Spelling Homework

I have tried every form of spelling homework that has ever been invented... but I have finally found something that works really well for me so I wanted to share it.

Here is how my spelling program goes...

In my classroom, I give ten new words each week on the first day of school. My students read them, cut them out and find at least one way to sort them as part of their morning work. Then as a class we discuss the various patterns in the words and write them into our spelling notebooks along with a sentence that describes how the pattern looks and sounds. You wouldn't believe how powerful this discussion piece is, especially at the start of the year when kids only want to sort by initial consonant. We go back to our spelling notebooks throughout the week to complete practice tasks and other sorts that allow them to generalize the patterns to other words. During Daily 5 my kids get even more independent practice with a variety of activities that I have made over the years.

Heres how homework goes...

I do assign spelling homework for each day of the week except Friday. In the past I have handed out a different practice sheet each day of the week for kids to take home for homework but that was a hot mess....tons of lost papers and mass amounts of paperwork to look over. What can I say...I was relatively new. Over the summer as I was thinking about revamping my spelling homework, I decided that I wanted to provide my kids with choice so I stapled a sheet full of activities that kids could do to practice their words at home to the inside of a spiral notebook that kids took home each week and returned for me to flip through every Friday. Also, painful to look through for accuracy, etc. So one day on my internet travels I stumbled across these spelling task cards (see below) that I loved. I altered them just a tad to use in my room. I made a copy for each student and placed them in clear, plastic sleeves that live in my student's T.E.A.M. Binders (my homework folder, planner, etc. organization system) which can be reused next year. I also post them on my class website-just in case. Next I put together a packet, copied back to back that students pick up each week. It is only two pages long, is easy for my kids to organize their words on, stays together and is very easy for me to process. It starts with a cover sheet that has directions and a place for kids to record which spelling task they chose each day of the week from their task cards. Page two is copied onto the back of the cover sheet and is divided into three sections for kids to do their spelling tasks. No more shabby notebooks falling apart a few months into school! The last page is a practice test page for kids to use the night before the spelling test. I also have a reminder on this page about visiting our class spelling city site where I have loaded all of our spelling words. Each week I just post the current spelling week on my homework blog so kids know which list to study.
Here is my spelling homework packet:


I honestly can't remember where I got these amazing cards from but they were offering them up to me for classroom use so I know they wouldn't mind if I passed them along. Thank you for these fabulous cards!


On Friday (or the last day of the school week whatever it may be) I give my test. I tend to use only half of the actual spelling words my kids studied all week and then throw in five "curveballs" as my class likes to call them because if I did my job well and they practiced all week then they should be able to generalize the pattern to new words. The curveballs are usually words from the extension list provided in the spelling program I use or words I pick that follow the pattern. I have to say...my kids do great so I feel like this system is a success. One element that I added this year is dictation sentences. I created two sentences and jam packed them with 2nd and 3rd grade high frequency words for writing. I put a mini-rubric on the bottom of the test so my students know that I am not only grading the sentences for word accuracy, but conventions as well. Still not sure how I feel about this element of the tests. I thought it would help those who needed more practice with conventions and 3rd grade words but it doesn't seem to hold much weight with them. Any suggestions? I provide tons of word work activities during my Daily 5 for practice with the high frequency words but perhaps it is time to assign them as actual words to study each week...

My spelling test template...not super cute but it works for me. I have one without the cursive section for the first half of the school year but this is the form I am currently using.