101 Cool Ways to Learn Spelling Words

1. Put your words in sentences.
2. Underline all the vowels. Make a graph showing how many times each vowel is used (that's a,e,i,o,u)
3. Same thing - only this time underline consonants (that's all the rest)
4. Write your words in a line that goes all over the page - make a snake.
5. Look up the words in a dictionary and write down what they mean.
6. Find words which mean the same thing as your words (synonyms).
7. Find words which mean the opposite of your words (antonyms).
8. Make the word plural if you can - add "s" or "es".
9. Put all your words in one sentence.
10. Write each of your words on two different pieces of paper. Play "memories" with them - place them face down, try to turn over the two that have the same word on them. If you don't find the pair, turn them face down and try again. Beat Mum or Dad at this!
11. Write them in alphabetical order.
12. Get your teacher or parents to draw word boxes for you to fill in.
13. Cut out your words from a paper or magazine.
14. Make your words with scrabble blocks.
15. Play hangman with your parents with the longest word.
16. Draw your word in a picture or cartoon.
17. Look at your list for 30 seconds, then try to write down or say as many as you can remember. Test your parents - they will be so bad at this!
18. Get your teacher or parents to make a find-a-word for you, or make one in pairs at school.
19. Write down all the letters in your three longest words. Now see how many new words you can make. You can do this with scrabble letters too.
20. Get mum or dad to write the hardest word lots of times on a page - only make them spell it correctly sometimes and incorrectly other times. Then you circle the ones that are correct.
21. Go outside and write your words in the mud or sand.
22. Write your words on Mum's dirty car windscreen (maybe not such a good idea..)
23. Draw graphs putting your words into groups - adjectives, nouns, verbs.
24. Choose a different way to learn your words every night. This is meant to be fun!! Don't let your mum or dad insist on a boring spelling test (they say the word, you write it down) until the last possible minute e.g. the night before your spelling test at school.
25. Make up 76 other cool ways to learn your words..........

Jenni Pearce, Psychologist (2009)
Child & Educational Psychology
6 Edward Street, NORWOOD 5067 South Australia, Australia.

Telephone: 0407 726 332
Fax: (08) 8362 0332