Activities for Any Spelling Unit

We use Spelling Power as our main spelling curriculum, but it is really geared for kids 3rd grade and up. So since Noah is in 2nd grade, this year I decided to try Activities for Any Spelling Unit. I didn't want to push spelling on him too much this year, but wanted to introduce him to groups of words that have similar spellings (this is kind of what Spelling Power does anyways). The book is divided up into three parts: Level one (easy), Level two (more difficult), and Level three (Activities for Specific Skills). Each page is set up the same way. I pick 10-12 words for the week and write them up at the top (there are lists in the back of the book broken down into categories according to how they are spelled. So I don't really have to come up with my own lists). Then below the word list are instructions for each day (Monday-Thursday) for an activity to work with the words. There are no Friday activities because it is assumed that that is test day. Some of the possible activities are...

*Write the words in code.

*Write the words in pencil and then pen.

*Write the words in a star shape.

*Write the words in "telephone code".

*Put the words in alphabetical order.

*Write the words in a "spelling stair".

For level 3 there are specific pages to work on specific types of words. Word lists are included in the back to create your spelling lists for these pages. Here is a partial list of some of the specific skills that are in level 3: R-controlled words, "ei" words, "ie" words, soft "c" words, homophones, contractions, etc.

This book has been relatively easy to use..the only thing I have done to keep myself sane is to set up all his word lists ahead of time (a semester at a time) so that they are ready to go each week and he doesn't have to wait for me to get the list together. Noah has enjoyed a lot of the activities in them, and I think his spelling has really improved for his grade level over the past few months.