One of the things I often see in posts from other teachers is a need for more ways to practice spelling and vocabulary words. Last year I shared with you three of our favorite spelling games: Spin & Spell, Magnetic Spelling, and Body Boggle. Today I’d like to share with you another activity we often use to practice spelling and vocabulary: Scrambled Words. Besides being hands-on, relatively easy to set up, and good vocabulary practice, this activity is yet another way to use those plastic eggs that are so prevalent this time of year. So, if Contraction Eggs and Coin Eggs were a hit in your room, get ready for another eggcellent idea!
Supplies you’ll need:
- Letter tiles (I use Scrabble tiles, but you can use anything that has a single letter on it and fits into the egg)
- Plastic eggs
- An egg carton (I make one set for every 4-6 students)
- A recording sheet (described below)
Preparation:
Recording Sheet: I try to keep this very simple. I make three columns: egg number, picture and/or definition, word. The only column I fill in for students is the picture and/or definition. The students record the number from the egg in which they find the word in the egg number column (so I can be sure they actually unscrambled the letters in the eggs), and they write the word in the word column (to practice the spelling). The picture/definition takes this from a simple spelling exercise to a vocabulary exercise by giving the students at least some context for the word.
The Eggs: Each egg is numbered 1-12 or 1-18 (depending on the size of my word list and carton). I then place the letter tiles to spell one word from our list into each egg. I do not put the words into eggs in the same order as the recording sheet. Doing so would defeat the point of having to unscramble the letters, students would be able to just write the words from the picture/definition alone.
The letter tiles can get a little expensive, especially if you are (like me) making quite a few different sets (we use this activity with nearly all of our themed vocabulary units and our phonics based vocabulary units). I have found letter tiles cheaper on eBay, but even that can get expensive after a while. My solution was to employ the services of my woodworking father again. He sanded scrap wood and cut it into squares of approximately the same size as Scrabble tiles for me. I then wrote the letters I needed on the wood using a Sharpie marker. The result wasn’t as fancy, but it worked and was much cheaper.
At first, I considered reusing the same eggs and letter tiles, just mixing up the combinations for the different lists, but I taught the same units over and over again and didn’t want to have to remake my eggs every year. Instead, I labeled the end of each carton with the unit information so I can quickly grab the set I want. Over the years, there have been times when I no longer used a particular set (such as when the curriculum changed), and so those cartons were recycled, and the eggs & tiles were reused to make new sets.
In Class Use:
I’ve used Scrambled Words in two ways. Sometimes we’ll do it as part of our whole class practice time. In those instances, I give a set of eggs and recording sheets to each group of students and let them work. The other way I’ve used this activity is as a center activity. I place 1-2 sets of eggs in the center, along with a stack of recording sheets. When students get to that center in the rotation, they do the activity and leave their completed recording sheet inside a folder for me to check later.
The only problem I’ve ever run into with this activity is occasionally students will get the letters for two different eggs mixed up or won’t get all of the letters back into a particular egg. I always remind students to only do one egg at a time, making sure to put the letters for that egg away before getting another one out, but accidents do happen. I am always careful to record on a small piece of paper I can keep in the carton (and remove before giving it to students) a key that tells me what word is in each egg. That allows me to quickly check that all the eggs have the correct letters in them before putting them away to await the next time we need them.
Conclusion:
The first time I tried this activity, I didn’t know how it would go over, especially with my middle school and adult students. They didn’t find it too childish, though, and it is a good way to practice spelling/vocabulary words that’s not writing them over and over again. Scrambled Words, along with Spin & Spell and Magnetic Spelling, are a staple in our vocabulary units, both the themed sets and our phonics based units. So, if you’re looking for a new way to practice spelling and vocabulary words, consider giving Scrambled Words a try. I think your students will like it. Happy teaching, everyone!
The Gaming Grammarian 