have a lovely collection and I feel like I actually  do  know many of the rules. At the end of this post, I will post recommendations for books that you should definitely invest in so you have the full explanation. 

Join my mailing list to get this free  quick reference guide to spelling rules .  Click HERE. (If for some reason this doesn’t work, please email me. I’m not the most tech-savvy and it shows sometimes!)

Syllable Patterns:

I have two blog posts that go into syllable types and syllable division.  

Click here to read about syllable types.

Click here to read about Syllable Division Rules

In addition to sound-symbol correspondence, spelling patterns, and syllable structure, we must also slowly introduce morphological concepts to build their knowledge of the structure of our language. (Remember my example of  jumpe  above?)

First, I’ll over a few terms:

• A  morpheme  is the smallest  meaningful  unit in a word. Don’t confuse this with a phoneme, which is the smallest  unit of  sound  in a word.
• A morpheme may be one or more syllables.
• Words may be one of more morphemes.
• For example, the word  instruction  has three morphemes:  in  (prefix),  struct  (base), and  ion  (suffix). All of these are bound morphemes.
• In the word uncovered, there are three morphemes:  un  (prefix),  cover  (base), and  ed  (suffix).  Cover  is a free morpheme because it can be a stand-alone morpheme, but it can also have added affixes.  

I incorporate morphology into my spelling instruction as early as kindergarten when I introduce the suffix -s. As I mentioned above, we spell by phoneme-grapheme relationships, but we also spell by meaning.

In the early years, students will see this with words that have suffixes and prefixes. When they are reading, they may cover the familiar suffix -ed and then use sound-symbol knowledge to decode the base word first. They can then use their knowledge of morphology to read and understand the whole word with the -ed. This is perhaps even more helpful with spelling! As students get older and words get bigger, being able to identify affixes and familiar bases is incredibly helpful. 

The picture above shows a lesson that I do with kindergarten or first grade students.

There are 9 prefixes that make up 75% of words. (White, Sowell, and Yangihara, 1989) You can cover a lot of ground with 9 prefixes! Ten suffixes make up 85% of words. It is also helpful to know common Latin and Greek roots for older kids. I can’t say a lot of about that {yet} because I have not studied it enough and have not had enough experience teaching it. Notice the word  yet ! That is my next venture as my son is at the perfect age for this!

We can learn a lot by studying morphemes, beyond just helpful decoding and encoding. Morphemes carry meaning , so understanding the meaning of each morpheme helps us understand the meaning of words. In most words, the meaningful parts (morphemes) are often spelled consistently, but it’s the  pronunciation  that changes from one word to another. That causes us to think English doesn’t make sense, because we are purely looking at from the sound-symbol perspective. Once we are trained to look at our language as both phonological and morphological equally, with an understanding of the history, words start to make a lot more sense!

I used some examples in the slide above with sign/signal, heal/health, child/children. Notice how the spelling stays the same, but the pronunciation changes (the g is silent in one, the ea pattern changes in another, and the i sound changes in the last example). A lot of silent letters are explained by this (and many other silent letters are explained through the history).  We could go all day talking about morphology, but I’m saving that for another post!  

One more fun example that combines both phonology and morphology is the related pair  electric  and  electricity .

• Notice the base spelling remains in tact.
• If a <c> is followed by an <i>, <e>, or <y>, it is soft.
• So, in electricity, that second <c> becomes soft because of the vowel suffix beginning with an <i> is after it. 
• You can also explore other related words like  electrical, electrician, hydroelectric,  looking at which suffixes and prefixes are added to the base and how it changes the word (both pronunciation and meaning).       

I’ve been saying this for a while, but I need to sit down and write a morphology post. In the meantime, check out  Structured Word Inquiry here . It’s pretty awesome!!

Before I finish, I’ll leave you with this visual that explains a lot of the linguistic terms using one word:

I love this example because I think it really illustrates what goes into decoding this word and also the best method for decoding.

• The quickest and easiest way is to peel off those familiar affixes (-un and -able).
• Once students have learned those affixes, they will immediately see those and be able to focus in on the base,  reach. 
• After using morphology to strip this word down to its base, students now use grapheme/phoneme relationships to decode the word  reach. 
• They can also figure out that it means “not able to reach” through knowledge of prefix and suffix meaning.

