WORD BINGO AND WORD CONCENTRATION

Word BINGO and Word “Concentration” are two easy games that will be fun for your child as he encounters words he’s learning to spell. (See my website article, “Fun with Words & Phonics” for more details.)

FLIP BOOKS

Making “flip” books together helps with learning “word families” that end with the same spelling.

WORD SORTS

Sorting words according to their spelling pattern helps reading as well as writing. For example, if your child is learning the different ways to spell “long vowel o” words, write “oa” and “ow” at the top of two columns. Then ask your child to guess which way the words you give him are spelled. (coat, boat vs. snow, grow, etc.)

ENCOURAGE Writing AT HOME

Of course, the more your child writes, the more new words he will learn to spell. To encourage writing at home, create books together or make books for him. These can be very simple, a couple of pages folded and stapled, or more inspiring, cut out animal, star and heart shapes, etc. Use different colors for the books and have your child illustrate his writing. Encourage your child to write letters, wish lists, comic strips, pop up pages, lift the flap pages, labels, etc.

Summary

1. Write down the stories your child tells you for him to illustrate or add it to his drawings until he gradually takes over the writing himself.

2. Encourage your child to write without worrying about spelling by giving him a journal, diary or folder for his unedited writing. Let him choose which writing he would like to make “fixes” on and recopy for sharing with others or posting on the fridge.

3. Have your child read back to you what he wrote so that he practices his reading and makes “fixes” of his own. If it feels right or is needed, help him correct other spelling, reminding him of the rules he’s been learning.

4. Have fun with the games and activities! Try something new every so often to keep it interesting.