Spelling/Sight Word Practice Part 2

My favorite kindergartner and I had some fun this weekend taking pictures of some of the spelling centers I have used in my classroom over the years.  She just started spelling in her kindergarten class a couple weeks ago.  I wanted to show her some of the ways she could practice her spelling words at home.  In my classroom I would have a different activity in the spelling center for each day of the week.  My reading centers were typically four days a week. The fifth day was used for assessment and then I would let the students have a free choice of centers for review during the remainder of our reading block. 

Weekly Activities for the Spelling Center:

• Monday-Introduction of words, write 3 times each on white boards, sometimes I would have them pyramid write them
• Tuesday-Rainbow write the words
• Wednesday- *This is the day that I would rotate activities every couple of weeks to keep things fresh
• Spaghetti Spelling (More on this in Part 3)
• Stamp a Word (Eeeeek!  This one would always be messy and drive me crazy!  Any tips on making this center less stressful for me???)
• PomPom Spelling
• Letter Tiles (So noisy!  I found a great and FREE alternative for this one.)
• Thursday- Play-Doh Spelling...My students LIVED for this one!
• Friday-Free choice after assessments

PomPom Spelling

 

This was an easy and fun way for students to practice their words.  I would have a large Ziploc or basket filled with multi-colored PomPoms.  You could even change the colors out to match the various seasons or holidays.  I would have index cards with the weekly spelling or sight words written on them.  They would choose a word and spell it out using the PomPoms.  It was easy and the kids had lots of fun learning their words. 

 



 

 

Letter Tiles...New and Improved....For FREE!

 

My school library has bins of plastic letter tiles that you can check out to use during the school year.  Each year I would check them out and use them, but they were SO NOISY!  My students would dump them on the table, which would make a loud crash.  Then it seemed like they kept moving them around and around, making more noise.   I found a MUCH quieter and FREE solution!  I started cutting the large letters off of boxes.  Cereal boxes, frozen food items, granola bars, fruit snacks, soda, drink boxes, etc.  So easy and it's FREE!  Before I put boxes in the recycle bin I cut off any letters I can use.  I store them in a plastic dish in a kitchen junk drawer. 

 

 

Students will use them the same way as the plastic letter tiles.  They will choose a word card and spell it out using the letters.

 

 

 

Play-Doh Spelling

 

This was always a favorite with my students.  They would pick one of their spelling words and roll Play-Doh snakes.  They would then use the "snakes" to form letters to practice spelling their words.  Simple and easy.  I would have them do this activity at one of the students tables.  After centers were finished for the day I would have members of my "Tidy Team" (two students selected that week to help clean up) clean the table with baby wipes.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed some of my spelling center ideas.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  I will have a Spelling/Sight Word Part 3 soon where I will explain "Spaghetti Spelling" and a few new ideas I have found while on maternity leave.