Other words may not have morphemes, so you may need to use syllable division if it is a multi-syllable word. Some words may just rely on phoneme/grapheme relationships and knowledge of the rules. Having all of these tools sure is helpful though! 

I think this quote really ties it all together well:

Part 3: Application to the Classroom (What is Effective Spelling Instruction?)

It feels like spelling instruction has really gotten a bad rap. I think the reason why many of us cringe at the idea of a spelling test is because we think of a list of random words that we were sent home to memorize. My husband has very font memories of spelling tests because he didn’t have to study for one second. He literally just remembered them after seeing them once. There are those spellers out there. But of course, did those spelling tests benefit them? Nope! Yet they likely get rewarded by teachers and parents alike.

On the other hand, you’ll have students that studied all week to memorize those seemingly random strings of letters, only to either fail the test OR to pass it but forget it all five minutes later. Did they benefit from the spelling tests? Nope! Did they have anxiety every week? Probably. Did they carry shame for all their failure? Likely. I think that’s why the idea of incorporating spelling into our day makes many of us twitch.

However, when I say “spelling instruction”, I’m not talking about spelling tests like that. I’m talking about teaching the structure of our language, including all of the elements I listed above. When we teach spelling like this, the finale spelling test is not the focus.  The week of word study is the focus.  The goal is to help our students understand why words are spelled they way they are  and  at the same time, improve their reading because they are mapping these words into their long-term memories. So then, what would that look like?

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to read my post about  orthographic mapping.  There will be a lot of overlap here.

Just like with our reading instruction, we want to keep our spelling instruction  systematic  and  explicit .  Unlike decoding, you will begin with auditory information.  

• Phonics involves decoding- beginning with visual information, seeing the graphemes and translating them to sounds, then blending those sounds together. Part to whole.
• Spelling involves the opposite, encoding- beginning with auditory information, breaking apart the whole word into individual sounds, then matching those sounds to the correct graphemes. Whole to part.
• Both require knowledge of phoneme-grapheme association and understanding of letter & syllable patterns, and morphological elements.
• They are two sides of the same coin, but often one side is ignored when it should be getting equal attention.)

The following steps can be used during spelling instruction:

• Repeat, if necessary.
• Use the words in other decoding and encoding activities throughout the week.

I posted something very similar to this in my last post, but I made it printable here:

C lick here to download these Spelling Steps FREE!

Choosing Words for Spelling Instruction:

Choose words that have similar phonetic elements, both regular and some irregular. For example, when you are focusing on CVC words, you may want to add in words like  put.  You would teach the students the parts that make these words irregular. For example, the word  put  is predictable, except for the middle sound /oo/ uses the letter u. Make sure you add in suffixes too. For example, I usually teach CVC words, then the suffix -s. I will have a spelling assessment with just cvc words, but then another with cvc words that do and do not have the suffix s. After I have spend time on suffix -s, that means I can throw it in any future spelling activities because I want them to keep applying it in a guided setting until it is something that is used correctly consistently in writing. (See resources below for systematic phonics lessons that can support your spelling instruction.)

Spelling Tests: 

Students should not have a set list to memorize for a test. Following the same format as above gives you a great assessment of a students development with spelling. If you need an assessment, choose words (both regular and irregular) that fit with the words you are studying. You will get a true assessment of where that student is at developmentally with spelling when you see how they are segmenting the word’s sounds and then how they are connecting to the correct phonemes. If you’re teaching a specific rule (like where ck is used), you will get a good idea of how well that student can apply that concept.

The most important thing to remember with spelling assessments is to make sure you look at any errors that were made and use that to guide your future instruction.  “The assessment should be an opportunity to evaluate students’ understanding of sounds and conventional spelling patterns. The kinds of words that students miss and the types of errors they make are important in evaluation their spelling achievement and their understanding of language structures.”  (How Words Cast Their Spell: Joshi, Treiman, Carreker, Moats)

What about spelling homework?  

What about parents who want a list to study? This is up to your personal preference and I have no data to back me up on this, but it’s my opinion based on my experience (meaning I could be wrong of course!) I think if you work in a school community where parents are asking for how to help at home, then absolutely give them that opportunity. Explain your system though. Make sure they understand that we are not going for memorization. You can use the printables above to communicate how they can work with their child at home.

