Birthday Cards and Spelling at Amelia Earhart

May 9th, 2019 /
Shauna Sprunger /
Amelia Earhart, Elementary School, News, Schools

Through using lined paper, books, flashcards and birthday cards, Mrs. Bergquist is teaching Kindergartners how to spell.

The class started with a group lesson. The lesson was simple and effective. Mrs. Bergquist asked the class to spell a word and write it down in a notebook. Once they were finished, she had them lift up their notebooks so she could check their words. If they were wrong, she gave them additional time to correct their spelling. With this checking system, all students, regardless of personal spelling ability, were able spell correctly.

After the large group portion was over, students broke off into smaller groups for individual working time. One of the activities they were allowed to work on was making a card for one of the students who was celebrating their birthday. The card had the name of the student whose birthday it was, the name of the student working on the card and a hand-drawn picture.

Meanwhile, another group read a book with Mrs. Bergquist. When they came to a difficult word, Mrs. Bergquist had them lift up their pointer finger, point to the word and pronounce it with the rest of the group. Another group was matching pictures to words, such as matching the word “hat” to a baseball cap. After a few minutes, the groups rotated to complete a different activity.

This lesson went with the core standard that kindergartners should “spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships”. The lesson was very hands-on and allowed for multiple ways of learning. No matter what the student’s learning style, there was opportunity for individual growth.