window writing: spelling word and letter practice

Who knew that window writing would be so much fun?

Maddy has been window-writing for the last few weeks to study her spelling words, and Cora has jumped on board the window-writing train to do some letter-writing practice.

It’s been a riot.

Even yesterday one of Maddy’s buddies came over for a short playdate–aaaand so she could do some wind0w-writing spelling word test prep with us!  It makes me want to dance to think that the girls actually wanted to study together–it was that much fun.

It’s easy, it’s quick, and the kids’ favorite part just might be the clean-up. No joke.

So thank you, Crayola, for inventing the Window Crayons.

I love you even if ‘Eat our bubbles!’ and ‘Swim Fast!’ were on Vanny’s windows long after swim season ended. It was our fault–we didn’t clean the windows soon enough, and this summer was way too hot.

It’s all good, and I still love you.

Here’s the skinny on how we rocked out Maddy’s spelling word practice and Cora’s letter-writing:

• Window Writing: Spelling Word and Letter-Writing Practice — I say ‘letter-writitng’ but I also mean letter recognition, because this little game of ours got my sweet Cora talking about letters, the sounds they make, and writing letters–some of them for the very first time.

I started with Cora while Maddy and her buddy finished their snack, because I knew that with three gals writing on the window at the same time, it might get a little crowded.

So Cora and I first separated the alphabet cards and number cards into two piles: uppercase and lowercase.   She needed help with this–more than I had hoped–but we did it and were ready for the next step: putting the letters in alphabetical order.

 

Cora got started on her own but got caught up at ‘H’, so I sat with her and sang the ABC Song with her.  If we took it slowly enough, she was fine.  We sang it together one final time and I asked her to mix them all up and put them in the heart basket on the floor.

When they were all in the basket, I flipped over two cards and said, Okay, my friend. I know you’re totally excited to start writing your letters on the window, so let’s get going. I’ll pull out two cards from the basket.  (I placed two letter cards on the floor, facing Cora.)

 

Cora didn’t want to write a ‘Z’. . .

You look at both letters and decide which one you want to write on the window. When you’re finished writing one, we’ll check to make sure it’s correct, and when it is, you flip it over and choose another card from the basket. 

Put that card on top of the one you just did, and we’ll see how many letters you can write. I bet you’ll be surprised at how many you can write!

 

. . . but she tried and tried and tried to make a ‘D’–and she did!

When she frustrated over a particular letter–like she did here with letter ‘D’, I used my finger to write the letter and she traced it.  (Disclaimer: We’ve been doing a lot of window writing lately, so there’s a nice thin film of crayon on there that I’ve been too lazy to clean.  My house is so far from perfect. It’s lived in, and I wear socks or flips so I’m not bothered by the crumbs on the floor.)

We moved through each letter, and when she found a letter she ‘mastered’, she went nutty like she did when she wrote some beautiful B’s!

While Cora was writing, Maddy and her pal were playing Memory with their spelling words. I wanted the girls to have a good look at each of the words and to be refreshed a bit before they started their window writing.

They really had a blast.

The Spelling Words, spelling list-math words list 1 and spelling list-math words list 2, are here to download.  We played with spelling list-math words list 2, and I printed two copies of the cards on cardstock like I did all last year.

 

We started with ‘Memory’. . .

As they played, the only rule was that they had to read the word they flipped.   Their list was the second Math Word list, and they both had trouble with some.

After the game and after they each read the words of each pair they found, I said, Awesome, girls. Now I want you to make sure that one of each word is in each of these heart baskets.  So take a second to divide them.

 

. . . then divided the words into two baskets. . .

Then the girls hit the windows.

I just said, Okay, I know you want to write like crazy all over the window, and you can–after we do some practicing.  So choose one card from the basket, read it, and then put it on the floor.  Then challenge yourself to write the word, saying the sounds in your head so you remember. 

After you write it, you’ll grab the card and check your work. If it’s correct, put a star or a smiley face next to it. If it’s not correct, then write it correctly right next to it. Got it?. . . and then they practiced!

They did, and they wrote. And they wrote and wrote and checked and checked.

And I think they had fun.

They checked their work. . .

. . . and wrote and re-wrote.

But by far I’d put money on the fact that everyone’s absolute favorite part of the whole thing was clean-up, and that doesn’t happen too often.

I spritzed and sprayed and we watched the colors drip for a while, and then we cleaned like crazy.

A happy, happy afternoon it was!

Other super-fun ways of practicing spelling words:

• the big-daddy list of fun ways to practice spelling words
• wordo!
• wiggly words
• go fish!
• stamping
• trace, copy, recall

Happy spelling!