If you’re a teacher of upper elementary students, chances are one of your recurring challenges is finding engaging word work activities. It can be difficult to keep things from becoming too repetitive and monotonous. That’s why I’m here to share with you five fresh ideas that will have your kids learning and having fun at the same time!
Get Artistic with Words Work
If you’re working on recognizing and spelling words let students get in repetition in creative and artistic ways. They can use letter stamps or stencils to form the words on drawing paper. They can also try ghost writing by writing the words with a white crayon on white paper. To expose their ghost words they just need to color over the ghost writing with markers or watercolors. Instead of going all white, they can use all the colors of the rainbow by writing each letter or word in a different color–you can use calligraphy-tipped markers to make it feel extra fancy!
Get Tactile with Word Work
For your tactile learners, let them use their hands to play with words. They can use letter tiles or magnetic tiles to build words. They can build letters out of lego blocks, or string letter beads on a shoestring to make words. They might also like forming the letters out of pipe cleaners, wiki sticks, or playdough. And when your desks are in need of a good cleaning, cover them with shaving cream and letter the kids write in the foam–this one is not only kid-approved fun but leaves your room smelling fresh and clean!
Get Logical with Word Work
Word puzzles are an entertaining way for upper elementary students to practice their spelling and grammar skills. You can find a variety of word puzzles online or make your own using words that align with the current topics you are teaching in class. Word search puzzles, crossword puzzles, word ladders, and jumbles are just a few examples of interactive word work activities that will keep your students engaged while honing their language arts skills. This is also a great opportunity to capitalize on the popularity of Wordle by creating wordles out of your spelling or vocabulary words.
Get Kinesthetic with Word Work
Word work is a great opportunity for kids to get moving and get learning. Write down several vocabulary or spelling words on slips of paper (one word per slip) and place them in an empty jar or basket. Pair up students and have them take turns drawing one slip out of the jar and then act out the word without speaking any actual words; only sound effects are allowed! This activity is great for stretching imaginations as well as reinforcing new vocabulary words through physical movements rather than just memorization alone; plus, it’s always fun watching classmates trying to guess what another is acting out!
Another kinesthetic option is to use task cards to create a gallery walk around the room. Students get to move and work on mastering spelling and vocabulary at the same time with task cards that target things like syllabication and base words–Here’s a free set of vocabulary skills task cards to get you started!
Task cards always come in handy for word work and other ELA station work! Check out this collection of holiday-themed and seasonal task cards for just about every ELA topic in 3rd and 4th grade!
These word work activities are surefire ways to keep your upper elementary classroom engaged while improving language arts skills like spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and more. As you plan out upcoming lessons for your classes, consider incorporating one of these fun activities into your lesson plans for maximum engagement! And don’t forget – you can always customize these activities depending on what topics you will be studying in class next week! Happy teaching!
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