Spelling activities, so called

You've. Got. To. Be. Kidding.

Note 1: These activities are listed as options for students who missed their weekly spelling words. They have to choose two of these activities for the week.

Note 2: The students who received this list of options for their spelling assignments are eighth graders. In some societies, these students would be on the verge of adulthood. Here, we’re giving them the option of writing their spelling words in their choice of instant pudding or glitter.

Note 3: The teacher that published this list for her students is a writing teacher. That’s right: a writing teacher. Bear that in mind as you read Note 4 and the list of activities.

Note 4: The only changes in punctuation were to make the headings consistent. All the comma splices and other abuses of the comma, as well as other awkward wordings, are from the original.

Note 5: I’m well aware of the value of repetition in learning material. Any of these activities that encourage repetition will therefore have some value, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that the other bizarre aspects of these activities are going to be what magically locks a tricky spelling into a student’s brain.

Note 6: The sad (or funny; I haven’t figured out yet which it is) thing is that this is from a school district that has an undeserved reputation for “excellence in education.” You know - the school district where all the doctors, lawyers, bankers, and other various and sundry rich people live so their offspring can have a “quality” public education. Guess the laugh’s on them, unless they’re all a bunch of Auntie Mame types who mistakenly think that the latest also means the greatest.

Note 7: My comments below are italicized.

• Glitter Words: Write your words out in glue and then sprinkle with glitter, sand, or jello mix to make the words visible.

How about cat litter? Wouldn’t that provide a more “tactile” experience for your “kinesthetic” learners? P.S. Don’t take me seriously; it’s called “sarcasm.”

• Foldable Words: Fold a piece of paper in half (hamburger fold). Open it up and fold both outside edges to the center crease. Now fold into thirds. Open it up and cut from the inside to the outside seam. You should be creating six windows. Write one word on the outside flap and inside practice writing it 5x.
  

I’m trying to come up with a smart-aleck remark for this one, but so far words fail me. I’m stupefied.

• Record a Word: Tape record yourself practicing the words. Spell each word 5x.
  

Now how many kids these days know what a tape recorder is, do you suppose? And I’ll bet your school is just gung-ho on using “technology,” too. Tape recorders are sooooo 20th century.

• Spelling Magic: Use a white crayon and write your words on paper 5x’s. Now using watercolor paints, paint over the writing and watch your words appear.
  

Arts and crafts in English, eh? Don’t tell me that a well-to-do district such as yours had budgets cuts that eliminated your art classes.

• Flashcards: Make a flashcard for each spelling word using index cards. On the front, print each word on a card. Write the words on the backside in cursive 5x each.

Now this is actually a sound idea. I would have thought it too mundane. Knock me over with a feather.

• Spelling Puzzles: Type up your spelling words in large 18 inch font without spacing in between words. Print out the paper. Cut out each letter out and reform each word. Glue them down on a new piece of paper.

18-inch font? That produces letters that are a foot and a half high. Are you sure that’s what you really intend to say? I think perhaps you mean “18-point.” And just what are we supposed to do if we have incorrigible words that refuse to be reformed? Oh, wait – that’s not what you meant, is it?

• Block Puzzles: Using small lettered blocks, spell and glue together your spelling words.

If students put the blocks on a string and use them as a bracelet, would it be cheating to wear it on spelling test day? What else are they supposed to do with these little blocks?

• Spelling Dice: For each spelling word you have, roll a die and rewrite the word the number that appears.
  

I think I understand what you meant to say, but the thing is you didn’t say what you meant to say. You did say you were the writing teacher, correct? Did you even read what you wrote before you handed it out to your students?

• Chalkboard/Whiteboard/Transparency Fun: Rewrite your words on an erasable surface. Practice 3x each.

This is another old school activity. How’d it make the cut?

• Using magnetic letters, spell out each spelling word and take a picture of your work: You can send completed pictures to [email address redacted].
  

Icebox spelling homework. What next?

• Unusual Flashcards: Be creative. Select a substance such as fabric, or wood and make your own flashcards.

Finally! An activity that allows students to “be creative”!! What a refreshing change of pace from the heretofore run-of-the-mill spelling activities!

• Alpha-bit Spelling: You’ll need a box of alphabits cereal for this. Arrange and glue your spelling words together.

Isn’t this assignment in danger of suffering the old “dog ate my homework” excuse?

