Spelling Choice Board Activities
A few years ago, we started using spelling choice board activities in our classroom and have never looked back! Educators have such an important job of building a strong spelling foundation for our students. While this can be pretty challenging, you can make it easier by introducing fun activities to keep your little learners engaged and interested. One way of doing this, is by using spelling choice boards (or spelling menus) for weekly practice.
The kids not only LOVE them, but it gives students the ownership to choose what activity they want to complete. Giving children a choice will make them more likely to want to follow through on the selection they made. We have observe more enthusiasm from our students when implementing choice boards over the traditional “write each word 3 times” approach. The choice board allows you to introduce the process of learning to spell new words to kids with a variety of fun and creative activities. Some of their favorites are using their words in silly sentences or playing a memory game!
Edit and Customize the Spelling Choice Board
Use the options we have provided year-round or change them up to better suit your classroom needs. Simply print out the choice board as is or edit and customize. Not only can you can change the directions, but also the activities and even your weekly spelling list! The spelling word box can also be left blank so that the students can write the words themselves.
Take a closer look at this board and wherever you see the light blue highlighted areas, is where you can edit the printable. Plus, there is no need to be hesitant about how to edit the file. This download contains directions on how to customize the choice board. The only thing you need installed on your computer is ADOBE READER. It is FREE and if you don’t have it, you can get it here. NOTE: It’s important that the file is open in Adobe Reader and not in your Internet browser or Preview.
Getting Students Started With Choice Boards
Never used a choice board before? We are here to help you get started! First, you will need to go over the activities with your students. We like to show completed examples of each one. Next, decide how many activities you expect to be completed during the week. We have found 3-4 activities a week to be a good target range. Then, instruct your students to circle or clearly mark the activities they have chosen to complete. Finally, explain to your kids that in order to show their work, they will need to attach their completed activities to the spelling choice board. This helps hold them accountable for turning in their spelling assignments.
Some materials to have on hand include:
- lined paper
- crayons
- markers
- index cards
- pencils
Spelling Choice Board: FREE CHOICE Ideas
You may be wondering about that FREE CHOICE space in the middle of the board. Well, we strongly encourage teachers to let their students come up with their own creative way to practice their words. It always surprises us just how clever our little ones can be! For example, in the past some students have used them in a scary story, written them in bubble letters and even written a rap song using their spelling words. Also, you can brainstorm ideas as a class to help get those creative juices flowing! You can keep those ideas up in your classroom and add to them whenever students come up with another good idea.
Tic-Tac-Toe Spelling Activities
By now, you probably have a good idea on how you will implement these choice boards into your classroom routine. But, we wanted to give you one last idea that has been super successful in our classroom. Since there are nine boxes on this board, you can change the directions to have students circle and complete three activities in a row: TIC-TAC-TOE style! Just change the wording so that the students pick three in a row! This can be diagonal, horizontal or vertical.
Ready to get started using choice boards with your students? Click on the button below for your instant download. Happy spelling!
If you’re looking for even more fun and creative ways to have your students practice spelling, check out our editable spelling activities available in our shop or on TPT. Customize it for ANY word list. Just type your word list ONCE and create 10 spelling activities in a couple of minutes!
