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November 05, 2003

Gayle Carlos, a third grade teacher at Mimosa Park Elementary School in Luling, Louisiana

When spelling words are presented, write them on a marker board in red and blue markers. Use red for vowels and blue for consonants. Then have the students write them in their notebooks the same way. It’s easy to emphasize patterns in the words this way. Allowing the students to ‘build’ the words using red and blue popcubes or snapcubes can extend this activity. Again, the patterns in the words are very easy to see! A third extension activity would be to get the students ‘bodily/kinesthetically’ involved in spelling the words orally. Students stand up with enough elbowroom to clap over their head and below their waist. Teach the students to clap over their head for vowels, and below their waist for consonants. Students then chant the spelling of the word while they move their arms to clap — either up for vowels or down for consonants. So, the word cat would look like: clap down for ‘c’, clap up for ‘a’, clap down for ‘t’ while spelling the word out loud. It sounds like cheering is going on in the classroom. If the teacher has access to a computer that is connected to a large TV screen, a PowerPoint can be made to visually show the students the words on the screen. On the PowerPoint, the letters of the words zoom in and are written in red and blue. It’s an awesome, fun learning experience enjoyed by all!