Winner announced, last post....RAOK--Help with teaching spelling words! (5 non-inserts giveaway)

[TheBargainBabe]

I will give 5 non-insert coupons to the person who gives me the best idea on how to help my 1st grader learn his spelling words!

Winner picked and announced at noon (EST) on Sept 30th!

[saylormama]

Try using the words in a sentence so that they can associate it with something... then have them write the words and practice spelling them at dinner :)

[cybilx10]

My son learned them the best when he wrote them out 3x's each then we would do a mock test and whatever words he misspelled he had to write 10x's each.

[cc11395]

Marbles! I would give my little guy a marble for every word he spelled correctly 10 times in a row! The marbles could be traded in after his spelling test for a dimes! It was fun way to teach him how to count money too!!

[lazy1608]

I will suggest that you have your child practice writing them on sandpaper/in sand/ or even pudding. Have your child trace each letter of the words on or in the different medium.

You could also play bingo with him. Make up bingo cards with the weeks spelling words on the cards (some are spelled correctly and some are not). Then call out the words and have him play bingo. If he gets "BINGO" check to make sure he used the correctly spelled word as his marked off square.

Have him practice his words to instrumental music or have him bang on a drum while spelling the words. One bang for each letter.

You could also have them practice their words as a cheer (cheerleader).

You could have him roll out the words using playdoh to make the letters.

Good luck~

[TheBargainBabe]

These are great ideas. Keep 'em coming!

[sbp]

If you'll let him play online games, check out www.spellingcity.com.

As a parent, you can type in his spelling words and save the list and then he can work with that list.

There's 3 different modes.
The Teach me mode says the word and then one letter at a time appears on the screen and then repeats the word.
The Play Games mode has quite a few games that he can play (some of them are a little advanced imo for a 1st grader though).
The Test Me mode reads the words one by one and he has to type them out and then check his score.

I started using this for my 3rd grader, and my 1st grader wanted to be able to play online too, but like I said above some of the games like Alphabetize the list are too advanced for him at this point. He does love the Hang Mouse and the Match games though.

[blossomed]

My homework when I was a wee firstgrader 100 years ago, was Monday, write them 3 times, Tuesday was word and definatition Wednesday write each one in a sentance, bonus for using more than one in a sentance until one smartie pants came up with the sentence - my spelling words this week are: ball, cat, dog, etc. (OH how I wished I had thought of that. ) Thursday study for Friday quiz and Monday's we started over with a new list.

It's pretty much repitition so I would think that a mock spelling bee would help, quiz for treats - mommy may I have a cookie - sure just spell teach or ball?

Do you and spouse spell when you don't want him to know something. I am the youngest and my parents and sisters would frequently spell surprises etc. Until in first grade when my sisters and I were in the car - and oldest says to middle - "I want to stop and buy sissy a c a l e n d a r? Middle - a what? c a l e n d a r? Middle a what? Me from back seat - A calendar!! It was a great motivation to learn to spell.

[CW&M Mom]

I would probably find fun ways to write the words.

Dry Erase boards with fun markers, smelly markers, typing it on the computer. Spelling them outside on the swingset or anytime he asks for something "spell ladder first".

[greenfrog57]

spellingcity.com is a fun way to learn