� Pre-K � Kindergarten � Grades 1–8

Picture Hunt Literacy Skills / Spelling

Materials Procedure

1. Old magazines and catalogs

2. Scissors

3. Glue

4. White paper folded into sections

5. Pencils

1. Havestudentsfoldpieceofpaperuntilthedesirednumberofsquares/sectionsarecreated.Directstudentsinlabelingthesectionswithaspellingfeature.

2. Childrenwillhuntforpicturesstartingwiththefeaturebeingstudied.

Supplycatalogsandmagazineswithlikelysourcesofpictures.

3. Oncechildrenhavecutandgluedatleastonepictureineachsquare,askthemtolabeleachpicture.

� Pre-K � Kindergarten � Grades 1–3

Spade of Words Card Game Literacy Skills / Spelling

Materials Procedure

1. Deck of playing cards

2. Individual dry erase boards

1. Theobjectiveofthegameistobethefirsttogetridofallyour cards.

2. Deal5-8cardstoeachstudentandplacetheremainingdeckinthemiddleofthetable.

3. Thefirststudentputsdownacard.Everyonepreparestospellaword.

4. Thenumberonthecardindicatesthenumberoflettersthatmustbeintheword.Thefirstletterofthecard’ssuit(diamond/spade/club/heart)mustappearsomewhereinthewordorprovidethefirstletterofthedigraph/blend.Forexample,ifthestudentdrawsa4ofdiamonds,s/hemightspell “drip.”

5. Eachstudentwriteshis/herwordonadryeraseboard.Theteacher

checksthespelling.Ifthewordismisspelledorthestudentcan’tcomeupwithaword,s/hemustdrawanothercardfromthedeck.

6. Ifafacecard(king/queen/jack/ace/joker)islaiddown,thestudentscan

makeupanyword.Tomakethegameatyourstudents’level,youmayneedtoeliminatesomeofthehighercards,suchasallsevens,eights,and nines.

7. Continueplayuntilonestudenthaslaiddownallcards.Optional

rulesinclude“nonames”and/orawordmayonlybeusedonceduringagame.

Source: (2002). Brown, T. Bettie F. Williams Elementary School. Virginia Beach, VA.

� Pre-K � Kindergarten � Grades 1–3

Spelling Feature Concentration Literacy Skills / Spelling

Materials Procedure

1. Concentration cards by feature

1. Oncestudentsarefamiliarwithaspecificspellingfeature,theycanplaySpellingFeatureConcentrationataworkstation.Thecardsareorganizedbyspellingfeature.Toincreasedifficulty,youcanmixfeatures.

2. Studentslaycardsfacedown.Thefirstplayerturnsovertwocards.

Thepicturemustmatchwiththeappropriatespellingfeature.Forexample,fortheblendsetofcards,thepictureofsnowmustbematchedwiththe/sn/card.Ifthecardsdonotmatch,thenbothareturnedback over.

3. Studentstaketurnsuntilallcardsarematched.Theplayerwiththe

mostmatcheswins.

Source: Jones, M. (1998). Effinger Elementary School. Rockbridge, Co., VA

� Pre-K � Kindergarten � Grades 1–3

Word Treasures Literacy Skills / Spelling

Materials Procedure

1. Treasure chest template

2. Treasure key template

3. Short poem or passage emphasizing desired spelling feature

1. Tellthechildrentheyaregoingonatreasurehunt.Thetreasuresyouwantthemtoseekaredifferenttypesofwords.CreateacolorandjewelcodebymakingacopyoftheTreasureKey.Childrencanreferencethekeyduringtheirsearch.Forexample,studentsmaycolorallcoinsyellowforevery/sp/wordtheyfindandjewelsblueforevery/th/wordthey find.

2. Distributethereadingpassageforstudentstohunt!

3. Wheneveryoneisfinished,readtheselectiontogether.Askstudentstototalhowmanyofeachtreasuretheyfound.Makealistofthetreasurewordsbyfeature.