crossword puzzles instead of a spelling curriculum?

[Iskra]

I've beeen toying with this idea in my head for my boy who will be 8 (3rd grade) in the fall. Has anyone done this, or any other non-traditional way of teaching spelling?

Basically, as I am planning for next year, I am reflecting over the things that didn't work this year, that were a struggle, that didn't get done, etc, and one of those things is Spelling Workout. He is in the middle of book C and does not like doing it. I stopped making him do it a while back, but we didn't really replace it with anything.

 

I want to say that he is a natural speller, but I am not so sure if that's true. He makes mistakes when he writes. I would say, in most of his narrations from WWE2 there are 2 or 3 words misspeled (we're talking about half-page narrations). Most of the time if I ask him where his mistakes are, he can find them himself and correct them, but not always. He won our library's spelling bee last year with 3rd and 4th graders in it (he was 2nd grade), which is the reason I think he might be a natural speller.

 

So, I was thinking that I would let him do crossword puzzles instead of spelling (the crossword puzzles were the only part of spelling workout that he liked), and I would also keep (or ask him to keep) a notebook of words that he misspells when he is writing. for him to review from time to time. Would that work? Is that enough?

 

Also, please share your suggestions for which crossword puzzles to use. I was thinking NYT. Would that be too much for an 8 year old? Are there some others (fun and challenging) but more age appropriate crossword puzzles that we could use for this purpose? Perhaps there is a crossword puzzle book out there, some of your children have used? I could really use some recommendations.

 

Lastly, I want to add that we are most likely going to use MCT island next year. If we do, since it is advertised as a completel LA program, does that mean spelling will be included in there and if so how is spelling done in MCT?

[Iskra]

I like how you use Spelling workout, but I need the work done independently. He works best that way and between the 3 kiddos I'm looking for tedious work to be done independently because there are just not enough hours in the day otherwise for me to spend time doing work with everybody. MCT will need to be done with me, so I want at least spelling to be independent (but that can really only work if it is something my kid likes doing).

Maybe there are some puzzle books / puzzle websites specifically suited to teaching spelling? Does anyone know of anything like that?

[Iskra]

bump bump people.... I know you are full of resource ideas... please share!.... stripe, quark, boscopup, crimson wife, hunter, farrarwilliams, alte veste academy ... come on, pretty please

[momma2three]

You might want to try the Penny Press word game books, if you're looking for puzzle sources? They also have word searches and acrostics and other games that might help with spelling. The NYT puzzles might be a little bit hard, and you'd definitely have to sit there and help him with the answers since so many are references that would be totally obscure to an 8 year old. If he likes puzzles, you could certainly try a few... they sell books of just the Monday puzzles, which are the easiest.

[Arcadia]

You can create your own or try the exisiting ones.

http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/games-tools/crossword-puzzles-a-30183.html

 

We also play scrabble to encourage learning to spell.

[SarahW]

This interests me.

 

If you are feeling ambitious, you could make your own.

 

Word search: http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-search-maker/

 

Crossword puzzle : http://www.puzzle-maker.com/CW/

 

You could plug in his misspelled words, or find a free graded spelling list, as the word lists.

 

But that just sticks the words into his rote memory, without bothering with learning rules.

[jessicamcc]

You could make your own on http://www.edhelper.com/puzzles.htm. You could use the words from your spelling lessons.

It would be a nice supplement to liven the lessons up.

[Iskra]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I don't have the time to make my own. I will look into the Monday puzzle books, but the more responses I get and the more I think about it, the idea I had sounds less and less appealing to me. I think that I am back to square one. I really don't know what to do for spelling and I really don't want to do a curriculum.

 

[Iskra]

Double post

[stripe]

What about something like

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/ or

http://www.spellingcity.com/crossword.html

 

I definitely think the NYTimes is very hard, especially as the week goes on. Then again, I can't do them, so maybe I am biased.

[momma2three]

I think the biggest issue with the NYT is how many cultural references there are, with lots and lots of answers being famous actors or sports stars or something like that... oftentimes not even current stars, but "Michael of REM" or something like that. Stuff that an adult immersed in a few decades of pop culture would find easy, but I definitely wouldn't expect an 8 year old to know.

 

I don't know if crosswords as a spelling curriculum would work, but if he likes crosswords I'd definitely look into one of these: http://www.pennydellpuzzles.com/subcategoryfilter.aspx?c=easycrosswords They sell them at the supermarket and bookstores, and I always liked them as a kid, and still buy them for plane trips.

[quark]

bump bump people.... I know you are full of resource ideas... please share!.... stripe, quark, boscopup, crimson wife, hunter, farrarwilliams, alte veste academy ... come on, pretty please

 

Sorry for the delay...just saw this.

 

I haven't read all the responses but I did see someone say NYT is too difficult for an 8yo. DS didn't find it too difficult. DS used to be crosswords crazy at 7yo and started with NYT puzzles. Still does some now. Whenever he had some difficulty, he just let it be for another day. He was okay with not finishing the puzzle but I can see how frustrating it might be for a child who insists on finishing the day's puzzle. Crosswords won't solve all your spelling woes like pp's have said e.g. there are abbreviations and sometimes, cultural references, pop culture stuff DS didn't know and so on but I just saw it as a way for him to learn all these other things. A sort of integrated learning experience if you will. I have only seen crosswords as a benefit so far (we've also been lucky in that we haven't encountered any crosswords with overtly adult themes).

 

I do have a natural speller, but he also makes the occasional mistake. I don't think it's a huge issue at his age. I was like that too. The more I read though the better I became at spelling. We read lots of classics. And we practice visualizing a lot and that often helps him. I suggest word root studies as well. We liked Red Hot Root Words, and miscellaneous other vocab programs at age 8.

 

One other way to work on spelling and math at the same time with a young kid is to use codes/ ciphers. A simple substitution code is a good way to start. Craft the code in such a way that he has to solve a simple math fact and the answer = a coded letter. Make up coded sentences that use the spelling words, and gradually increase difficulty. We did this a lot when DS was younger.

 

Hope this helps!

[Iskra]

Thanks all. I really like the reviews of Red Hot Root Words. I am going to get that. As for spelling, I also have a book called "ABCs and all their tricks". I wonder if he just reads through that (he loves reading) instead of writing words over and over (like in spelling workout), whether that would be good enough for spelling. He is a very bright kid and he remembers easily things that he has read.