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Friday, September 7, 2012

Spelling with Mr. Potato Head


On the fourth day of second grade, my son toted home a list of 18 spelling words. Already?!?! Yikes.

While I knew they’d be coming, I wasn’t armed with any creative ideas to get my boy excited about practicing them. That first week, I resorted to the proverbial “I say it, you write it” method. How’d that go, you ask. Not well. [insert the sound of seven year old groaning]

I needed to step up my game. When sorting through all the toys we had stored during our basement remodel, I found an old friend: Mr. Potato Head.

Voila! An idea was born.

When my son came home with a new list of words, we (Mr. Potato Head and I) were ready. I told my son to put him together.


Then I gave him a pencil and paper. I had him write each word after I recited it. If there were errors, poor Mr. Potato Head would lose an accessory (hat, glasses, etc.). Keep making errors and more vital body parts (eyes, nose, etc.) would be removed.

The object was to keep our friend intact as much as possible by spelling correctly.


If only the word telephone wasn’t among this week’s challenge words; poor guy lost both arms over those spelling errors.

How do I know this was fun? My son was disappointed when he was out of spelling words to practice!

9 comments:

  1. You're a genious!!!!!!! You're so creative. I love the way you come up with things out of the blue. You're a great source of inspiration for me!!!! Thanks a lot!Maria Elena from Argentina

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    1. Aw, Maria, you're making me blush! I'm so flattered that you've found inspiration here. Thanks for following my blog!

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  2. Love this! We will be doing this for sure. PS-you don't need to "step up your game". You are an awesome mama and doing great ;0)

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  3. You're an amazing mom! I love the activities you come up with! :)

    I have some really fun Roll and Spell activities on my blog (http://mrsreynoldsfirstgradeadventures.blogspot.com/search?q=roll+and+spell) that your little guy might like.

    Hope you're feeling well. You've been in my thoughts and prayers a lot lately!!

    Oh My Little Classity Class

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  4. Ha ha! Great idea. You could try it the other way around, too ... where he builds Mr. Potato as he gets the words right ... actually, now that I think about it, that would make a great spelling centre in my classroom. Thanks!

    ❀Barbara❀
    Grade ONEderful
    Ruby Slippers Blog Designs

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