Magnetic Letters.
I have not had these in my house for several years, as my youngest child is eleven years old. This past year I went and purchased several sets. They're so cheap, so I figured if this experiment didn't work, oh well. I discovered that they have helped maintain interest when I use them with my students.
Normally, we think of magnetic letters as something you use with preschoolers, so I have to admit I was honestly surprised that my students were even willing to use them in the tutoring sessions!
I use them when we are working on spelling mostly, but also some phonics. Sometimes, for the struggling speller, any kind of spelling activity can be a downer. I always think of Ramona for the Ramona the Pest series who struggled with spelling. She thought it unfair to constantly work on it and then when you do spell the words correctly, you are rewarded with harder words to spell!
Well, there is a need to work on spelling, so I can't just do away with that. But I did want to make it so my students had something a little different.
I don't have hard research data to back this post up. I am only posting what I have observed with my students.
For my in-person tutoring students, I saw that interest perked up when the letters were brought out. Well, that's always a plus! I think some of this may be from the all the various colors of the letters. The colors are cheery and when you are student having to tutor in the summer, cheery is everything! The colors led me to using them to help the students sequence the letters in the right order. We will spell out the word, but then "spell" it by telling the color order. For example, in the picture, the color order of the word "never" would be: green, purple, blue, purple, green. I let the student pick the color order because I think it helps with a little of the "ownership" of the activity.
One activity I do is Missing Letter. I have them spell out the word on a small magnetic whiteboard. (you could also use a small cookie sheet) Then I take the board and while blocking their view, I take one letter away. I ask them what letter is missing. If they struggle to remember the letter, sometimes I mention the color to help them remember. As they gain mastery of the word, I may take two or three letters away.
I also do Scrambled Spelling with them. I scramble the letters of a word on the board. Then I have the student arrange the letters in order. This seems to help students who struggle with the sequence* of letters when spelling. They know the letters needed in the word, but need help with knowing the correct order of the letters. Some students enjoy being timed to see how long it takes to get the letters in the correct order. One student in particular loves to be timed and then time Mrs. Lee. He loves to beat Mrs. Lee!
That takes me to another activity I do with spelling: Correct Mrs. Lee. I purposely misspell a word that a student is currently studying. How badly I misspell it is tailored to what I know the student struggles with in spelling. I have the student correct my spelling using the magnetic letters.
I keep the magnetic letters in organizers that my dear Hubby bought me at Harbor Freight. It takes two of them. This is helpful when I want to focus on phonics. I ask the student, "What letter makes this sound?" and I make the sound. The student can easily go through the organizers to find the letter.
There are many more activities similar to these that can easily be done with these magnetic letters. I have found that I can also use these with my online students as well. For the in-person students, I love the fact that they can touch and handle these letters to spell the words. I think this helps some of the students. The smile on this cute face causes me to believe that.
*If we don't think sequencing is important in spelling, then think of the letters A, T, E. Those three spell ate, tea, eat. Three different words using the same three letters.
