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Teaching Third Grade Spelling

If you're teaching third grade, you already know that your students are learning new words at a faster pace than ever before. It's important that third graders keep their spelling abilities on the rise as well.

Here are two simple activities that you can use throughout the year with any list of third grade spelling words .

Intersections

Give students half-sheets of graph paper. Ask them to make a crossword-type grid of their spelling words, using as many intersections as possible. This activity is fun for the kids, and it requires that they look very carefully at the letters in the spelling words.

If you want to go a step further, ask students to write crossword puzzle clues for each spelling word. Then allow them to go to a free online crossword puzzle creator and make a puzzle with their words and clues for a classmate (or a parent!) to solve.

Art Works!

clock with word ANYTIME written around it

You'll probably ask your students to write their spelling words ten times each (or 5 times or 20 times) most weeks. That's a good way to practice new words. But it can become tedious for everyone. Why not see how some ART works in your spelling class, too?

Ask students to think of a way to illustrate some of the week's spelling words. Here are some examples:

spelling words illustrated with their letters

Encourage students to use colors and add drawings to make their work really interesting. Post the artwork on a classroom wall for students to look at all through the week. It's a sneaky way to get students to study those spelling words!

More Ideas for Teaching Third Grade Spelling

Don't miss these third grade activities and our fun spelling worksheets.

Third grade worksheets - Printable activities to give your students practice with grade-level words. Contractions and calendar words are covered here.

Compound Word Wizards - Fun whole class or large-group activity for practicing compound words

Spelling Homework Ideas - Lots of interesting ways for kids to practice their weekly words!

3rd Grade Spelling Bee Word Lists - Get ready for the competitions by studying these important words!

Two kookaburras from our "Double the Fun" third grade spelling game

Double the Fun - To double or not to double the final consonant when adding a suffix? Another great game for 3rd grade spelling fun!

Spelling Bee Games - Try one of our new Silent Spelling Bee variations. A fun--and quiet--twist on a classic game!

Be sure to share our ideas, and yours, for teaching third grade spelling with other teachers and parents.

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