When it comes to homework, I believe it needs to be meaningful, not busy work. I believe the purpose of homework is to provide extra practice with a skill or concept when needed. If it’s not needed, it becomes busy work. I also think it can be a good tool to communicate with parents what their child is learning in school. I also believe our struggling readers need as many repetitions as possible, so for them, meaningful homework can be very helpful. Again, just my opinion and I know there are so many sides to the great homework debate that all make sense to me.

Spelling Stages:

Below are slides that summarize Richard Gentry’s stages. I think this is SO helpful when thinking about spelling instruction.  Originally, he called these stages. He has recently updated them in his book  Brain Words: How the Science of Reading Informs Teaching ( Gentry & Ouellette).  I HIGHLY recommend getting this book.  There is so much information in this book and it goes into these stages much more in depth, along with examples of each stage (now called phases). I actually bought this book after I wrote this post originally. I tend to wait a while before posting so I can reread and make sure I’m happy with my content. I stumbled upon this book and then had to read it before publishing this post. I’m glad I did because it not only backed up the content I had written, but it also gave me some new information to share! Three months later I may actually hit the publish button. LOL!

What about students with dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. It is neuro-biological in origin, genetic, and common (1 in 5).  Students with dyslexia struggle with decoding (sounding out words), encoding (spelling), word recognition, and reading fluency. Students with dyslexia learn to read in a way that differs from the typical reading brain.  It is important to note that students with dyslexia have average to above average intelligence and often have gifts, including creativity, “big picture thinking”, spacial awareness to name just a few. However, reading and spelling are a struggle! See my post here to learn more about what happens in the dyslexic brain when reading . 

You can often see early signs of dyslexia in a student’s spelling. Actually you can potentially see it in kindergarten before you are even using letters.

Students with dyslexia have phonological processing deficits, which can be observed through phoneme blending and segmenting activities. This is more evident when you move into spelling, when students are in the stage of inventive spelling.

Students with dyslexia often have very unusual inventive spelling, due to the fact that they struggle to process the sounds. This turns into difficulties with mapping sounds onto letters and learning syllable patterns. Early detection is key! If you see a student who struggling with phoneme blending or segmenting, has unusual inventive spelling, or struggles with word recognition (even after seeing it several times), that student may have dyslexia. Intervention is incredibly effective! Studies show that we can change and strengthen the circuitry in our brains to improve reading and spelling, through the right instruction. ( One article here)

Because students with dyslexia struggle with phonemic blending, segmenting, and automatic word recognition (recognizing a word “on sight”), spelling instruction is even more important for them! Traditional spelling tests with the memorize-these-words-for-a-test focus are very challenging for them and not at all beneficial. They need to understand the structure of our language more than anyone, as an additional tool in their reading tool belts.

In addition, a mixture of explicit, systematic reading and spelling instruction (decoding practice and orthographic mapping) may activate rewiring of their reading circuitry that can lead to improved reading and spelling. With that said, accommodations are also key! (Click here ,  here and here for ideas.) A student with dyslexia may struggle with spelling for a very long time. Usually reading improves first, then spelling. 

I hope this post has been helpful! If you are interested in not missing a post, consider joining my mailing list (found at the top of the page).

Related Blog Posts

To find more blog posts about how to teach reading and spelling, click here.

Related Resources:

Click here for  Systematic Phonics Resources.

Click here for  Morphology Resources

Click here for  Phonemic Resources  

Click here for  Phonics Resources

The Systematic Phonics  lessons on the top slide provide more detail for the teacher, along with a sequence to follow. (More are coming) The resources on the bottom slide (labeled P honics Resources ) are all great supplements. I have activities at the word level, sentence level, and decodable stories. The bottom row shows  printable phonics activities . These do not have lesson plans but the activities provide tons of practice for your students working on these phonics skills.  The  sound boxes  and  phonics cards  are both good resources for improving spelling and decoding. 

References:

I highly recommend looking into these books to learn more!  If you want to learn more about the rules of English, Uncovering the Logic of English is a great resource.  

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by Oxford Owl | Jan 6, 2017

Five creative ways to help with spelling homework

Struggling to find a way to make learning those dreaded spellings fun? Some children find it difficult to remember their spelling words and, let’s face it, learning lists of spellings is hardly the most enjoyable way to pass the time for you or them.

