Tic-Tac-Toe
Materials:
Tic-Tac-Toe Game Board
Word Sort Cards
How to play:
1. One word card is placed in each section.
2. Players each take eight word cards.
3. Player 1 takes their turn to make a category with one of their cards and
one of the cards on the board using any word feature they find.
4. If Player 2 accepts player 1’s justification, player 1 places a counter on
that square.
5. Player 2 then takes their turn to make a category with one of their cards
and one of the cards on the board using any word feature they find.
6. Play continues until someone wins the game by placing three counters in
a row diagonally, vertically or horizontally.
Concentration
Materials:
16 Word Sort Cards (more can be used if you wish)
How to play:
1. Shuffle a set of Word Sort Cards.
2. Place cards face down on the table.
3. Each player in turn, turns over two cards and attempts to link the words
in some way, e.g. by beginning sound, number of syllables, meaning etc.
4. If the player 1 can justify the link and player 2 accepts it, player 1 keeps
the pair and has another turn.
5. If player 1 cannot make a link between the two words, player 1 turns the
cards face down and player 2 has their turn.
6. The player who picks up the most cards is the winner.
Rummy
Materials:
Word Sort Cards
How to play:
1. Each player is dealt five cards and the remaining cards are placed face
down in a pile.
2. The top card of the pile is turned over, facing up.
3. Player 1 may take the card facing up, or the face down card on the top of
the pile.
4. If a player picks up a card, they must put a card down.
5. Player 2 may then take the top card.
6. A pair is made when a link can be made between two Word Sort Cards,
e.g. beginning sound, number of syllables, meaning etc.
7. The aim is to collect pairs of words which are linked in some way.
Snap
Materials:
Word Sort Cards
How to play:
1. Each player is dealt a number of Word Sort Cards.
2. Each player in turn places one card face up.
8. If that card matches the previous card in any way e.g. beginning sound,
number of syllables, meaning etc. the player must then call out ‘SNAP’
and justify their match.
3. If both players agree on the link between the two words, the player may
keep the pair.
4. The aim is to collect pairs of words which are linked in some way; the
winner is the player with the most cards.
Guess My Group
Materials:
Word Sort Cards
How to play:
1. Each player has 10 Word Sort Cards
2. Players sort them into as many groups as
possible.
3. Partners have to guess the criteria that has been used.
4. Take a photograph of the word sort and paste it in your spelling journal.
Word Origins
A root word is part of a word which has its own
meaning and often comes from another language
such as Greek, Latin or French.
e.g. Aqua = aquatic, aquamarine
Investigate the word origins from your list. Find
other related words and their meanings.
Display your information in your spelling journal.
Root
Origin
Meaning
Examples
aqua
Latin
Water
terra
Latin
Earth
aquatic, aqueduct,
aquamarine, aquarium
Mediterranean, terrarium,
terrestrial,
Exploring Words
Materials:
15 letters
How to play:
1. Players have ten minutes to make as many words as possible from the
letters. (write them into your spelling journal)
2. Once the ten minutes is up, each player must mark their words using a
dictionary.
3. Scoring:
a. 1 point = Each word
b. 2 points = Topic words
c. 3 points = Words with more than ten letters.
4. The player with the most points wins.
Crosswords
Crosswords are a fun way of playing with words.
Create a crossword in your journal or on 1cm
squared paper using your list words.
You may like to ask a friend or partner to complete
it once you have finished!
Magic Words
Using a word from your list words, create a magic word list in your
spelling journal.
Rules:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Change one letter at a time.
Make a real word each time you change a letter.
You may change the order of the letters
Use BLOCK LETTERS.
e.g.
COLD
CORD
CARD
WARD
WARM
Little Words in Big Words
Using a word from your list words, find as many little words as you can.
Create a list in your spelling journal.
Rules:
1. You may change the order of the letters.
2. You may not use the same letter twice unless it is in the
word twice.
3. You may not use proper nouns or
abbreviations.
Note: if there is an ‘s’ in a word you can often make
an extra word by adding ‘s’ and making it plural; for
example, ball, balls.
When you make a little word, look carefully at it to
see if you can rearrange the letters in it to make other
new words. For example, tea, ate, eat.
Word Snakes
Rules:
1. Find a partner (optional).
2. Use 1 cm squared paper.
3. Select a topic or list word to go in the middle.
4. Take turns to add topic or list words to the end or
beginning of the starter word. Each new word
must use one letter of an existing word and it must
change direction.
5. Make a photocopy and place it in your spelling
journal.
Spellamadoodle
1. Create a design using your spelling words printed
end-to-end in you spelling journal.
You may like to draw a picture
that represents one of your
words, and then write the
words around the picture.
2. Each word must be written at
least three times and must be
spelled correctly.
How Many Steps
1. Use your spelling words to complete a ladder in
which each new word must begin with the letter
which ends the word before it.
2. You may need to add other words in order to include
all the spelling words from your list.
Riddle-Me-Rees
Create a riddle-me-rees for a
selection of your list words.
e.g.
Clue: it’s got four legs...
My first letter is in dog but not in log,
My second is the letter between ‘h’ and ‘j’,
My third letter is in bang but not in bag,
My fourth letter is in green and magic and huge,
My fifth letter is a vowel in owl,
My whole word is something that howls in the night.
Answer: Dingo
Word Families
A word family desrcibes a group of words related in meaning.
Words in word families might be derived from the same base
word and have different prefixes and/or suffixes added to it.
For example, play, plays, played, replayed, replay, players,
replaying.
Using your choice of graphic organiser, create a display to
show a word family using one of your journal words. Use
colour, different fonts and pictures to help you remember
the meaning and spelling of the words.
Helpful hint: you may like to use a mind map.
Word Search
Using magazines, newspapers or catalogues search for
and cut out words that contain your focus spelling
pattern or sound
Glue them into your journal and
use a dictionary to investigate
their meaning. You may like to
use pictures or symbols to help
you remember.
Word Sleuth
Create a word slueth on 1cm squared paper.
Use your spelling list words.
The words must go from left to right and top the bottom.
Another Word Family
Word families are groups of words that differ
in beginning sound, but have the same
vowel, ending sound and spelling.
Using a word from your spelling list, create a
list of words that you can spell using the
same pattern.
E.g. If you can spell plan…then you can also
spell….fan, ran, man, can.
Hang Man
Using words from our Unit of Inquiry or Spelling Lists
Visual Patterns
Select a group of words that have a common VISUAL pattern
e.g. ough
Although they may sound different the spelling pattern remains
the same e.g. rough, tough, cough, enough, thought, fought
Write down as many words as you can
You may also like to do a word hunt to find more, or ask a
partner!
e.g.
ADD- ONS
Select a PREFIX or SUFFIX that you have been learnt about or
would like to investigate.
e.g. ment
Add it to as many words as you can
You may also like to do a word hunt to find more, or ask a
partner!
e.g. amaze – amazement
encourage – encouragement
measure – measurement