This week's list  

"No Excuse" List

Interactive Spelling Websites

There, their, they're

Super Spelling Test

Plurals Quiz

Grammar Quiz

Spelling for Fourth Graders

About the Program

Our classroom uses the research based Open Court program.  Words aren't really "mastered" until they are spelled correctly in everyday writing.  Many students can memorize words for a "Friday Test" but if there is no transfer to student writing, they haven't mastered the words.  Fourth graders are responsible to learn the sight words on the No Excuse List.  These words should have 100% mastery for students at this age.

I will teach spelling lessons and strategies such as Greek and Latin roots, spelling rules, phonics, and word patterns.  Students will have classroom assignments to practice their spelling skills in context. Proofreading is practiced and modeled regularly.  Each week for homework, students will work on the spelling "pattern" which they discover after various sorting activities.

On Monday, we pretest the spelling words.  If the student knows how to spell the word, he may go "shopping" for a new word of his/her choice from the Shopping List.  All of the words have the same pattern, but differ in level of difficulty.  We currently use 15 words per week in addition to ten "No Excuse" words.

For homework, each night they use the words in different "word knowledge" based spelling activities.