Spelling Practice for Grade 3 (List 9): Fun Exercises

Grade 3 Spelling List 9: Weekly Word PracticeHelping third graders build strong spelling skills is an important step toward confident reading, writing, and communication. This week’s focus—Grade 3 Spelling List 9—combines common high-frequency words, phonics patterns, and a few trickier items to stretch learners without overwhelming them. The plan below includes the word list, daily activities, mini-lessons, assessment ideas, and tips for parents and teachers to make practice effective and engaging.

Word List (List 9)

• about
• began
• carry
• caught
• choose
• clue
• enough
• history
• listen
• minute
• problem
• often
• really
• whole
• your

Weekly Overview

• Goal: Students will learn to read, spell, and use each word in context with 80–90% accuracy by the end of the week.
• Structure: Five short daily lessons (15–25 minutes each) plus a cumulative review and short assessment on Friday.
• Focus skills:
  • Phonics recognition (vowel patterns, consonant blends)
  • Sight-word automaticity
  • Spelling strategies (chunking, syllable division, root recognition)
  • Writing application (sentences and short paragraphs)

Day-by-Day Lesson Plan

Day 1 — Introduction & Pattern Awareness

• Quick warm-up: Read aloud previous lists for 3 minutes.
• Introduce List 9 words. Say each word, have students repeat, and use it in a short sentence.
• Teach patterns: point out words with common patterns (choose — oo digraph; caught/whole — vowel team and irregular vowel sound; carry — consonant + -y).
• Activity: Word sorts — students group words by pattern or syllable count.
• Homework: Practice writing each word three times and draw a picture for two chosen words.

Day 2 — Phonics Focus & Games

• Warm-up: “Hear it, Spell it” — teacher says a word; students write it quickly on whiteboards.
• Mini-lesson: Focus on tricky sounds (enough /f/ spelled -ough; minute /-ute/ pronunciation; choose /oo/).
• Activity: Partner magnetic-letter build or Scrabble-tile race to form words.
• Extension: Create two rhyming pairs using list words where possible (your/sure — discuss differences).
• Homework: Word sentences — write a sentence for five assigned words.

Day 3 — Spelling Strategies & Writing

• Warm-up: Syllable clap for each word; identify stress.
• Mini-lesson: Chunking technique — split multi-syllable words (his-to-ry, prob-lem).
• Activity: Spelling detective — give sentences with blanks; students choose correct word from the list.
• Writing: Short paragraph prompt using at least five list words: “Write about a minute that changed your day.”
• Homework: Study with a family member using flashcards (student quizzes adult).

Day 4 — Fluency & Context

• Warm-up: Quick oral quiz — students say spelling aloud after teacher spells.
• Mini-lesson: Using context clues — how to decide between similar words (your vs. you’re; choose vs. chose/chosen).
• Activity: Role play: students act out short scenes that use targeted words; classmates guess the words.
• Review game: Spelling bee ladder — pairs compete to climb by spelling correctly.
• Homework: Create a short comic strip using at least four words from the list.

Day 5 — Review & Assessment

• Warm-up: Mixed review from Lists 7–9 (5 minutes).
• Assessment: Short written test — dictation of 10 selected words, fill-in-the-blank sentences for five more.
• Celebration: Word wall update and recognition for improvement.
• Reflect: Students highlight two words they still find hard and choose a strategy to practice them over the weekend.

Differentiation

• For students who need extra support:
  • Provide word cards with pictures and phoneme markers.
  • Offer scaffolded tracing sheets and one-on-one practice.
  • Use multisensory methods ( sand tray writing, air-writing).
• For advanced learners:
  • Ask for synonyms/antonyms and have them use words in longer paragraphs.
  • Introduce related root words or derivatives (history → historic, historical).

Assessment Ideas

• Formative: Daily quick checks (whiteboard spell-outs, exit tickets, partner quizzes).
• Summative: Friday test (dictation + sentence usage).
• Performance-based: Writing assignment rubric — correct use and spelling of list words counts toward grade.

Parental Tips

• Short, frequent practice beats long sessions — 5–10 minutes, 4–5 times this week.
• Read together and ask the child to spot List 9 words in books or menus.
• Turn practice into play: use spelling hopscotch, fridge-magnet letters, or timed challenges.
• Praise effort and progress, not just perfection.

Teaching Notes & Troubleshooting

• If many students miss the same word, pause and reteach the sound and pattern with new examples.
• Watch for common confusions: enough (silent gh) and caught/whole (different vowel representations). Explicitly compare and contrast.
• Reinforce handwriting legibility; sometimes errors are transcription mistakes, not spelling knowledge.

Sample Sentences (useful for dictation or sentence prompts)

• I began the story about a small island.
• Please choose the red pencil from the box.
• She listened for a whole minute before answering.
• There was a problem, but we fixed it quickly.
• Your history project is really interesting.

Printable/Home Practice Resources (ideas)

• Flashcards (word on front, sentence on back)
• Crossword or word search with List 9 words
• Fill-in-the-blank worksheets using classroom topics
• Record-and-play: student records themselves reading sentences, then spots mistakes

Helping third graders master List 9 with consistent, varied practice turns words from unfamiliar strings of letters into tools they can use confidently in reading and writing. Small daily steps and games make learning sticky and fun.