If you are looking for some fun spelling ideas, then look no further… these games will help your child to learn those spelling words and enjoy it in the process.

1. Spelling bingo

The old ones are the best! Playing games that help them to recognise the spelling words on sight can really help. The more they see a word the more familiar it becomes and the more likely they are to remember it; if they can visualise it, they are more likely to spell it correctly.

Print and cut out the words your child has to learn. Draw out a bingo board and write some of the spellings in the boxes. This works best with more than one player, so see if you can rope in someone else to play. Every time your child ‘gets’ a spelling word, go through the spelling together and then cover it and ask them to spell it again.

2. Spelling pairs

This classic memory game is a great way to get them recognising and remembering words. Draw or print a word grid and write each spelling word in a new box. You will need to write each word twice (each in a separate box). Cut them out, making sure you have two of each spelling word. Then turn them over and mix them up, ensuring they are organised randomly.

Challenge your child to turn over two pieces of paper and then read each word. Are they a pair? If not, turn them back over and repeat this until they find matching pairs. Once they have found a pair, look at the spelling together and then ask your child to spell the word without looking.

3. Mnemonic – that’s a memory device to you and me

There is a classic mnemonic to help children remember how to spell ‘because’: b ig e lephants c an a lways u nderstand s mall e lephants. Make up your own silly mnemonics together to help your child remember tricky words they struggle with.

4. Play it back

Record your child spelling out each word on your smartphone or tablet. When you practice them, ask your child to write down each spelling word and then play their own voice reading it back to them. It’s amazing how much this amuses and motivates them.

5. Race against the clock

If your child is competitive, see if you can motivate them by introducing an element of challenge to the world of practising spellings. Using your stopwatch on your phone, time your child as you call out the spelling words and they write them. Make a note of their time and score and then on the following day, challenge them to smash their personal best.

The Big Spell TV series

Our wonderful Oxford Dictionaries for Children editorial team provided the levelled words and content for the The Big Spell show on Sky 1, including over 3000 words, definitions and example sentences from our corpus database. We also provided expert adjudicators for the filming of the show.

More from Oxford Owl

• Help with spelling  – including information about spelling at school, and free activities.
• YouTube playlist: Grammar, punctuation and spelling

Written by Oxford Owl

Oxford Owl has been created by Oxford University Press to support children’s learning both at home and at school. Visit home.oxfordowl.co.uk for educational advice and activities.

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Tips to Modify Spelling Activities and Spelling Tests

• Categories : Inclusion strategies for mainstreamed classrooms
• Tags : Special ed information for teachers & parents

Weekly Spelling Activities and The Test

Spelling activities and spelling lessons can be modified throughout the week to prepare for spelling tests:

On Monday, students create their lists, using their spelling dictionaries or content words. Some students with special needs or IEPs might need you or a buddy student to help create their spelling lists.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, students participate in spelling activities. Use these activities to work on other curriculum objectives such as handwriting, punctuating sentences, or classifying words. For example, your students can write their spelling words two times in cursive. If students with special needs are not ready for cursive, then modify their spelling lessons to practice in print, so they are ready for spelling tests.

On Thursdays, students work with a buddy to orally practice spelling their words. On Fridays, students exchange spelling lists and give each other a spelling test. Walk around the room and observe students. Collect papers as you see students finish. This spelling test time will look different in every classroom because you know your students and what organization and instruction will work best for them.

But What About?

Some teachers worry that students will complain about having more words than others during spelling activities. Wit this approach it should rarely happen because ALL students are working on their own levels. If you do hear complaints from a student or parents, explain that some are great at spelling already, and others need a little more practice. Compare spelling to practicing for a sport or musical instrument. You can also explain the need to challenge all your students to spell as many new words as they can, so students are going to be working at different paces. If a student still complains after this explanation, talk to them and possibly compromise by shortening their list by one or two words.

Another big concern for teachers with modifying spelling activities and spelling tests is the spelling dictionary and worries about the students running out of words to put on their lists. Students should be adding words to these dictionaries every time they ask you how to spell a word. If they spell a word incorrectly on a science test, write it in the dictionary. You can add content words to their dictionaries. Don’t let students keep their spelling dictionaries in their desks or take them home! Many teachers will have bins for spelling dictionaries, and students add words once a day during spelling activities. They have notecards on their desks where they write the words they need to add to their dictionaries.

