wiggly words: wild, crazy practice with spelling and sight words

We’re always trying to mix things up over here–get a little crazy, even–when it comes to playing with those spelling and sight words.

So before Maddy’s long i spelling test last week, after she TCR’d the words and after we played a few simple games with them, we wiggly-worded it.

Very simple. Very wiggly.  Very crazy.

• Wiggly Words: Simply, Wiggly Words is a piece of cardboard with drywall tape glued on top.  Drywall tape is just a plastic grid sheet used for something with drywall (connecting?), and that’s not really even the point.  All it does is create texture when a plain piece of paper is placed on top.

It works better, like most rubbings, when kiddos use crayons to write, because then they get the full wiggly effect.

So during our work time, when we moved onto spelling work, I asked Maddy if she wanted to ‘Wiggly Word it’ a little to practice her long i words.  Though we ‘Wiggly Worded it‘ before, she didn’t remember.  And though she wasn’t totally sure if I had lost my mind or not, she said she was up for it–and Owen said he wanted to ‘Wiggly Word it’ too.

I grabbed the Wiggly Word Board, Maddy’s words, and the Early Emergent Word Cards for Owen, and we got a-writing.

Owen practices his early emergent words, wiggly style. . .

. . . and he’s totally rockin’ it.

Both Maddy and Owen had their cards flipped upside down in front of their work trays, and they took turns flipping a card for each other. When the card was chosen, it went on top of the tray; they copied their words the first time around, and the second time they wrote the word from memory.

It took only a few minutes, Cora was busy with some chopsticks and math blocks and for a teeny bit of time, everyone was focused and working.  But then, as always, life got nutty, someone came to the door, Brady wouldn’t stop barking, the kids couldn’t get back to work, so we moved on to the next thing.

The premise is incredibly simple, but Wiggly Words always seems to make little guys giggle. And it makes them want to write words which is the muy importante thing. Any way we can get kiddos to want to write in a silly or unusual way, they forget they’re learning and practicing and working, and it’s all good.