Making Words

Reading and spelling are known to go hand in hand in learning literacy.  Research shows that once a child knows how to spell a word the chance that they will be able to read it is greatly increased.  So how can teachers make their students better spellers?  A great tool to use in the classroom to help a child's spelling is the making words game, as shown below.

This game will greatly advance the student's ability to read and write. Children have a really fun time playing these games and learning the different spelling patterns.  The lessons that are learned in the making words lesson will transfer over to the student's abilities to decode and therefore read more and more words.  This activity is also very interactive and takes up very little time in the school day.  However, the instructor needs to be sure to keep it interesting and keep the slower paced students involved.  It is recommended that when asking students what letters spell a word, to call on the slower paced students during the easier words and the advanced students when the words become difficult.  

Do you think that you will use the making words activity in your future classrooms? Why or why not?
Do you think there are any possible variations to the activity to keep things fresh and interesting?

Here's an example of a possible Making Words activity sheet that I got from

http://fun-n-first.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-words-fun.html