Ideas, PLEASE!!!

[sweteacher]

I have a little girl in my class who is reading WAY above her peers. In math and everything else she is average. I have her going to an other class for reading groups. As for spelling, when I assessed her, she was able to spell pretty much any word I gave her, so I put her on the highest level I had...the trouble is, she is struggling with the activities that go along with it.

It seems a bit silly to have a six year old learning to spell words like kilometer and modem, so...I ask you, wonderful proteachers, do you have any ideas that I could do with this little girl, instead of spelling. I was thinking of sending home a book report form once a week instead of spelling, but what about in class? Any good weekly writing activities you can think of?

I would really appreciate any ideas!!!

 

[istoleahalo]

Why don't you incorporate spelling into her writing, for instance, if in her writing she mispells a word, that word becomes one of her spelling words.

 

[IDteacher]

Have her make her own lists

Each week give her a group of letters, and have her see how many words she can make. Or make it correspond to what you are working on in class. ex: how many words can you make that have the letters in the word "planet" or "Thanksgiving" Challenge her to find a certain number of words with more than five letters, or more than one syllable etc. This would be a great way for her to learn how to use a dictionary and build vocabulary.

 

[CR]

dictionary skills

Sometimes, when I have children that need extra challenges during our literacy centers, I do an activity called "digging through the dictionary." I take index cards and write a different word on each one. I try to use words that they may not instantly know (ex:anchor). I teach them how to look up the words. These words are kept in a box and are numbered from 1 to ? (I use 40) When they understand how to do the task, they independently pick a word, write down what page they found it in the dictionary, what the guide words are, write the definition, and then use it in a sentence of their own. They have a grid numbered from 1 - 40 and they color in the box to represent the numbered card they took. This way I know they don't choose the same word twice. It might sound like a lot, but they are using children's dictionaries, and they have always loved this activity! (The second grade teachers have never complained that I taught this skill--they're glad!!)