Third
Grade Spelling
Third grade spelling words/lists will be taken from our
reading series. At the beginning
of the week during language skills, students will take a “pretest” (on
whiteboards) over the list of words that correlate with the story we are
reading from our anthology.
The spelling words are grouped by word families. For example, the first list focuses on
words with short vowel sounds. When students take the pretest and check their
work, we examine the words together as a class and look for spelling patterns
that make these words similar and any spelling “rules” that may apply (such as
“i before e”), which greatly helps students understand why the words are
spelled the way that they are.
Students then practice spelling the words correctly in their
practice books, and we also strive to correctly spell our spelling words in our
writing (stories, journals).
Because the words are often very similar (due to being word families), a
“post test” is not given for each spelling list – most students are easily able
to correctly spell the words after learning the pattern for the list. At the end of each reading theme (every
4-5 lists or so), a theme review list post test will be given, in which selected
words from that theme’s lists will be included. This allows me to see if students are remembering/applying
the spelling patterns/rules we have learned.
For those students/families wishing to work on spelling at
home, a list with space to take practice tests will be sent home on the day
that the pretest is given (the first list is attached to this note, and does
not have to be returned to school).
In addition, you may use the cool website www.spellingcity.com (linked to our
class blog in the sidebar on the right) to create printable handwriting
worksheets and to play games using our spelling words. Search for “jhartsock” (teacher name)
to find our lists, then select the list of words from our current reading story
(your child will know this). Feel
free to encourage your child to re-visit lists we’ve already covered, but
please don’t work ahead and study lists we have not yet covered in class.
Please contact me with any questions or if you have
difficulty with the website.
- Mrs. Hartsock
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