September 1, 2015

Dear Families,

The 1st grade teachers at Cottonwood have a list of 100 words we’d like students to be able to correctly spell by the end of the school year. Each month your learner will have list of 12-13 words that they need to practice spelling correctly. We will be practicing them in class and ask that you also practice them at home.

The list of words for the month of September is on the back side of this sheet. At the end of each month we will have a formal spelling assessment. We will also be looking for students to correctly spell these words in their daily writing.

In order to make spelling the most positive experience for everyone involved, we’d like to offer up some activities to try at home to support learners “paper and pencil” practice of these words:

 Practice writing them with markers or crayons. They can make each letter a different color (we call this “Rainbow Writing” in class).

 Have your student practice typing the words out on a computer.

 Practice writing the word on a baking sheet with sand or sugar spread out on it. Store the sand/sugar in a plastic bag for future use.

 Using sidewalk chalk, write the words outside in a safe area.

 Students can mold the letters out of Play Dough for each word.

 Have students look for the word in a magazine or newspaper. Have them circle or highlight the word every time they find it. You can race to see who can find the most words.

 Use magnetic letters to spell the words on your refrigerator or the back side of a baking sheet.

 Use alphabet beads to build the word by stringing the letters onto a pipe cleaner, string, or wire.

 Brainstorm ways that the word can be used in a sentence.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask! Happy Spelling,

Mrs. Dahl & Mrs. Smuin 