This post is part of the series: Making Spelling Meaningful for ALL Students

Spelling can be modified for all students at any ability level and make this sometimes dreaded subject fun and successful for all. Spelling doesn’t have to be about memorizing a long list of spelling words for a weekly Friday spelling test anymore. These articles explain how to set this up.

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5 Steps to Spelling Test Success

Follow these steps to help your child prepare for her next spelling test..

• Give your child a practice quiz, saying each word aloud within an example sentence and having her write the word down.
• Ask her to correct the test herself, identifying the words she missed and saying the word aloud while looking at the correct spelling.
• Ask her to close her eyes and visualize the misspelled word, then spell the word out loud.
• Then ask her to write the word again and then check to see if she spelled it correctly. If it's still wrong, ask her to repeat steps 2 and 3 before moving on.
• On the night before the test, give her another practice quiz.

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Tori Spelling reveals the ‘biggest’ fear that kept her in Dean McDermott marriage

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Tori Spelling stayed married to her estranged husband, Dean McDermott, “longer” because she was nervous about finding a man who would respect her success.

“One of my biggest fears, and this perhaps did make me stay longer, is I feel like in our world it’s difficult to be with a man and have him not feel emasculated,” the actress explained to her former “Beverly Hills, 90210” co-star Shannen Doherty on Thursday’s episode of her “misSpelling” podcast .

“Not by our doing, but by who we are and have been labeled by society,” Spelling, 50, added.

Further explaining her viewpoint, she told Doherty, “We’re not just women who make money. We’re women that have power, we’re women that have fame. I don’t know any different. I feel guilty.”

“Like, how am I ever gonna be with a man and he doesn’t feel like less than me just because of my status?”

In response, Doherty, 53, reminded her longtime pal that there are also “men that have their own status.”

“Maybe in a completely different field. Maybe a man is a partner at one of the top law firms,” she went on.

“So everything he did — going to school, graduating, being an intern, working his way up the ladder — has shown that he’s a really hard worker with a ton of perseverance and believes in himself enough in order to get there.”

However, the “Charmed” alum did sympathize with Spelling that it can be difficult “to be with a woman that can get a reservation at any restaurant.”

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Despite Doherty’s efforts to comfort her, the “Spelling It Like It Is” author did not seem convinced she would ever find a man who would be proud of her rather than feel emasculated by her.

“Every guy that I’ve ever been in a relationship with, I always say, ‘There’s a lot s–t that goes along with me,'” she noted. “I’m sorry, there’s the Tori Spelling of it all.”

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Spelling was married to McDermott, 47, for 18 years before she filed for divorce in March, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the cause.

Spelling — who recently claimed no one has broken her heart since her teenage love Brian Austin Green — listed June 17, 2023, as their separation date.

Their date of separation falls on the same day the actor and television host shocked fans by announcing their breakup on Instagram . The announcement reportedly blindsided the former couple’s friends as well.

In November 2023, though, McDermott shed light on the “drunk and angry” fight and his subsequent suicide attempt that caused the end of their rocky marriage.

“It was the night that I raged against her and the children and I saw the light, the final flicker of the flame go out in her eyes,” he recalled to the Daily Mail.

“I posted [the breakup message] because I was at the end of my rope. I didn’t know what to do. I had burned everything down yet again.”

The pair share five kids : Liam, 17, Stella, 15, Hattie, 12, Finn, 11 and Beau, 7.

McDermott has moved on with senior account executive Lily Calo . They were first seen walking hand-in-hand into the Department of Social Services in Los Angeles in October 2023.

Spelling, meanwhile, was seen locking lips with advertising CEO Ryan Cramer in early November 2023, but their fling seems to have fizzled.

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Muslim Americans who soured on Biden see Israel aid package as further betrayal

WASHINGTON — "Outraged," "point of no return" and "absolute disaster" are how some Muslim American organizers have described their reactions to an aid package for Israel that is making its way through Congress for President Joe Biden to sign into law.

Many Muslim Americans were already furious with the Biden administration over its handling of the Israel-Hamas war , with activists organizing Democrats to vote “ uncommitted " rather than support the president in some state primaries this year.

For several activists and leaders of prominent Muslim American organizations, Biden's support for $26 billion in aid for Israel reaffirms their view about November's election: They cannot back Biden for a second term.

