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How to run spelling practice with the wheel
Spin a game once at the start, then spin words for the rest of the session. The trick is one game, many words: students learn the game's rules once and spend the time spelling, not listening to directions.
- Paste this week's wordsClear the wheel and paste your list, one word per line. Remove duplicates catches a word typed twice. Keep the tricky-words list or a sample list to try it out first.
- Spin for today's gameOpen the Practice games tab, put the games on the wheel and spin once. Undo brings your word list back. Read the game's how-to from the table.
- Spin a word, play itSpin, say the word, use it in a sentence, and say it again. Everyone plays the game with that word for about a minute, then you spin the next word.
- Work through the listTurn on Remove winner in Options so each word comes up once. Ten words at a minute each fills a 10–15 minute practice block.
- Quick quiz before the testTurn on Instant result for a fast oral quiz: spin, say the word, and students write it on whiteboards and hold them up. Note the words most students miss.
A word that keeps getting missed
Give it a weight: type necessary *3 and that slice grows to three times the size, so it comes up more often. Everyone can see the bigger slice, so students know why it keeps appearing.
10 spelling practice games and sample word lists
The first tab has 10 games that work with any word, each with how to play. The other tabs are sample lists written for grades 1, 3 and 5, plus 20 words students commonly misspell, each with the pattern or the trap to point out.
| Game or word | How to play, or the pattern | On the wheel |
|---|---|---|
| Rainbow write | Write the word in pencil, then trace over it in three different colors, saying each letter as you trace. | |
| Air spell | Stand and write the word in the air with a straight arm, saying each letter: big strokes for tall letters, small ones for short letters. | |
| Sentence challenge | Use the word in a sentence. Each extra detail (who, when, where, why) earns a point; the best sentence goes on the board. | |
| Letter cheer | Spell it like a cheer: arms up for tall letters (b, d, h, k, l), hands on hips for short letters (a, c, e, m), touch your knees for letters that drop below the line (g, j, p, q, y). | |
| Pyramid write | Write the first letter, then the first two, then three, until the whole word sits at the bottom: f, fr, fri, frie, frien, friend. | |
| Build it | Build the word with letter tiles, magnetic letters or paper squares, mix the letters up, and build it again without looking. | |
| Missing letters | The teacher writes the word with two letters left out (fr _ _ nd). Students write the whole word with the missing letters filled in. | |
| Spell it backward | Spell the word aloud from the last letter to the first. It makes students picture the whole word; best for grades 3–5. | |
| Syllable tap | Tap each syllable on the desk (beau-ti-ful), then write the word one syllable at a time, saying each part as you write it. | |
| Scramble swap | Write the word with its letters mixed up (dneirf), swap papers with a partner and unscramble each other's word. |
| Game or word | How to play, or the pattern | On the wheel |
|---|---|---|
| map | Short a, CVC | |
| sit | Short i, CVC | |
| hop | Short o, CVC | |
| bed | Short e, CVC | |
| cup | Short u, CVC | |
| ship | sh: two letters, one sound | |
| chin | ch: two letters, one sound | |
| that | th: two letters, one sound | |
| duck | ck right after a short vowel | |
| frog | fr blend at the start | |
| stop | st blend at the start | |
| jump | mp blend at the end | |
| hand | nd blend at the end | |
| cake | Silent e: a_e says long a | |
| bike | Silent e: i_e says long i | |
| home | Silent e: o_e says long o | |
| said | Sight word: the ai sounds like short e | |
| they | Sight word: ey says long a | |
| have | Sight word: English words don't end in v, so an e follows | |
| was | Sight word: the a sounds like short u, and the s says /z/ |
| Game or word | How to play, or the pattern | On the wheel |
|---|---|---|
| rain | ai vowel team says long a | |
| beach | ea vowel team, then ch | |
| float | oa vowel team says long o | |
| bright | igh says long i | |
| shirt | ir says /er/ | |
| storm | or: an r-controlled vowel | |
| nurse | ur says /er/, plus a silent e | |
| clown | ow says /ow/ as in cow | |
| enjoy | oy at the end of a word (oi in the middle) | |
| knock | Silent k before n | |
| wrong | Silent w before r | |
| careful | The suffix -ful has one l | |
| unlock | Prefix un- means not, or to undo | |
| running | Double the n before -ing after a short vowel | |
| hoping | Drop the e before -ing: hope, hoping | |
| babies | Change y to i, then add -es | |
| didn't | Contraction: did + not; the apostrophe replaces the o | |
| their | Homophone: belongs to them (not there or they're) | |
| laugh | au says short a, and gh says /f/ | |
| thought | ough says /aw/ here |
| Game or word | How to play, or the pattern | On the wheel |
|---|---|---|
| measure | The s says /zh/; ends in -ure | |
| adventure | -ture says /cher/ | |
| comfortable | Say com-fort-a-ble to spell it; ends in -able | |
| invisible | in- (not) + vis (see) + -ible | |
| disappear | dis- + appear: one s, two p's | |
| misspell | mis- + spell: two s's and two l's | |
| beginning | Double the n before -ing: be-gin-ning | |
| decision | -sion says /zhun/ | |
| direction | -tion says /shun/ | |
| musician | -cian names a person: music, musician | |
