Spelling Games!

Fun spelling games that I played with my first grade students while student teaching! Most of the games can be used in other grade levels! 

Sometime between introducing the spelling words and our weekly test I would play a spelling game with the kiddos. They had so much fun and barely realized that they were learning! Here are a few of the games that we played! 

* Pretzel Spelling! 

This was a crowd favorite! I would give each student a pile of pretzels and they would break them apart and connect pieces to spell out the spelling words! They LOVED this! 

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* SPELL-O  (Spelling BINGO) 

The students would get a worksheet that looked similar to this: 

N A M E     _ _ _ _ 

S A M E     _ _ _ _ 

Etc... 

I would write each letter of each word on a small piece of paper and fold it up and put it in a hat. (make sure you have EVERY letter of EVERY word, even if you have 10 E's in your hat!) When you pick out a letter the students can pick ONE word and place the letter on the corresponding blank space. When you pick out a second letter they pick either the same word or a new word to fill in the letters. The object is to fill in all of the blanks on one word and when you do you yell SPELL-O. This was SO much fun! 

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* Sponge Spelling! - Warning: you may get wet! =) 

To prepare for sponge spelling write up a list of spelling words (and a few bonus words) and number the words in no particular order. Write each number on the board in no order, make sure the numbers are BIG. The object of this game is for the student to grab a wet sponge and throw it at the board. Wherever the sponge hits (hopefully on a number) The student will spell the word that corresponds to that number. A lot of fun!!! 

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* White Board Races! 

I took my kiddos outside for this game. It can be played WHEREVER. Split the students into two equal teams. Each team will be given a white board, marker, and eraser. Have the white boards start with the first student in line. Shout out a word and have each student write the word and pass it on. If a student spells a word wrong somebody down the line can fix the spelling but they must also spell the word themselves. Once the board makes it all the way to the end of the line the teacher must be ready to check the spelling of each word and the first team to have all spelled correctly wins! 

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* JUDGE! 

The students would be split into two equal groups. Pick one student to start out begin the judge. The judge walks out of the classroom and hides his or her eyes. Close the door and make sure that everyone is quiet! (I loooooved this game just for the fact that we were silent the whole time!) Have two students come up to the board (one from each team) give them a spelling word and have them write it in their BEST handwriting. Make sure that the judge doesn't know the two students up at the board. (I would even make them switch sides a few times so that team 1 was not always writing their words in the same spot on the board) The students go back to their teams and remain quiet. Invite the judge back in to the room and have him or her inspect the words. The word must first be spelled correctly, and if both words are spelled correctly the judge picks which word was written in the NEATEST handwriting. Whoever the judge picks gets a point. Make sure that the judge is being honest in picking. 

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* SPARKLE

I'm sure everyone knows about SPARKLE. Have the students sit in a circle, or sit on their desk, whichever you choose. One student starts spelling the chosen word by saying one letter at a time. When the last person spells the last letter the very next person in line to spell says SPARKLE and the person next to them, or right after them is out. A student can also get out if they misspell the word. The students loved playing this by themselves when they had a few minutes to study before the test. This was a REALLY popular game!!! 

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* Go Fish Spelling

Take your spelling list and break up the words. ( NA / ME = NAME) Use note cards and write fragments of words on each note card (on one note card would be NA and another would be ME (make sure that you don't use random letters, keep the letters in order) Pair the students up with a partner and each partner should have a set of letter cards. Play the game like Go FIsh. Each student would have a worksheet (I made a worksheet with fish on it and inside the fish was the whole word that they were trying to make. Each time that they made a whole word they colored the fish) The students would pair up their matches from their hand, and then proceed to ask their partner if they have letter pairs that they need, if not, GO FISH! 

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Enjoy :)