The Lucky Little Learners Spelling Activities pack is a wonderfully effective and flexible resource to add to your literacy block. It has no prep worksheets and centers. These can be used to combine your spelling routine with the science of reading. Spelling and science of reading in one bundle! Read on to learn more.
If you're working towards a fully-aligned Science of Reading classroom, here are resource suggestions for each of the components of SOR.
PHONICS: Spelling and Science of Reading
If your spelling instruction is SOR-aligned then you're focused on teaching spelling with explicit processing of letter order. You're also ensuring that your students are working to link graphemes to phonemes detected in pronunciation. To make all of that a little less work for you and really live the work smarter, not harder mentality here are some example lessons using the Spelling Activities Pack.
Example Lesson for Digraph SH
Writing words like: ship, dash, shut, mesh, shop 10 times in a row without talking about it is not especially helpful. Here’s a sample lesson using the emergent reader schedule from the Science of Reading: Sample Literacy Block Schedule post. This would occur during the small 45-60 minute group & centers portion of the science of reading schedule.
Teacher Table
Whole group introduction to /sh/. Take out the Write Your Words sheet and beginning in the pencil column write some words together- shut, shell, shin, shop, shed, cash, hush, dish, posh, and mesh. Talk about the digraph and notice it in those words. Ask students to use their pencils to underline the digraph and practice reading the words out loud as a group. Model feeling the sounds in your mouth, thinking about what letters make that sound, and writing them down.
Ask students to fold over the pencil section so they can’t see it. Hand out pens to your students. This time, students work with a partner. Say a word out loud and have them discuss with their neighbor how to spell that word. Review the words as a group and allow students to fix mistakes. Tell your students to cross out anything that is incorrect and write below it.
Ask students to fold over the pen section of their paper. This way they can’t see the pencil or the pen section while they work. Ask students to take out markers and use the same list of words. This time students will work independently, this is a great time to check for understanding and mastery. Say words out loud and have students spell the words out on their own.
Center Work
For independent center work, students can work on Shaving Cream Spelling. They will put some shaving cream in their learning space. They’ll use their spelling list to spell words into the shaving cream. Remind students to voice the words they are spelling, not just copy them down. This way they are linking the graphemes to the phonemes!
HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS : Spelling and Science of Reading
If you’re using SOR aligned curriculum in your classroom then you’re probably not teaching high frequency, or sight words, the way you were taught as a kid. I remember carrying around binder rings full of sight words and practicing them with my dad at the dinner table! Combining spelling and the science of reading means no more painful drills. Instead, we ask students to lean on their phonics knowledge to sound out the fully decodable sight words or the decodable portions of irregularly spelled words. If you want to learn more about integrating your high-frequency word lists into your phonics instruction or heart words this post from The Reading Rockets is excellent.
Example Lesson for High Frequency Words
Let’s use a sample lesson for those early fluent & fluent readers with the words: could, would, should to showcase how to combine the Lucky Little Learner’s spelling and science of reading.
Teacher Table
Use the heart words resource from the Small Group & Intervention Literacy Kit to introduce and provide direct instruction for these three words and the sound oul. If you’d like to see a sample script of a heart word lesson you can take a look at this sample from Really Great Reading. Learn about an easy routine for teaching heart words here.
Download Sight Word Interventions HERE
Center Work
Use a no-prep activity like Type and Spell with your heart words. Students can type, write, and use a marker of their choice to show the “heart part.” I like to save the extra heart stickers from Valentine’s Day. I throw them in a box to be used by my students during heart word lessons. Try some of our no prep spelling activities free!
Spelling and Science of Reading
Spelling activities for the science of reading can be easily added to your reading block. The Lucky Little Learners Spelling Activities Pack is available in both printable and digital formats. Its flexibility makes it a seamless addition to your SOR-aligned curriculum.
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Create Your Own Differentiated Spelling Lists
Join Katie from Team Lucky Little Learners for quick tips on customizing and differentiating your spelling lists to be Science of Reading aligned.
Where can I find a copy of your heart words?
Hello Brooke! There are two ways to get your hands on the heart words materials… 1) Sign up for an All Access Membership Pass for $9.99/month and you can download it HERE The benefit to this option is that you would also have full access to download everything else in our shop! It’s a great deal and you can cancel at any time! Win-Win! The heart word materials also live inside our Small Group & Intervention Literacy Kit if you would prefer to purchase this bundle. You can find the literacy kit in our shop HERE.