Third grade students make a word search puzzle in the Website of puzzlemaker.com. This activity arouses their interest for spelling.

 

School/Classroom Profile

School Location

Urban

eMINTS classroom?

Yes

Grade Level

3rd grade

Number of Students in the Class

24

Classroom Computer/Student Ratio

1:2

Number of Computers in the School's Lab/Media Center

30

 

Instructional goal:

Students should spell words on a weekly test with at least 80% accuracy.

Instructional Activity

1st day -- Students generate their own spelling list weekly. Students first write down the words missed from the previous week's test. Then, from a list of 15 words on the board, they pick 5 new ones, (these are always related to science or social studies for that week), then they fill in to 15 from their spelling word lists.

2nd day -- Students go online, make a word search puzzle using puzzlemaker.com, then save them on the server. I print the puzzles for them later in the day.

3rd day -- Students write sentences using their words. They can then type these up later if they have time and save them in the file on the server.

4th day -- Students study with their partners. This may include:

  • Making flash cards with definitions of 3 or 4 words they don’t know. Students then quiz each other on the definitions and the spelling of the words.
  • A pretest to see what they know and don’t know.
  • Oral testing. Partners are picked by the draw of a Popsicle stick. The first name out sits still. The second name out gives the test first, then they switch. I usually walk around and make sure on the study days they are actually studying their words. They may choose to study their words the way they want to. Students use online dictionaries. I help them find the definitions on the link to the student dictionary on their computers.

5th day -- Students give each other their tests. On Fridays I grade the tests as they come in. After the first student gives the test, they hand that in with the list. Then they go sit down and their partner gives them their test. After they are both finished testing, they read for AR or do other independent work New words for the next week start out with the ones they missed on the previous week’s test, then they pick 5 new words out of the 10 on the board, (words come from reading, social studies, science textbooks). Next, they fill up their lists from a list of common words all students should know by the end of 3rd grade.

 

Assessment Process:

I grade on the word search and the test. All the other activities are practice. Most students make 100% each week; some will miss one to two words. There is no cheating because all the lists are individually related to each student. If students miss a word, they will have that word on their list until they spell it correctly. I print their word searches out on my computer since I don’t have their computers hooked up to my printer. As far as assessing the work, I grade it by hand.

 

Motivation for Using Technology for the Assessment:

Spelling was very boring for 3rd graders. I wanted to spice up their spelling lessons. This is also individualized, which parents love and it's not just a boring spelling list each week.

 

Problems Encountered:

Sometimes Puzzlemaker was experiencing technical problems, but the students would wait and some would even use recess time to make their searches. Most students make them and save them inside of 15 minutes!

 

Advice to Other Teachers:

Do it -- some things just come alive with technology behind them.

 

Unanticipated Outcomes:

None

Benefits of Using Technology for Student Assessment:

Student ownership -- they love seeing their work in print.
The tests are not printed; students know how to use spell check,
I have seen a big difference in student achievement -- they spell better in daily work, and they are more interested so their grades are higher, with an average A- for spelling in my room.

 

Drawbacks of Using Technology for Student Assessment:

Time. At first some of them are very slow, but after a few weeks of trying to save and losing all their data they learned quickly. I gave them more time and assigned peer tutors to help them save their work. I have found students learn fast when other students are teaching them.