Spelling Words Practice Ideas and Printables for Second Grade!

Techr I reele need hlp wif bein a good spelr! Not many, thankfully, but a few of my students are still struggling with applying good spelling in their writing. This year, rather than using Words Their Way, I've decided to focus on phonics skills and on correct spelling of all high frequency words from the first through the third grade list. These are the words my little writers need to use most often and the ones I need to be able to read!

These same words are also my word wall words. 

They go on the wall after a week of daily practice in a variety of ways. 

I use my cabinets in the background to display the words alphabetically.

 They are printed on colored cardstock. 

When I introduce the ten new words of the week, we look at spelling patterns and talk about word families and all of that good phonics stuff. Then we PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE in a variety of ways ~air writing, using pom-poms to cheer, march and spell, looking at the shape of the word (as in letter boxes) and of course, lots of written practice.

I am not giving a weekly spelling test! That's not to say that I won't resume regular testing next year, but I'm giving it a try. Students often memorize well for the test, but then go back to their comfortable ways of writing those same words during Writer's Workshop as their creative minds are busy thinking of other things. I feel that the true test of spelling, for my students, is being able to apply the rules and demonstrate accurate spelling (age-appropriate of course) in the context of their writing. I assess spelling in their written work. My hope is that with regular written practice, the correct spelling of these words will become automatic in time!

There are lots of favorite written practice activities I've used for years, like writing silly sentences with spelling words, and they are the kid's favs too! Sadly, some of my copies were old, dirty, outdated and probably passed along for twenty years from teacher to teacher. I refuse to send home an ugly paper :) and so I made a new and much cuter packet for use with my kiddos! I included wide primary lines on the pages to encourage handwriting practice at the same time.

If you are looking to update your spelling practice pages or just want to add a different twist to your routine, you can grab a copy of this set at my TPT store! Just click on the picture to download a copy!

I hope they will help your class "bee"come more fluent spellers!