James has spelling tests every Friday at school. From September to December his spelling lists consisted of basic words that were easily sounded out. In January, his teacher decided to leapfrog James to another group of spelling lists. So, things have gotten more challenging to help James learn his weekly spelling lists.
This weeks list was the following: best, green, mean, left, wheel, team, neck, sheet, deal, bell, street, reach, will and with. I took 21 popsicle sticks and wrote a single letter on each one, so that James could use the sticks to spell the words.
Despite him glaring at me, he does enjoy this "game" to learn his words.
As the challenges get harder, it is my job to be creative and keep James engaged and interested in learning. Standing over him and forcing him to do homework has never worked. We have to jiggle and wiggle and get his little mind and body moving to keep him interested.
How do you help your child with spelling?
4 comments:
We aren't at spelling words yet, but I am totally stealing this idea!!
Surprisingly there has not been a huge emphasis on spelling at school. They have weekly spelling tests but it does not seem to be drilling oriented. I am kind of OK with bad spelling in general cause it's rule oriented and not phonetic. That's tough for kids (and me too). The sticks are a great idea since the cant twist the letters the wrong way and such. Maybe we try in some form though and see what happens. I like that a whole lot better than using spelling city.com on the computer!!
We bounce/throw/kick a ball back and forth, saying a letter each time. So if the word is cat, I say "c" and throw the ball. He catches and says "a" as he throws it back, etc. we also just get random practice in during car rides. It just seems easier for my kids to work on math facts and spelling when they are stuck somewhere with nothing else to do. It's awfully tough to get those little bodies to sit still after a long day. Keep it up...James is lucky to have a creative Mama like you!
Great idea, Meghan. We tried skipping around the house to help Jesse learn to count by 5's. Totally great idea to do it for spelling and add a ball.
Julia, I'll have to check out that website.
SAS, thanks for stopping by!
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