Spelling Practice Tips
Homework time does not have to be a nightmare! Here are a few ideas for studying spelling words that honor your child's learning style.
Kinesthetic Learners: Kinesthetic learners enjoy feeling things with their bodies. Try tracing the spelling words in a tray filled with salt or sand. Use chalk to write the word in huge letters on a rough sidewalk or driveway. Mold the words from bits of clay. Use pudding as paint and paint the words onto an old shopping bag. ( It's messy but, boy does it make homework fun!)
Lingustic Learners: Linguistic learners enjoy seeing, saying, and hearing new concepts. Have your child look at the word, pronounce it correctly, and use it in a sentence. Challenege you child to write a story using all of the spelling words.  Cheerlead together and spell out each word. Or try allowing your child to look at the word, say each letter, cover the word and spell it out loud, then check to see if he/she was correct.
Musical Learners: Musical learners like singing and humming. Sing a familiar tune while spelling each word (BINGO and JINGLE BELLS  work well.) Drum on the table as you spell the word. Clap when saying a consonant and pat your tummy when saying a vowel.
Spatial Learners: Spatial learners are very visual and artistic. Allow your child to write the spelling words using a wide variety of colored markers. Paint the words. Cut the letters of the spelling words out of old magazines and make a collage.
Logical/Mathematical Learners: Logical/ Mathematical learners enjoy patterns and relationships. They will sometimes take a little while to develop answers and then stun you with the detailed information they provide. Try sorting the spelling words into categories (number of leters, vowels contained in the word, consonant blends). Use letter magnets and allow your child to manipulate them while spelling out the words on the side of your refrigerator.
Intrapersonal Learners: Not every child feels comfortable taking risks with learning. An intrapersonal learner may feel better if he/she studies privately before you practice the words together. Try allowing your child to self-pace his/her private study times. Have your child imagine writing the words on a blackboard inside his/her mind. Talk out any fellings of self-doubt and replace them with confidence.
Recall Method: Ask your child to "see" and say the word. Have your child say each syallable of the word slowly, spell the word out loud, and then trace the word on the table.