Ahead of the House's vote to pass the aid package to Israel on Saturday, Muslim American organizations urged voters to contact members of Congress to demand they vote against the aid. It ultimately passed 366-58, with 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans voting against the aid and seven members absent.

If Biden signs an Israel aid package, as he intends to, "that heartless decision could mark the point of no return for what remains of the White House’s relationship with the American Muslim community and other Americans opposed to the genocide in Gaza," said Council on American-Islamic Relations' government affairs director Robert McCaw in a statement.

“The administration is already at its lowest point in its relationship with the American Muslim community,” McCaw said.

For others, it’s too late.

The rift between the president and Muslim American voters is unlikely to be repaired "unless the president can undo what has been done for the past six months" in Gaza, said Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director for Americans for Justice in Palestine Action.

Abu Irshaid, who lives in Virginia, cast a ballot for Biden in 2020 but is not planning to vote for Biden nor former President Donald Trump in November, he said.

More than 33,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the start of the war , according to the Gazan health ministry. About 1,200 people in Israel were killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, according to the Israeli government, and more than 240 people were taken hostage. More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza, though it is unclear how many are alive.

The aid package, which now heads to the Senate for likely passage next week, would mark a significant boost of U.S. support for Israel, though the U.S. has alr e ady sent weapons to the country since the start of its war with Hamas. Democratic lawmakers have been increasingly critical of arms support to Israel as well. Earlier this month, more than three dozen members of Congress — including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. — signed a letter asking the White House to "reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel."

Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., is among the lawmakers who voted against the Israel aid Friday. She said that she and her colleagues were working to "make sure that we don't send more weapons" to Israel as part of the aid package.

"Just because we authorize it doesn't mean it has to be sent immediately," she said.

Biden praised the House's passage in a statement after the vote, urging the Senate to "quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law."

"This package will deliver critical support to Israel and Ukraine; provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, and other locations impacted by conflicts and natural disasters around the world; and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific," the president said in the statement .

In a close election, anger at Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war could be key in swing states that the president won in 2020 by a slim margin.

Biden flipped Michigan, which has a sizable Arab American population, winning the state by about 154,000 votes in 2020. In 2016, Trump won the state by about 11,000 votes. But during the 2024 presidential primary, more than 100,000 Michiganders cast ballots for uncommitted, many as an act of protest.

But the relatively tiny proportion of uncommitted delegates — just 0.008% of the Democratic delegates awarded so far — points to uncertainty about the movement's impact on the November general election. While Biden has more than 3,000 delegates, only 26 have been designated "uncommitted."

Biden also flipped Arizona in 2020 by a tight margin, beating Trump by just over 10,000 votes.

Ahmed Ewaisha, the chairman of the Arizona Muslim Alliance, said he was "very excited" about Biden in 2020. Now, he serves as the co-chair of the Abandon Biden campaign in the crucial swing state. Ewaisha said he's "definitely concerned" about Trump, adding that he "would never, ever support Trump at all."

Still, he said he wanted to vote against Biden as punishment for the president's policies toward Israel and Gaza.

In a statement, a Biden campaign official said that “the President believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans.”

“He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East,” the official continued. “He’s working tirelessly to that end.”

Separately, a White House official pointed to the administration’s numerous meetings with state, local and interfaith leaders, as well as outreach to Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities. 

Biden administration officials have also traveled to Michigan and Illinois to meet with Arab American and Muslim community leaders.

“White House officials have had more than 100 conversations with leaders at the local and state level concerning the conflict and humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” the official said.

Ayah Ziyadeh, the advocacy director for Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, said she voted for Biden in 2020 and tried "to convince everybody to vote for him."

Now, her organization is working alongside other groups on an American Muslim election task force, which she said will guide how she votes in November. The task force recommendations are expected in a month or two, she said.

When criticizing Biden's response to the war, she said that she doesn't know "that anything can change my views because I've had to watch six months of genocide against my people."

As the war progressed, Biden has increasingly sharpened his rhetoric against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military's tactics.

After an Israeli air strike killed aid workers in Gaza, Biden said he was "outraged and heartbroken" and argued that "Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians" and aid workers.

Similarly, Biden expressed support for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's public rebuke of Netanyahu.

