Toothy

Hello everyone!  Do your kids ever get tired of practicing their spelling words the same way every day?  Do you want a really simple way to spice things up?  Meet Toothy…

Here’s what you do.  Pair your students into partner groups.  Each student has a markerboard and marker.  One person draws Toothy (without teeth).  The person that draws Toothy is the “teacher” and have to ask their partner to spell spelling words.  I have my students use the spelling word in a complete sentence to add to the skills being covered.  If the partner spells the word correctly on their markerboard, they get to draw a tooth in Toothy’s mouth.  If they spell it wrong, the “teacher” spells it correctly for them and the “teacher” gets to draw the tooth.

Silly…YES!  Creepy looking…YES!  Motivating…YES!  Effective…DOUBLE YES!  It sounds crazy but this little motivator is huge in my classroom and my kids beg me to let them play Toothy.  Little do they know they are actually working hard to master the correct spelling of their words!  Once the “teacher” has gone through the whole list of words the partners switch roles and the new “teacher” gets to draw their version of Toothy.  As you can see, Toothy can look any way you want him to look but his mouth has to be big, open, and toothless.  As you can see from the next picture…Toothy can even be a girl!  Happy practicing!!!