I’m sharing 12 FREE, NO PREP, printable and digital Spelling Activities for Kindergarten, first and second grade students! These activities provide meaningful and engaging spelling practice and are perfect for any word work literacy center. I also offer details about my Year-Long Weekly Word Study Resource that offers weekly word lists, practice activities, parent letters, assessments and MORE for k-3!
Hey Friends!
I’m curious…. in your already crowded instruction schedule, does word study have a place? Have you found a way to make spelling instructiion more than just giving a list of words on Monday and assessing on Friday? Resources for teaching spelling can be hard to come by. Sometimes it feels like with the intense focus on more critical thinking skills in literacy, explicit spelling instruction (or word study) has become an outdated practice.
But I think we can all agree we all want our students to be strong spellers! Spelling is important! It is related to reading. If students can spell well, they will read well. It’s related to writing. When students spell well they can focus on communicating their ideas, rather than worrying about how to construct words.
If you are looking for a word study program to use with your students, or maybe just looking to freshen up your spelling activities then you have come to the right place. Today I’m excited to describe to you the Year-Long Weekly Word Study bundles I have created for kindergarten, first, second and third grade, as well as share my FREE, NO PREP Spelling Activities!
Free Spelling Activities
You’ve got a lot on your plate, so to help lighten your load I created this resource that includes 12 different EDITABLE spelling printables! It is totally free and provides meaningful practice and the repetition students need for mastery of the spelling words and phonics patterns you teach. With many activities to choose from, spelling practice will always feel fresh and engaging for students.
To save you time, I created these Spelling Activities as an editable “autofill” document. This means the ONLY thing you have to do is insert your spelling words (up to 12) into the spelling activities word list. That’s it!! Once you type your words into the word list, you simply print the pages you want to use.
Any of these activities make a great addition to your weekly word work routine. Simply pair the spelling word cards with a pocket chart and print a few activities for an instant literacy center! They also make great morning work or homework practice.
The FREE resource includes ALL of the following activities:
💗 Trace and Write Spelling
💗 ABC Order
💗 ipad Spelling
💗 Vowel Consonant Spelling
💗 Sign Language Spelling
💗 Rainbow Spelling *note this has been updated to include Rainbow Sound Spelling
💗 Triangle Spelling
💗 Spelling Illustrations
💗 Make a Word Search
💗 Spelling Word Shapes
💗 Roll-a-Color Spelling
💗 Spell and Move
Here are a few of our favorites!
Drop your name and email below and I’ll send these free spelling activities to your inbox now!
A Year-Long Weekly Word Study Resource for K-3
So while the activity pages I’ve shared above could be used in a variety of ways, I know there are teachers who are looking for more. They want an actual program that explicitly teaches students different spelling patterns each week and offers them meaningful practice so students can master those patterns. That’s why I created Year-Long Weekly Word Study Resources for Kindergarten, first, second and third grade students.
Word study units are different from traditional spelling units. Instead of giving students a list of words to memorize each week, word study units focus on a specific phonics skill. Students are given explicit instruction on the phonics pattern. They engage in activities throughout the week that allow them to practice the phonics skill and investigate and discover the patterns in words.
Word study offers students opportunities to investigate and discover the patterns in words. When students have knowledge of these patterns they don’t learn to spell just one word at a time. They can generalize and apply their new learning to their reading and their writing.
My Weekly Word Study Units have EVERYTHING you need to provide your students with effective word study instruction and spelling practice all year long!
I have different units for kindergarten, first, second, AND third-grade students. While the units vary a bit from grade to grade, they all contain these core components:
💕 A Scope and Sequence
We know that for instruction to be most effective, it must be systematic and follow a scope and sequence. The scope and sequences included in these resources are based on my learning including Wiley Blevins’ book, A Fresh Look at Phonics*, The Reading Teacher’s Top Ten Tools, and Speech to Print and are specific for each grade.
💕 Word cards
These word cards can be printed out on card stock and used in centers, small groups, or for your whole group instruction.
💕 3 Editable Practice Printables for Each Unit
We know that in order for students to master the skills we teach they need a lot of practice. For every unit, you’ll get 3 editable practice printables. The activities vary slightly depending on grade and the skill that is being taught.
💕 Editable Assessments
While the assessments vary a bit from grade to grade, they all include:
–Word Dictation: words that follow the week’s phonics skills and bonus spaces for review or high-frequency words.
–Sentence Dictation: a sentence that includes target phonics skill words, previously taught phonics skill words and high-frequency words.
–Spelling Error Analysis: a sentence that includes target phonics skill words, previously taught phonics skill words and high-frequency words. Students must correct the mistakes and rewrite the corrected sentences.