The New York Democrat roundly criticized Israel's prime minister and called for new elections in the country. Later, Biden said that Schumer "made a good speech, and I think he expressed a serious concern shared not only by him but by many Americans."

While several Muslim American organizations are critical of Biden's policies toward Israel, organizers are contemplating how their November votes could impact Trump's prospects for regaining the Oval Office.

In the early days of his 2016 campaign, Trump released a policy plan calling for "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." In October of last year, he called for expanding travel bans from several Muslim-majority countries and barring potential refugees from Gaza from entering the U.S.

However, several Muslim American organizers say that the onus is on Biden to regain their votes to avoid handing the election to the former president.

"We don't think it's on us. It's on Biden," Abu Irshaid said. "If our votes and the votes of people who support the Palestinian human rights are so important, then Biden should be listening."

Activist Linda Sarsour echoed his sentiments, arguing that "trying to explain that Joe Biden is better right now during a genocide is not a talking point that lands within our communities."

Sarsour is the executive director of the Muslim grassroots organization MPower Change and an organizer for the campaign to vote uncommitted to protest Biden. She said she voted for the president in 2020.

"There is no community in this country that knows that Donald Trump is worse than we know him," she said, referring to the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries.

Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, voted for Biden in 2020 "because I really care about our democracy. I saw what Trump was doing."

He said he has not yet decided how he will vote in November. His organization has not decided whether to make an endorsement for the presidential election, adding that some feel that "it's not worth endorsing anyone."

"My concern is that you have a candidate for president who cannot do any more public events for fear of protest, who will not be able to galvanize his own party because it is fractured and is not listening to his own base in his own party," Al-Marayati said.

Biden continues to do public events, although he has faced anti-war protesters interrupting his speeches. At an event in March, he conceded that pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupted his remarks "have a point."

"We need to get a lot more care into Gaza," he said after the protesters, who called for care in Gaza, were escorted out.

Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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Airlines will now be required to give automatic cash refunds for canceled and delayed flights

FILE - Passenger drop off their baggage at United Airlines in C Terminal at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023, in Houston. The Biden administration issued final rules Wednesday, April 24, 2024, to require airlines to automatically issue cash refunds for things like delayed flights and to better disclose fees for baggage or canceling a reservation. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

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The Biden administration issued final rules Wednesday to require airlines to automatically issue cash refunds for things like delayed flights and to better disclose fees for baggage or canceling a reservation.

The Transportation Department said airlines will be required to provide automatic cash refunds within a few days for canceled flights and “significant” delays.

Under current regulations, airlines decide how long a delay must last before triggering refunds. The administration is removing that wiggle room by defining a significant delay as lasting at least three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international ones.

Airlines still will be allowed to offer another flight or a travel credit instead, but consumers can reject the offer.

The rule will also apply to refunds of checked-bag fees if the bag isn’t delivered within 12 hours for domestic flights or 15 to 30 hours for international flights. And it will apply to fees for things such as seat selection or an internet connection if the airline fails to provide the service.

Complaints about refunds skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as airlines canceled flights and, even when they didn’t, many people didn’t feel safe sharing a plane cabin with other passengers.

Airlines for America, a trade group for large U.S. carriers, noted that refund complaints to the Transportation Department have fallen sharply since mid-2020. A spokesperson for the group said airlines “offer a range of options — including fully refundable fares — to increase accessibility to air travel and to help customers make ticket selections that best fit their needs.”

The group said the 11 largest U.S. airlines issued $43 billion in customer refunds from 2020 through 2023.

The Transportation Department issued a separate rule requiring airlines and ticket agents to disclose upfront what they charge for checked and carry-on bags and canceling or changing a reservation. On airline websites, the fees must be shown the first time customers see a price and schedule.

The rule will also oblige airlines to tell passengers they have a guaranteed seat they are not required to pay extra for, although it does not bar airlines from charging people to choose specific seats. Many airlines now charge extra for certain spots, including exit-row seats and those near the front of the cabin.

The agency said the rule will save consumers more than $500 million a year.

Airlines for America said its members “offer transparency and vast choice to consumers” from their first search.

The new rules will take effect over the next two years. They are part of a broad administration attack on what President Joe Biden calls “junk fees.” Last week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced that his department will let state officials in 15 states help enforce federal airline consumer protection laws .