Making Words Lesson Plan and Variations

a e e h l n p s t


2 letter words:
1. at - Change one letter to spell at. I will be at my Grandmothers for dinner.
2. an - Change one letter to spell an. An ant it tiny. An elephant is small. (An is a
word used to tell us we are talking about just one thing and when that one thing
starts with a vowel we use an instead of a.)
3. as- Change one letter to spell as. You can listen to each sentence as you read it.

3 letter words:
4. has- Add one letter to spell has. Carl has lettuce on his sandwich.
5. hat- Change one letter to spell hat. Mark placed the hat on his head.
6. pat- Change one letter to spell pat. She pat the old man on the arm.
7. pet- Change one letter to spell pet. Anna has a pet dog named Molly.
8. net- Change one letter to spell net. There were many fish caught in the net.
9. let- Change one letter to spell let. The puppy let Dolly pick him up.
10. ate- Take away one letter and add one more letter to spell ate. Cammie ate green
eggs and ham for breakfast.

Now were going to spell some bigger words. I might give you the word or a clue or
definition instead of the word.
11. sleep- Spell the word that is an action for what you do every night when you go
to bed.
12. please- Spell the word that fits into this saying, Pretty, pretty_________, with a
cherry on top!.
13. Pest- Spell the word that describes annoying bugs that eat all of the crops.
14. Sheep- Spell the word that is the name of animal that is often herding and used
for its wool.

Challenge or Secret Word:
Use all the letters to spell the secret or challenge word. (elephant)

See variation and sorting activity on next page.
Traditional Making Words Cut-Apart Letter Strip:

a e e h l n p s t


Variation:
Spellers write their word in these boxes rather than use the cut-apart letter slips.






















Spellers can cut these apart so they each have a personal word sort. If not, the
teacher makes the word sorting cards. Spellers should sort the words a variety of
ways. Here are some ideas for this sort:

1. Sort words that belong in the an family and those that dont.
2. Sort words that have one syllable, two syllables, and three or more syllables.
3. Sort words that end in n and those that dont.
4. Sort word that have words within them (ant in vacant) and those that dont.

Words can also be sorted for concepts:
Words that name things (nouns) and words that dont.

Other transfer activities:
Since you can spell sleep, how would you spell asleep?
Since you can spell elephant, how would you spell
least?
Since you can spell an words, what new words could
you spell with and?

ELL Support Pictures: