Spelling Detective

Sample Student Work Sheet
The following news article, adapted from an article that appeared on the Scholastic News Web site, serves as an example of what a work sheet for students in Grade 4 might look like. The key to this activity is to select word spellings students should be able to self-edit and current events news stories that are worth discussing.

Note: In this sample, students will be asked to find 15 spelling errors. For the purpose of the sample, all spelling errors have been underscored. Of course, they would not be underscored on the student work sheet.

Navy Dolphins Clear Port four Humanitarian Ships

Wendsday, March 26 -- Too Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins were put in to active duty today by the Navy. The two specially traned dolphins are searching the waters for explosives around the port citty of Umm Qasr.

Makai, 33, and Tacoma, 22, both mails, use their natural abilityes to locate explosives and mark them with floats. The dolfins are working to clear a path for ships carrying humanitarian aid to Iraq.

The Navy has 20 trained dolphins as part of the Marine Mammal Project based in San Diego, California. Nine of those dolphins where flown to the Persian Gulf recently. They are staying in specially bilt tanks abord a U.S. warship.

The Navy dolphins are taught to avoid touching the explosives. According to won bomb expert, the dolphins are more at risk from local dolphins than the explosives. Dolphins are territorial an cud drive away the two newcomers.

Adapting the Activity
Following are some ideas for adapting the activity for use in all grades:

• Prior to handing out the activity, introduce new vocabulary to students. For example, in the sample above you might introduce and talk about words such as explosives, Iraq, Persian Gulf, dolphin, and humanitarian.
  
  
• The above passage might be adapted for older students by misspelling some of the more difficult words.
  
  
• Expand the focus of this activity to include editing for errors of spelling and errors of punctuation or word use.
  
  
• This activity could be set up in the classroom as a Spelling Learning Center. Change the story each week. Students cycle through the center during the week. Students read the story, which is glued to a sheet of colorful construction paper and posted in the center or displayed inside a sheet protector that can be tacked to the center's wall. Students might simply list the 15 words that are misspelled in the story - using the correct spellings, of course. As an alternative, students could mark errors with crayon on the sheet protector. This could a self-correcting activity; correct responses might be listed on the reverse side of the story text.

Assessment

From time to time, introduce a similar activity that will be graded; students should find at least 80 percent of grade-appropriate spelling errors in any passage.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying Knowledge
NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Civics
GRADES K - 4
NSS-C.K-4.4 Other Nations and World Affairs
GRADES 5 - 8
NSS-C.5-8.4 Other Nations and World Affairs
GRADES 9 - 12
NSS-C.9-12.4 Other Nations and World Affairs

SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. History
GRADES K - 4
NSS-USH.K-4.1 Living and Working together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-USH.5-12.10 Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the Present)

SOCIAL SCIENCES: World History
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-WH.5-12.8 The 20th Century

Find more great spelling activity ideas in Education World's Spelling Activity Archive.

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