• Salt Box or Sand Box Spelling: In a large bowl or dish, pour in salt or sand or sugar. Then practice spelling your words. Take pictures of your words and email them to me.

Now this one is not only silly, it’s just plain wasteful. Who wants to use sugar or salt after having been played with by some grubby fingers?

• Pudding Practice: Use instant pudding as finger paint to practice your words 2x each. (GET PARENTS PERMISSION PLEASE).

Another wasteful activity. Why instant pudding? How about the cooked variety? For that matter, why not honey, ketchup, or mustard? Parental permission or no, any one of those is guaranteed to make a mess. By the way, what was the objective of this little lesson? Oh, yeah – it had something to do with spelling, didn’t it…

• Pyramid Power: Write your words in order of difficulty. At the top the easiest and gradually get more challenging.

Another failure to communicate. That last “sentence” isn’t even a sentence: where’s the subject (understood or otherwise), and the verb?

• Rainbow Words: Write your words 5x each in a different color.

Do the various colors make it more pedagogically sound than repeating the words using just one boring color?

• Spell It with Beans or Pasta: Using any form of dry beans or pasta, spell your words and glue down on paper.

Extra credit for students who don’t stick said beans up their nose? You are assigning these activities to junior high kids, after all. 35 years later, I still remember the kid at lunch in sixth grade who inhaled a cooked noodle up his nose and had it come out his mouth.

• Pipe Cleaners: Use a pipe cleaner to bend into the shape of your word. Try it in cursive, or use one pipe cleaner for each letter.
  

Tsk, tsk. This smacks of political incorrectness. Pipe cleaners – are you serious? Don’t you realize how hazardous tobacco is to your health? Sounds like you’re trying to subvert the healthy lifestyle agenda by directing these tender young minds to utilize something associated with evil tobacco. For shame.

• Toothpicks: Use toothpicks to make your words. Glue them down on paper.
  

If a student uses matchsticks rather than toothpicks, will he get extra credit for “creativity,” or will he be marked down for failing to follow directions? Inquiring minds want to know.

• Magazine Letters: Using old magazines, hunt down the letters that form your words. Cut them out, and glue them on paper to spell out each word.
  

Great practice for would-be ransom-note writers.

• Twist Tie Spelling: Using twist ties, arrange the letters your need to make your spelling words.

Oh good grief.

• Alphabet Stamps: Using letter stamps, stamp out your words.
  

More arts and crafts? Do you really think time is better spent stamping words letter by letter is than writing them five times longhand? I’ll bet most of your students could benefit from the handwriting practice anyhow, and here you’re giving them plenty of excuses to avoid actual writing.

• Playdough: Using playdough form your words, either stamp out letters or write into the dough.

I don’t think you grasp the difference between “in” and “into.” One is a preposition of location (static), the other a preposition of direction (expresses motion or change of location). In any case, “on” (not “onto”) is a better choice. And you are supposed to be the writing teacher??

• Make a Word Search: You can use graph paper and do this by hand, or complete online. Be sure you find all your words before submitting it.
  

Another one that’s actually not too bad – a bit weak on the repetition, though, and so of limited pedagogical value.

• Do you have your own suggestion, not found here? Tell me about it.
  

Oh, I don’t know – how about something novel, like write the word five times and use in it correctly in a sentence? Or is that too reactionary?



Here are my suggestions. Which ones do you think would be taken seriously?

Rice Carvings: Using a microscope and dentist’s tools, carve your spelling words 5x on a grain of rice. Use one grain of rice per spelling word, please.

Human Alphabet: “Write” your spelling words by bending your body in the shape of the letters needed to spell your words. Be sure to take a picture of each letter as you form it. Copy the pictures in a Word document, making certain to arrange the pictures in the correct order to spell your word, and email to me.

Petri Dish Orthography: Obtain several Petri dishes (one per spelling word) and grow bacterial cultures on them. Once the cultures are established, spray some disinfectant on a cotton swab and use the swab to write your spelling words on the Petri dishes (5x per word). Take a picture of the Petri dishes after the disinfectant has killed the bacteria, thus forming your spelling words.

Alphabet Soup Speller: You’ll need some cans of alphabet soup to complete this activity. Have a can of alphabet soup for lunch, and hunt for the letters needed to form your spelling words. Once you’ve found them, write your spelling words using the alphabet noodles, taking pictures of each word. Email me the pictures.