Get to 50 - Word Study

This is an alternative to traditional spelling activities. As we all know students learn in different ways. I was always a bad speller, to do well on spelling quizzes I would practice tracing my words in rice. It was the only thing that helped, so when I had to do things like write my words three times each I felt like I was wasting my time.

Years ago a teacher share the idea of Get to 50 with me. I am not sure who any more but I can't take credit for this idea. The teacher creates a list of activities that students can do to practice spelling. It can be anything you can think of. It is important is to think of the multiple intelligences and try to allow multiple chances for all activities. Then the more challenging the task the more points it is worth. The students have to Get to 50 points by the end of the week when they have there quiz.

Get to 50 - These are some of the activities we do in spelling. This list has grown every year I teach. Anytime a student has an idea that relates to spelling I add it. This year I have a boy that builds his words in Minecraft and takes screen shots.

Triangle Words

Feel free to take ideas from my list but I always suggest you have students share out there ideas. Most of these ideas came from other students.

The down side of Get to 50 is that it would take me hours just to check. So this year with our chromebooks I have a solution.

I created a google forum for students. Every Friday when students come in they have to hand in any papers they have for activities, and digital activities are in there drive. Students then log onto their chromebooks and fill out a forum. This forum has them put in there name and the activities they did and how many total points they got. The great thing about google forums is you get a google sheet with all the response. So in a matter of seconds I have one sheet that says who did the there homework. The first few weeks I was very careful with checking the google forum next to the papers handed in. By now I know which kids to keep and eye out for so grading spelling homework only takes a minute or two.

To see a little bit more about what I am talking about see my screencast below.