Spelling Cheerleading! Someone give me an "a"! I just can't get enough of this multisensory approach! Of course this topic caught my eye since my research last semester included this same approach. I wanted to see what this educator had to say. I have shared the spelling cheerleading activity with several teachers at both of my schools and teachers and students alike love it.
This RWT lesson involves teaching the rules for adding suffixes to words ending in y, "The Y Rule" for spelling. The lesson objectives are to learn and apply the Y rule, engage in kinesthetic movement to represent words, distinguish words that change the y and those that do not.
The lesson is broken into 2 parts. Session 1 is reviewing the poster of the Y Rule and modeling examples on the board. Then engage students in spelling cheerleading of words that change and do not change. Session 2 begins with an oral review of the spelling rule. Then allow students to sort words while working in groups and discussing reasons for sorting; changes the y or does not.
Extension activities are listed and a Y rule comic is provided plus a great website that has spelling rules put to music. I recommend others check out this site: gardenofpraise.com.
Multisensory supports include: poster of the rule-visual, cheerleading- visual, auditory, kinesthetic, word sort handout- visual, tactile, auditory and musical website- auditory.