Listed below are a variety of unique ways students can practice their spelling words. You may want to assign a specific activity for students to complete or provide the list to the students and allow them to select an activity in which they are interested.

Story Writing
Have students use their spelling words in a story. You decide how many words they are to use; the number may vary according to individual student ability.

Illustrations
Draw a picture representing five of the spelling words. (This can be much harder than it sounds; check over your list before you give this assignment.)

Word Sentences
Use as many words from the spelling list as you can to make sentences with each letter in the word forming the first letter of a word in the sentence. For example, the word “paint” could be used as a base for writing “Paula ate ice cream nine times.” You may wish to let them work with partners at first if they have difficulty with this assignment.

Small Words
Students are to find the small words in their spelling words. Making it into a contest is the most fun, and many reluctant students will amaze you with all the words they can find. (If it is an unusual word, they must copy down the meaning.) Use the following rules:

• Use no foreign words or proper nouns.
• Words must be two or more letters.
• Each word counts as one point.
• If a student uses a nonexistent word, two points are taken off.
• The person with the most points wins.

Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms
Write spelling words in a list on the left side of the paper and draw three additional columns with “Synonyms,” “Homonyms,” and “Antonyms” written across the top. At least one category must be filled in for each spelling word.

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