Dictionary Delight!

This little assignment is a fun way to get in some dictionary practice. Work it right and you’ll manage to teach some vocabulary and possibly a bit of spelling, as well!

Give your children a list of words with blanks and ask them to fill in the blanks with words they find in the dictionary. For example:

L_ _ T  

T_ _ S

_ _ M E

_ A _ D

Make this a vocabulary lesson as well, by introducing words they will be using in upcoming studies and asking them to  define all the words they found.

You can focus on spelling rules by choosing words to go along with whatever rules your child is currently learning. To insure that they actually look up the words, you might consider asking them to write the page the word was found on after the word.

Turn this into a game between students by giving only beginning and ending  letters.

B_________________T

S_________________H

C_________________R

Students receive one point for each letter in their words so the child with the longest words wins.

Dena Wood is a homeschooling mom to five children, ages 19-5, and resides in eastern WA State. She is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems (home of Times Tales!) and works as Customer Service and Schoolhouse Store manager for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She also does a bit of freelance writing when she gets the chance.