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Do you have trouble with spelling? There are many different ways to practice your spelling words. Graham and Harris (2005) say the best way to learn to spell is to play with words and become more familiar with them.

Write your spelling words on index cards or small slips of paper, and then sort them into groups based on parts that the words have in common. You can look for patterns in your words. Some of them may end in -ent or -and. Some of them may begin with cat- or an-.

Once you have identified some of the word patterns in your spelling words, look for those word patterns in other places. You might find some of them in the kitchen or in a magazine, or even on your favorite website.

You can find websites like spellingcity.com where you can type in your spelling words and then play games with them. Do art projects with your spelling words. Write them with your food. The more you play with your words, the better you will learn to spell them.

Gentry (2007) says that the best way to improve your spelling is to write. Try to use your spelling words when you are writing during the week. You may be able to include them into a story or a poem. You might try sneaking a spelling word or two into an email or a note to a friend.

Make sure you look up the meaning of each word so you will be able to use it properly. Look up different forms of your word; it may have an opposite, or antonym, that you can create by adding a prefix to the beginning. The more you use your spelling words in your everyday writing, the better you will remember them later.

It is important for you to know how to improve your spelling on your own. Teachers often give you a list of words at the beginning of the week and a test at the end of the week.

Some teachers think that you can learn spelling words just by writing them over and over. If you find yourself spelling the same words wrong again and again, make these your own spelling words for a week.

Keep playing games and writing them in fun ways until you really know them well. You'll know you've really learned a word when you can recognized when you or someone else spells it incorrectly.

REFERENCES

Gentry, JR 2007, 'Spelling Counts,' Scholastic, New York, NY.

Graham, S, Harris, KR, 2005, Improving the Writing Performance of Young Struggling Writers: "Theoretical and Programmatic Research From the Center on Accelerating Student Learning", Journal of Special Education, vol 39, num 1, pp 19-33.