As homework, they do the same activities every week and I am getting bored of it! I import our words into Spelling City and print off a handwriting practice page for each student. That is their homework for Monday night. They trace the word once and then write it two more times on the lines. On Tuesday nights they Rainbow write their words - writing each word with pencil and then tracing over top of it with 3 different crayons. On Wednesday nights they write their words "sailboat" style. Then on Thursday nights they have their parents give them a practice test, identify misspelled words, and write those words 3 more times. Here is my Weekly Spelling Homework sheet - I just change the words each week and send it home on Mondays. They are supposed to place it on their fridge and bring in the homework each morning.
Weekly Spelling Homework
Also, I have one little guy who has really, really bad fine motor control. His writing is still about 3 inches big and very spindly. He has correct grip, but just not the dexterity he needs to improve his writing. He is ELL and his mother is a doll - he will go from not knowing any spelling words on Monday to getting 100% on the test on Friday each week, simply because she works with him so much. She's asked me for extra handwriting sheets for him, but I hesitate sending that home because 1) he'll get bored with so much pointless handwriting practice and 2) he did a TON of it in kindergarten and it didn't help at all. I am getting him tested for Occupational Therapy, but in the meantime I am looking for more ideas for him to improve his fine motor skills at home. I have to keep in mind that this is a high poverty area and I can't expect the family to have anything other than the very basics to work with. I'm thinking of sending home Play Dough, and I told her to let him rip up the bills/magazines before putting them in the trash. I try to do a lot of torn paper activities in class for this very reason, because while he is the worst off, he is not the only one that needs to improve his fine motor skills.
In light of all this, I think it's time for my very first linky party! Please help me out with any ideas you have for teaching spelling in the classroom or activities for learning spelling words at home. OR link up with some fine motor skills ideas! You'll be helping me out tremendously if you do! I am really hoping that my first foray into hosting a linky party goes well and that we all gain some great ideas and tips!
I'm linking it up here too:
1 comment:
I actually just posted 5 different blog posts on this several weeks ago. The words and materials are specific to our reading series, but they can be easily adapted for other grade levels. Glad to link up!
Miss B, Busy Bee
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