💕 A Teacher Assessment Guide and Master Word List
You’ll get an answer key for each unit to make it extra easy for you to quickly check those assessments!
💕 A Family Letter for Each Unit
We know that word study looks a little different than traditional spelling that families may be accustomed to. This letter will help families understand the shift, inform them of the focus for the unit, and offer them ways to support their children at home.
Curious to learn more about Word Study and these resources? Take a look here for more details!
I hope the information and free resources I’ve shared here today will help to bring more effective word study and spelling practice into your classroom!
My teammate and I have been using your program for a couple of years now. We LOVE it. My kids transfer the word family rules they've learned into their own writing all the time. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your comment, so glad you love it too! 🙂
Thank you SO much for the freebie! I plan on inserting the iPad page into plastic sheet protectors – my students will love practicing with it! Jen 🙂
Hi Jen,
Thanks so much, sheet protectors are the best! 🙂
I love all of your activities. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Cecile 🙂
Thank you 😉
Hi Madge, you can download it here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spelling-Activities-2128789
How do i download an spelling test
Hi,
Head to the post and look for the grade level you need to find the link for the download! https://mrswintersbliss.com/spelling-activities-freebie/
Thanks, Christina
Thank you!
You are so welcome Anne!
Looks awesome!
Thanks so much Sarah! -Christina 💕
I’m excited about all of them. They all look great!
Thanks so much! -Christina 💕
Excited to try this with my first graders.
Glad you love the spelling activities too! Enjoy -Christina 💕
I can’t wait to try these out!
Enjoy!!! I hope your students love the activities too! –Christina
This will be great with my first graders.
I’d love to try some of your free resources.
Hi Deborah! Just enter your email and I’ll send it right over! 🙂 -Christina
HI Christina,
I am trying to find the link to download as well, but can’t seem to find it!
Hi Kimberly, About halfway down the post you’ll see a box to enter your email address so I can instantly send it right to your email!
🙂 -Christina
Hi there! This spelling program looks great but looking at some of the activities I am wondering if it has been updated to align with the science of reading? I LOVE all that you have been sharing lately and appreciate all of your hard work. I understand that it all takes time to update and am wondering if you have or have plans to? Thanks so much!! Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your kind words! I do have plans to update my Spelling word study units. I probably won’t get to them for at least a month or so. Thank you! -Christina
Hi Christina,
Thank you so much for the Spelling Activities- they are awesome. My students and their parents love the activities and the reinforcement they provide. Are you ever going to add more activities to do with the spelling auto-fill? I have searched your site, but I do not see any. I would be willing to purchase!! Also, thank you so much for your Sound Wall – it is really making a huge difference this year. I have researched the Science of Reading- and your wall was the perfect addition to my classroom. Thank you for all you do!!
Hi Linda,
Thank you for your kind words! At this time I am not planning to add to this free resource as I am so busy with other projects aligned to the Science of Reading! I have created a lot of student centers as I’ve learned best ways to incorporate SoR into teaching activities. Check some of them out here if you’d like! -Christina
Can’t wait to get my freebies!!!
Can’t wait to get the freebies! Thank You!
Can’t wait to try out the spelling activitites!
Looking forward to trying some new spelling activities!
Please send me the free templates.
Thank you
You can sign up to download them right in the post!
Where can the Spelling Words (write the spelling words 3x each) be found? I must be overlooking them.
Hi Jennifer, you can sign up to download the 12 spelling activities in the blog post! 🙂 -Christina
I downloaded your free editable spelling activities. When I try to add my spelling words, Adobe tells me that it is “read only” and I need the owner password to edit. Your instructions didn’t include a password so I’m not sure what to do. 🙁
Hi Fay,
I’m sorry you are having trouble, I’m happy to help! You will not need a password to edit the file. If you open the file in your internet browser, temporary files. or downloads the autofill features will not work!
You MUST open the PDF in your Adobe reader- it can be tricky, I made a quick video so you can verify it is open in Adobe https://youtu.be/Hdy_FZXD32I
Here is how to open:
Download and save the file to your computer.
Open the file: it should automatically open in your Adobe Reader- if it does not, right click the file name and choose: Open in Adobe. If for some reason you don’t have the free reader installed on your computer, http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/
Feel free to email me if you need more help!
~Christina
Love all the spelling activities and especially the autofill feature.. Is there a way to enlarge the text. It is too small for me to use with my class and don’t see a place to enlarge the font. Thank you.
Hi Rebecca, it sounds like there is a glitch, try closing the document and make sure to open in your Adobe reader for it to work correctly! You can see a video here of how it works! 🙂 -Christina