Rehearsal games
The effort that children put into learning to spell words can easily be wasted. If the learning isn't well and truly consolidated it will simply be forgotten and the child will be back to square one. It is therefore vital to give children lots of opportunities to rehearse words. One of the easiest ways to do this is through games. Games can keep learning engaging, fun and effective in a number of ways.
Games with scores allow children to keep a track of their progress and allow them to strive to improve their score.
Games with instant feedback allow children to instantly see whether they spelt a word correctly or not and to learn from any mistakes they have made.
Multiplayer games can add the elements of competition and/or co-operation to increase engagement and can allow children to learn from others.
Often a simple set of resources e.g. some word cards and a whiteboard and pen can be used to play a variety of games.
Games can be played over and over again giving children many more chances to rehearse a word than in one off activities such as worksheets.
Different rehearsal games can be chosen to appeal to the different learning styles of different children.
Any game that gives children a lot of opportunities to write a word can be a great rehearsal game. Children are often good at inventing their own rehearsal games. The only limit is their/our imaginations.
Whole class rehearsal game suggestions
Quickwrite - whole class
You will need
Large word cards (one set for teacher), whiteboards and pens (one for each child).
How to play
Teacher reads out word card. Children all soundtalk the word, count the phonemes in the word and hold up that number of fingers. Teacher soundtalks the word and confirms the number of phonemes. Children who held up the correct number of fingers get one point. Teacher then asks all children to quickly spell the word and gives them a short period of time. Teacher asks children to show whiteboards. Teacher reveals word card and children tick (and get one point for) each letter that they spelt correctly and correct any mistakes. Children keep a tally of their scores. Repeat with other words.
Team spelling challenge
You will need
Large word cards (one set for teacher), whiteboards and pens (one for each child), interactive team score chart (optional).
How to play
Children work in small groups. Teacher reads out word card. Children all soundtalk the word and write it on their whiteboards independently. Then as a table, they look at all children's boards and agree on a final spelling of the word. All children on the table change their boards to the same spelling. Encourage children to help each other out without just telling other children how to spell the word. Teacher shows the word card and children all tick each letter that they spelt correctly and correct any mistakes. Each table where every single child has the spelt the word correctly, gets a point. Record this point on the interactive score chart. Repeat with other words.
What comes next?
You will need
List of words that the class have been working on, whiteboards and pens (one for each pair of children), interactive teacher/class score chart (optional)
How to play
Teacher writes the first grapheme of a word from the list on the board and draws sound buttons for each of the other phonemes. Children discuss with the person next to them what the next grapheme should be and write it on a whiteboard. Teacher asks children to show their whiteboards. If all pairs have written the correct phoneme, the class gets a point. If not all pairs have written the correct phoneme, the teacher gets a point. Repeat with other words.
Speedwrite
You will need
Large word cards (one set for teacher), whiteboards and pens (one for each child) or paper and pens/pencils.
How to play
Teacher chooses a word card, reads it aloud, shows it to the children and then hides it (it is helpful for children to see the word in this game as they will be repeating the word lots of times and we want them to be reinforcing the correct spelling not an incorrect one). Children are given a set period of time (e.g. two minutes) to write the word as many times as they possibly can. When the time is up, swap whiteboards/paper with a partner for checking. Check how many words have been written and check that they are all spelt correctly and legible. Subtract incorrectly spelt and illegible words from the total. Repeat with other words and aim to get a higher score each time.
Race to spell (outside or in the hall)
You will need
Word cards, whiteboards, pens, space
How to play
Split class into teams. Teams line up at one end of the playground/hall with a pile of whiteboards/pens at the other end. The word cards are placed face down on the floor near the front of the line (if playing outside they may need to be weighted down or be held by somebody. When the teacher says "Go!", the person at the back of the line takes a word card and reads it and hands it to the person behind them. The first person then runs to the other end of the playground, grabs a whiteboard and pen and writes the word on the board. When they have written the word, they run back to their team and check the word on their whiteboard against the word card that the person behind them is holding. If there is a mistake, the word on the whiteboard should be corrected. Only when the word is correct can the player go to the back of their line and the next player choose a new word and take their turn. The first team where every player has a correctly spelt word wins.
Small group (or partner) rehearsal game suggestions.
Several of the whole class games also work as small group games with a few small adaptations. Once children have played the whole class versions a few times, they can usually manage to play the games in a small group without (too much) adult input.
Monster spelling board game
You will need
Word cards, whiteboards and pens (one for each child), game board, dice, coloured counter for each player.
How to play
Place word cards face down in a pile on the board. Place the counters in the start square. Start with the youngest player. First player rolls the dice and moves the counter. The symbol on the square that they land on shows them what they need to do. The symbols are as follows.
