10FunEnglishSpellingGameswithYourStudents

1. 1
UnmixItUp
HavestudentsunscrambleletterstomakeanEnglishword.Usinga
currentvocabularylist,haveeachstudentwritethelettersforoneword
onindexcardsoneletterpercard.Thenundertheflapofanenvelope,
haveeachstudentwriteoutthecorrectspellingoftheirword.Students
thentucktheflapintotheenvelope,shuffletheirlettercardsandput
themintotheenvelopeinfrontoftheflap.Nowyouhavealearningcenter
gamereadyforyourstudents.Justputtheenvelopesoutinaboxor
basket.Studentsusingthecentershouldpullouttheindexcardsand
arrangethemtomakeacorrectlyspelledEnglishword.Theycancheck
theiranswerbyliftingtheflapoftheenvelopewhentheyarefinished.As
theyearprogresses,addwordstothecollectionwhileleavingthosethat
arealreadythereanditbecomesawaytoreviewvocabularyaswell.
2. 2
UnmixItUpRelay
Usingtheenvelopesyourstudentsmadefortheunmixitup
learningcenter,haveaspellingrelayrace.Divideyourclassintoteams
offive,andputastackoftenenvelopesonadeskacrosstheroomfor
eachteam.Oneatatime,studentsruntothedesk,takethecardsoutof
anenvelopeandunscrambletheletterstomakeaword.Whentheythink
theyhaveacorrectwordtheycallcheck.Youshouldseetobesurethey
haveacorrectlyspelledEnglishword.Ifso,heshouldputthelettersback
intheenvelopeandputitonthefloorbeforerunningbacktotheirteam.
Thenextpersonthenrunstothetableandchoosehisownenvelopeto
unscramble.Whicheverteamfinishesunmixingalltheirwordsfirstwins
thegame.
3. 3
BlindRelay
Ifyourwhiteboardisalsoamagneticone,thisgamewillgetyour
studentsexcitedaboutspelling.Divideyourclassintotwoteams.Each
teamshouldhaveasetofmagneticletters(thesimplekindyoufindatthe
dollarstore)ontheirhalfoftheboard.Onyourgo,announceonewordfor
eachteamtospell.Onepersonfromeachteamrunstothewhiteboard
andusesthemagneticletterstospellouttheword.Justbesureyouhave
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enoughduplicateletterstospellthewordsyoucallout.(Forexample,
tallerwouldrequiretwoletterls.)Theteamthatgetsthewordfirst
scoresapoint.Thentwootherplayerstakeaturn.Playuntileveryonehas
hadatleastoneturn.Theteamwiththemostpointsattheendofthe
gamewins.Ifyouwanttomaketherelayevenmorechallenging,blindfold
eachpersonandpositionthemattheboardbeforecallingouttheword.
Theywillhavetofeelthelettersontheboardtospelltheirwordcorrectly.
4. 4
TelephoneSpelling
Thisgameisjustasmuchatestofpronunciationandlisteningskills
asitisofspellingskills.Divideyourclassintotwoteams,andhave
eachteamsitorstandinonelongline.Youwhisperawordtotheperson
atthebackoftheline,andshemustcarefullywhisperittothepersonin
frontofher.Thatpersonwhisperstothepersoninfrontofhimandsoon
untilthefirstpersoninlinehearstheword.Whenhedoes,heshouldgo
tothewhiteboardandwritethewordthatheheardusingthecorrect
spelling.Ifhegetsthewordright,histeamscoresapoint.Ifnot,hedoes
notscorefortheteam.Hethengoestothebackofthelineandtheteams
playagainwithanewwordandanewplayer.
5. 5
SecretSpeller
Thisgamerequiresasmallwhiteboardorflipchartthatyoucanface
awayfromthestudentsinyourclass.Settheflipchartupsoitis
oppositethefrontwalloftheclassroom.Putyourstudentsinpairsand
havethemchooseonepersontobethespellerandonetobethewriter.
Ontheflipchart,writefivetotenwordsthataredifficulttospellor
pronounce.Whenyousaygo,thespellerfromeachteamrunstothefront
oftheclassroomandlooksatthelistofwordsontheflipchart.Hetriesto
rememberasmanyofthewordsandtheirspellingashecanandruns
backtohispartner.Hemustthenhelphispartnerwritethewordsonher
paper,butthespellerisnotallowedtolookatthepaper.Hecanrunback
totheflipchartasmanytimesasnecessarytocheckspellingorremember
words.Whenthepairthinkstheyhaveallofthewordsright,theycall
check.Youshouldthenlookandtellthemifthewordsareallcorrectorif
thereisamistake.Throughoutthegame,thespellerandthewritercan
sayanythingtheywant,butthespellercanneverlookatthewriters
paper.Thefirstteamtogetallthewordswrittencorrectlyonthewriters
paperwins.
6. 6
2

