Word Study
"To make word study fun and accessible to all students, I infuse lessons with hands-on activities and games whenever possible."
S'mores On Fire
A class favorite, this game brings high energy and laughter to spelling! A spelling word card is passed around the circle with each child reading and spelling the word as quickly as possible before passing it to the next student. At 30 seconds, I say, “S’mores on fire!” and whoever is holding the card “puts the fire out” by placing it in the “bucket of water.” The game can be repeated for many rounds.
Finger Spelling
As a fun, kinesthetic, and collaborative way to practice spelling words, the children trace different words on a friend's back. The partner then guesses the spelling word, and both students write the word on their recording sheet.
Homophone Posters
I cater to various learning styles whenever possible. To meet the needs of visual learners, I invited students to choose a set of homophones (e.g. sun and son). They wrote and illustrated each word’s meaning to demonstrate their understanding. We created a poster gallery, and the students took an “art walk” around the room.
Magic "E" Treasure Hunt
To bring in movement and help students see that what we learn applies to the environment around us, I challenged my first graders to go on a magic “E” treasure hunt around the room. They searched for magic “E” words (e.g. tape, game) where the placement of the "e" at the end of the word makes the vowel in the middle say its name.
Digraphs via Popcorn Words
To make the learning of digraphs fun, visual, and tactile, pairs of students received popcorn bags filled with cards, each with a digraph written on a popcorn kernel. Students took turns saying, spelling, reading, and writing the word to deepen learning and practice the concept in different ways. This game also works well as a solo activity.
Short Vowel Review via Splat!
Students often work together for collaborative learning. To review short vowels, we played Splat! Pairs of students took turns picking cards from the Splat! deck. If it was a short vowel word, they said it, spelled it, and kept the card. If it was a "Splat!", they returned it. A player won by collecting 4 cards.