- Count - The child to the right of the child who is taking their turn, takes a word card and reads out the word. The player who is taking their turn counts how many phonemes there are in the word. If all the other children playing the game agree with the number of phonemes, then the child gets one point (they record this as a tally mark on their whiteboard). The word card is returned to the bottom of the card pile.
- Spell - The child to the right of the child who is taking their turn, takes a word card and reads out the word. The player who is taking their turn spells the word on their whiteboard. The word on the whiteboard is checked against the word on the word card. If all the other children playing the game agree that the word has been spelt correctly, the child gets one point (they record this as a tally mark on their whiteboard).
- Sentence - The child to the right of the child who is taking their turn, takes a word card and reads out the word. The player who is taking their turn writes a sentence containing the word on their whiteboard. The word on the whiteboard is checked against the word on the word card. If all the other children playing the game agree that the word has been spelt correctly AND that the word makes sense within the sentence, the child gets one point (they record this as a tally mark on their whiteboard).
The first child to reach ten points wins the game.
Quickwrite - small groups
You will need
Word cards, whiteboards and pens (one for each child).
How to play
Place word cards face down on table. One child takes a card and reads it out loud. All other children write the word on their whiteboards. The child with the word card shows it to the others and all children mark all letters in the word. On the next turn, the next child around the group takes the word card and reads it. Encourage children to develop this game by building in additional scoring systems. E.g. points for identifying the number of phonemes or drawing sound buttons or extra marks for getting tricky bits of words right etc.
Speedwrite - small groups
You will need
Word cards, whiteboards and pens (one for each child) or paper and pens/pencils.
How to play
One child chooses a word card, reads it aloud and shows it to the rest of the group. They then start a timer and children are given a set period of time (e.g. two minutes) to write the word as many times as they possibly can. When the time is up, children pass their whiteboards or paper to the child on their right for checking. Check how many words have been written and check that they are all spelt correctly and legible. Subtract incorrectly spelt and illegible words from the total. For the next word, the next child around the table chooses and reads the word and starts the timer. Encourage children to try to beat their own score each time rather than competing with one another.
Spelling bee - pairs
You will need
Word cards
How to play
On child chooses a word card and reads it aloud. The other child repeats the word and says all the letters in the word (letter names not phonemes). Swap roles and repeat.
Piggy in the middle - three children
You will need
Word cards, ball
How to play
Two children stand a throwing distance apart with a ball. The third child stands close by with the pile of word cards. The third child takes a word card and reads in out loud. The child with the ball throws it to the other child whilst saying the first letter in the word. The other child throws the ball back and says the next letter in the word. If a child either gets a letter wrong or the ball is dropped after they have thrown it, they become the piggy and take charge of the word cards whilst the child who was the piggy becomes a thrower. At this point the old word card goes to the bottom of the pile and the children start again with a new word.
Independent rehearsal game suggestions.
Quickwrite - independent (timed challenge)
You will need
Word cards, whiteboards and pens or paper.
How to play
Place word cards face down on table and start timer. Take a word card and look at it closely then put it down again face down. Write the word then turn the word card back over and check the spelling of each letter. If the word wasn't spelt correctly, put it back into the pile of word cards, if the word was correct then put the word card into a separate completed pile. Repeat until all words have been completed. Stop timer. See if all the words can be completed correctly in a shorter time. Alternatively, play the game for a set period of time and see how many words you can get through in the time limit.
Speedwrite - independent
You will need
Word cards, whiteboard and pen or paper and pen/pencil.
How to play
Take a word card, read it aloud and look at it carefully then hide it. Start a timer (e.g. for two minutes) and write the word as many times as possible until the time limit is reached. When the time is up, children check how many words have been written and check that they are all spelt correctly and are legible. Subtract incorrectly spelt and illegible words from the total. Repeat for the next word, trying to get a higher word score this time.
Speedtype - independent
You will need
Word cards, computer/laptop/tablet with a word processor or basic text editor open.
How to play
Play as for speedwrite but type the words instead of writing them.
Big words- independent
You will need
Large paper (e.g. wallpaper lining paper), assorted pens/pencils/crayons/paints.
How to play
Take a word card, read it aloud and look at it carefully then hide it. Write the word really, really big and think about the letters and the shapes that make up the word. Use colours, patterns and different writing implements if they help to make the word more memorable. Obviously, there are ways to take this activity outside and make the writing even bigger - chalk, water and paintbrushes or squirty water bottles on a hot day, masking tape etc. Challenge the children to see how big they can get.
Bouncing words - independent
You will need
List of words, ball.
How to play
The child looks at the first word in the list and then bounces the ball (or throws it in the air) whilst saying a letter of the word on each bounce.