Make Spelling Fun and Engaging

Make Spelling Fun and Engaging
Quick and Clever Ways That Work for Grades 4-8
Jane Bell Kiester
Excerpted, with permission from

Try this “Throw the Bug” game to get your students excited about spelling!

TeachSpelling.jpg1. Get a small bean-bag bug or animal you can toss to students.

2. Pick a student by eye contact, and throw the bean bag to that child while asking him or her to spell a word.

If the student spells the word correctly, he or she gets to choose the next “victim” and spelling word and throws the bean bag to that student, calling out a word at the same time.

If a student misspells a word, he or she must throw the bean bag back to you, and you get to choose the next “victim.”

Boys tend to throw to boys, girls throw to girls, and friends throw to friends. You can require boys to throw to girls and vice versa and gently remind students to give everyone a turn to be a “victim.”