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Silent Team Spelling

 

 

Subjects

  • Arts & Humanities

Grade

  • K-2
  • 3-5

Brief Description

In this spelling game, students review words in silent teams and then raise their hands as a group to show that the word is complete and spelled correctly.

Objectives

Students

  • review spelling words.
  • work cooperatively in groups.
  • express themselves appropriately without words.

Keywords

spelling, game, words, cards

Materials Needed

  • list of spelling words
  • one set of letter cards or tiles for each group of students

Lesson Plan

"Unanimouse" Spelling requires students to do more than spell words. In this game, students must work together, without their voices, to spell words and then unanimously agree on the correct spelling.

To begin, create a list of spelling words for review. Prepare sets of letter cards or tiles for the number of student groups you will form. Groups should ideally contain no more than four students, and each group will need enough letters to form each word on your list. Watch for letters repeated within words. (For example, "Amazonian" requires three As and two Ns!) Letters written on index cards or magnetic letters work well for this activity.

Separate your students into small groups. Distribute a set of letters to each group. Explain that the students will take turns spelling words that you read. When a player takes his turn and spells a word, the others may help him or her correct it, but they cannot speak. When all members of the group are satisfied that the word is correct, they raise their hands together. The teacher will call on the first group with hands raised and have that group spell the word aloud. If it is correct, that team receives a point. If not, play continues until the word is spelled correctly. A new word is then announced.

Variations

  • When it comes to setting up student groups, here's a fun way to do that: Pass out letter cards from A to Z, one card per student. Ask the students who received the letter cards A, B, and C to form the first group; students who received the letter cards E, F, and G form a second group, and so on.
  • To make the game more interesting, award an additional point to the first group to correctly spell a word if it can also define the word. Or, give two points to the first group that spells a word correctly and one point to all other groups that also have the correct spelling.
  • To review vocabulary in any subject, ask fill-in-the-blank or review questions with one-word answers and have the students spell out the answers with their cards. This combines the review with spelling and helps the students prepare for upcoming tests.

    Assessment

    Teams receive points for being the first group to find and agree upon the correct spelling of a word. Students may record their score, a scorekeeper can be selected, or the teacher can perform this task.

    Lesson Plan Source

    Education World

    Submitted By

    Cara Bafile

    National Standards

    LANGUAGE ARTS: English
    GRADES K - 12
    NL-ENG.K-12.3 Evaluation Strategies
    NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills
    NL-ENG.K-12.5 Communication Strategies
    NL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying Knowledge
    NL-ENG.K-12.7 Evaluating Data
    NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

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