Spelling words for the week: Vowel Variants -all, -al, -ough (as in small, talk, thought)

Sight Words:

We will be continuing with our Spelling emphasis this 9 weeks--dictionary skills. Please make sure you have an inexpensive, but kid-friendly dictionary for your child. He/she will be looking up the spelling words each week, and will be writing the definition and the guidewords for each word for the week. If you need help purchasing a dictionary, please let me know and I'll help you.

We will be working hard this year to learn "spelling patterns", so that if your child can spell "play", he/she can also spell stay, tray, replay, unplayable, display, etc. Help your child learn to form new words using the words he/she already knows (root words) and adding prefixes and suffixes to them.

If your child has difficulty with spelling, here are a few of the many ways to practice these words at home:

1. Write them on index cards and flash them to your child.

2. Make them out of clay, toothpicks, Wikki Stix (wax coated sticks you can purchase at Paula's).

3. Write them, and have your child "rainbow" them by tracing over each word with different colored crayons.

4. Trace them in sand, cornstarch, or on the carpet.

5. Choose 5 words and write them in alphabetical order.

6. Roll a die and write each word that many times.

7. Find the value of your spelling words. (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.)

8. Shaped words: write words letter by letter in a pyramid, square, rectangle or circle.

Ex. a

ap

app

appl

apple

9. Make acrostics out of the words: Ex.-here

Happy

Egrets

Run

Everywhere

10. Disappearing words: jungle jungl jung jun ju j

Thanks for your help and support as your child gains spelling mastery and word knowledge!!