| biography | bio (life) + graph (write) | |
| thermometer | therm (heat) + meter (measure) | |
| transport | trans (across) + port (carry) | |
| pollution | Double l, then -tion | |
| especially | especial + -ly: two l's | |
| knowledge | Silent k; -dge after a short vowel | |
| rhythm | No a, e, i, o or u: r-h-y-t-h-m | |
| government | Don't drop the n: gov-ern-ment | |
| language | gu says /gw/; ends in -age | |
| opposite | Two p's: op-po-site |
| Game or word | How to play, or the pattern | On the wheel |
|---|---|---|
| because | Memory line: big elephants can always understand small elephants. | |
| friend | i before e: a friend to the end (end is at the end). | |
| said | Spelled with ai, but it sounds like short e. | |
| they | Ends in -ey, not -ay. | |
| people | The o is silent: pe-o-ple. | |
| again | a + gain. | |
| really | real + -ly: two l's. | |
| different | Three syllables, dif-fer-ent, and two f's. | |
| beautiful | Starts b-e-a-u; ends with -ful, one l. | |
| favorite | U.S. spelling has no u after the o; ends in -ite. | |
| February | Two r's; many people skip the first one when they say it: Feb-ru-ar-y. | |
| Wednesday | Say it Wed-nes-day to hear the silent d. | |
| library | Two r's: li-brar-y. | |
| believe | There's a lie in believe. | |
| receive | e before i after c. | |
| separate | There's a rat in separate. | |
| surprise | Two r's: sur-prise; ends in -ise. | |
| necessary | One c, two s's: one collar, two sleeves. | |
| neighbor | ei says long a; the U.S. spelling ends in -or. | |
| calendar | Ends in -ar, not -er. |
7 ways to use the spelling words wheel
Spin the game of the day
Start Monday's practice by spinning the games list. Students vote to keep the game all week or spin a new one each day.
Pretest review with weights
After the pretest, give the words most students missed a weight of 2 or 3. Those slices grow, so the hard words come up more often during the week, and everyone can see why.
Partner spelling check
Partners take turns: one spins and reads the word aloud, the other writes it, then they check it together against the wheel. Switch roles after every word.
Classroom spelling bee rounds
Spin a word, say it, use it in a sentence and say it again. Pick the speller with the random name picker so turns stay fair, and let a missed word go back on the wheel.
Open the name pickerWords on the board
Press F to show the wheel full screen and spin with Space. There are no ads in presentation mode, which keeps the board clean for the whole class.
Send the week's list home
Copy the share link on Monday and put it in your newsletter. The words travel inside the link, so families can spin and practice the exact list at home with no account.
Early finisher station
Leave the wheel open on a classroom computer. Early finishers spin a word, spin a game from a printed list of the 10, and do it on paper in their spelling notebook.
Spelling words: frequently asked questions
How do I make a spelling game with my own words?
Clear the wheel, paste your list one word per line, and spin. Then pick one of the 10 practice games in the table (or spin the games list) and play it with each word that comes up. To keep the list for the week, copy the share link; the words travel inside the link, so it never expires and needs no account.
How many words should a weekly spelling list have?
There's no standard, but many classes use about 8 to 12 words in first grade and 15 to 20 in grades 3–5. A smaller list built around one pattern (like drop the e before -ing) usually teaches more than a long list of unrelated words. Many teachers add two or three high-frequency words that students keep misspelling in their writing.
What are the most commonly misspelled words in elementary school?
Students most often miss everyday words that break the usual patterns: because, friend, said, they, people, again, really, different and beautiful. In upper grades, February, Wednesday, separate, necessary and receive join the list. The Commonly misspelled tab has 20 of these, each with a memory trick or the trap to point out.
Why do students spell words right on the test and wrong in their writing?
Memorizing a list for Friday is different from knowing the pattern behind it. Practice that names the pattern ("double the n before -ing"), uses the word in sentences, and comes back to the word in later weeks makes it more likely to stick. Spinning words from past lists into a review round is one quick way to do that.
What's the best way to practice spelling words at home?
Short and often: about 10 minutes a night beats an hour the night before the test. Say the word, write it, check it against the list and fix it right away. A spelling game for each word, like rainbow writing or building it from letter tiles, keeps practice from feeling like a chore.
How the randomness works
When you press Spin, ChalkSpin asks your browser's Web Crypto generator for a random number and uses it to choose the winning slice before the wheel starts turning. The animation then lands on that slice. Each slice's chance is its share of the wheel: 20 equal words means a 1 in 20 chance each.
Weights are always visible: a word marked *2 gets a slice twice as wide, so everyone can see why it comes up more. Turn on Remove winner if a word shouldn't come up twice in a round.
- Generator
- Web Crypto (
crypto.getRandomValues), in your browser - Odds
- Equal to each slice's size on the wheel
- Weights
- Shown openly as wider slices, never hidden
- Repeats
- Off when Remove winner is on
- Your list
- Stays in this browser unless you share or save it