From all the research I've been doing, I've discovered that the best way to teach students spelling is to have a multitude of words posted all around the room. So every time we do a spelling activity, the words that we brainstorm together are posted on the walls for students to see. If there is a rule or a pattern on the poster, students are encouraged to add more words that fit each rule when they come across them in their readings.
Last week we did a mini-lesson on changing verbs that end in "e" to the form of the word that ends in "ing". The rule was that we take away the "e" and add the "ing". Some of the students' spelling words for the week fit the pattern so we looked at those first: dancing, staring, and pleasing. We identified the base word, and then the students changed that word into the form using "ing". Then we brainstormed other verbs that end in "e" and added those to our list. This was the 4th grade list, but the whole class was involved in the discussion. The same held true when we examined the homophones the 3rd graders were being tested on. We looked for clues in the words that would help us know the difference in some of the words. For example, "hear" has the word "ear" so we can associate that with listening or hearing. The word "there" has "here" in it, which is a place. And the word "their" has the word "heir" in it, which is a person so we can associate people with this word. At the end, we broke up into two groups. The 3rd graders played Sparkle with their list, and the 4th graders played Sparkle with theirs. I also typed up the word lists students created and posted them on the walls of the classroom so they had another resource to help them spell words correctly.
Sparkle has also been a regular game in our classroom lately since we've been studying the states and capitals of the different regions of the United States. Here's how we play it. I will say the state. Then the first student gives the first letter of the capital (and they must say "capital" before the letter in order to get it right since capitalization counts). We go around the circle until the capital has been spelled. Instead of saying Sparkle, the final student says the name of the capital city, and then the next person sits down. This has become a fun and quick way for all the students in the class to practice spelling the capital cities together for each region.
Even with this emphasis on spelling the capitals correctly, I know there are a few 3rd graders who are not ready to spell these words correctly AND learn the names of the capitals, especially when there are typically 12 capitals to learn for each region. They are already challenged by studying for the weekly spelling tests so, for these few students, I have them take a matching quiz. Next week there are only 4 states in the Southwest region so I have told these students that they must memorize the spelling of these 4 capitals.
Every week I post a website where students can practice learning the capitals and the spelling of the capitals. One game that relates directly to spelling is called Unscramble. You can play it here: Unscramble.
Students are also frequently reminded to use their books (reading, social studies, science, etc.) to help them spell words correctly. They are told that there is no reason for them to spell words incorrectly that are already spelled in the book. This is especially true of vocabulary words when students are asked to use them in a piece of writing. If they don't practice using the resources they have before them now to make sure they are spelling words correctly, then they will constantly be guessing at the spelling of words they could have written correctly to begin with. It seems so simple, but I constantly need to remind them so that this becomes a part of their routine when taking notes.
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