How To Memorize Spelling Words

Here are some fun ways to make memorizing those spelling words a little less painful.

1.  Come up with them yourself!  Kids are more likely to learn a word's correct spelling if they've chosen it themselves, so have your kids highlight (or jot down) words they come across in their studies that give them trouble.  Let them add one of these to their weekly list of spelling words!

2.  Playing spelling games!  How about hangman, sentence unscrambling, or word finds to have some fun with it?

3.  Repetition!  Write the word and say it out loud.  Again!  Flashcards word well for this purpose too.  Have your kids take an spelling test online to see how they do.

4.   Use different brain pathways to learn the spelling - try fill in the blank or matching definition exercises, draw a picture of the word, write a description of whatever the word is about, spell the word in a song to help you remember, or link that word to something more familiar in your brain that could help you remember it.

5.  Break it down into syllables or phonemes, or remember the rhythm of the word.  You could also use a mnemonic to help you remember, such as triggering the rule "i before e, except after c" in your head.