ScrabbleSlam
ScrabbleSlamisafunspellinggamethatalsobuildsvocabulary.Each
cardhasoneletteronthefrontandanotherontheback.(Youcanalso
createyourownSpellingSlamcardsbywritingonelettereachonindex
cards.Havemorecopiesofcommonletterslikevowels,t,s,r,nandlin
yourset,alsoomittingqandz.)Playstartswithanyfourletterwordlaid
outonthetableandeachplayerholdingtencards.Theremainingcards
goinapileonthetable.Ongo,playersaddoneletterattimetotheword
tocreateadifferentfourletterword.Forexample,polemaybecomepoke
whichbecomespikewhichbecomesbike.Everytimealetterislaiddown,
itmustcorrectlyspellanEnglishword.Uptofourplayersplayatone
timetryingtogetridofalltheircardsasquicklyaspossible.Ifsomeone
playsawordthatisnotspelledcorrectly,playersstopandthatperson
musttakeathreecardpenaltyfromthedrawpile.Ifnoonecanplaya
newwordandeveryonestillhascards,eachpersondrawsoneletterfrom
thedrawpile.Thefirstpersontouseallhercardswins.
7. 7
Hangman
Thisclassicgradeschoolgamegivesyourstudentsafunwayto
practicespelling.Forthetraditionalrules,lookhere.Startbyplaying
withyourentireclass,youputtingawordorphraseontheboard.Players
guessletterstryingtodecipherthewords.Ifastudentcallsaletterthatis
inthephrase,youfillinalltheplaceswhereitbelongs.Iftheycallaletter
thatisnotinthephrasetheyreceiveapenalty.Afterapracticeround
withyouleading,havestudentsbreakintogroupsofthreeandplayon
theirown.
8. 8
3DSpelling
Whyhaveaspellingtestwithpencilandpaperwhenyoucanuseplay
dough,beans,toysorotherfunitemstowriteoutthewords.Youcall
outawordtoyourclass,andtheyracethroughtheitemsintheirdeskto
spellthewordoutontheirtable.Theymightspellthewordbyarranging
crayons,paperclipsorotheritemsintheirdesk.Iftheydonothave
enoughitemsinthedesktospelltheword,theycanuseitemsfrom
aroundtheroomthoughcollectingitemswilltakemoretime.Thefirst
persontospellouteachwordcorrectlygetsapoint.Thepersonwiththe
highestscoreattheendofthespellingtestwins.
9. 9
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SpellingBattleship
IntraditionalBattleship,yousinkyouropponentsboats.Inthis
spellingversion,yousinktheirspellingwords.Eachpersonneedstwo10
by10grids.HavestudentsstartbylabelingtherowslettersAJandthe
columns110.Theneachpersonwritesthesamesetof57spellingwords
ononegrid,inrandomorderandlocation,eitherverticalorhorizontal.On
theothergrid,hetrackshisopponentswords.Playerstaketurnscalling
outacoordinate,forexampleD5.Hisopponentcheckshisgridand
announceswhetherD5wasahitormiss.Thefirstplayershouldmark
thatsquareonhisblankgridredforahitandblueorblackforamiss.
Playcontinuesuntilonepersonfindseveryletterofallthewordsonhis
opponentsgrid.(Formoredetailonhowtoplayaswellasaprintable
grid,seeSalvothecompleterules.)
10.

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Sparkle
Thisgametestsspellingaswellaslisteningskills.Haveyourstudents
arrangethemselvesinacircle.Announceawordfromthecurrent
vocabularyunit.Thepersontoyourleftsaysthefirstletteroftheword.
Thesecondpersonsaysthesecondletter.Thethirdpersonthethirdand
soonuntilthewordiscompleted.Thenextpersonsayssparkle.Then
youcalloutanewword.Ifatanytimeapersonsaysthewrongletter,he
isoutandreturnstohisseat.Ifastudentdoesnotsaysparklewhenthe
wordiscompletelyspelledorifhesaysittoosoon,heisout.Play
continuesuntilonlyonepersonremainsinthecircle.