Words chosen for these lists were found in the McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book and The Elementary Spelling Book by Noah Webster.  I have focused on words with short vowel sounds to give extra practice in beginning reading skills.

I introduce the week's words by writing them on a chalk board and carefully pronouncing each sound with my child.  Then I choose one of the words each day and let my child practice it's spelling through different spelling activities.  Suggestions follow the word lists.  During Week 8 of each term, I choose 20 of the previously learned words and test informally (4 words per day).  This is done in a few different ways, such as using letter cutouts and having my child put them together to spell an asked word, or by orally asking for the spelling of a word.  I try to keep it fun and not like formal testing.
 
 

Week 1: am, an, as, at, ax

Week 2: cat, rat, sat, mat, hat

Week 3: bad, mad, pad, sad, lad

Week 4: cap, map, nap, tap, sap

Week 5: bag, wag, tag, rag, gag

Week 6: can, fan, pan, ran, van

Week 7: jam, ham, ram, yam, tam

Week 8: (choose 20 of the previous words to informally test, 4 per day)

Week 1: bed, red, led, wed, fed

Week 2: den, hen, ten, men, pen

Week 3: jet, let, net, pet, yet

Week 4: beg, leg, peg, keg, egg

Week 5: fell, bell, tell, sell, well

Week 6: nest, test, rest, zest, jest

Week 7: tent, rent, sent, went, bent

Week 8: (choose 20 of the previous words to informally test, 4 per day)

Week 1: if, it, is, in six

Week 2: sit, hit, bit, fit, lit

Week 3: fin, kin, pin, tin, win

Week 4: fig, big, pig, jig, wig

Week 5: bib, fib, rib, jib, nib

Week 6: hid, did, lid, kid, mid

Week 7: hip, sip, tip, dip, lip

Week 8: (choose 20 of the previous words to informally test, 4 per day)

Week 1: on, ox, box, fox, pox

Week 2: got, cot, lot, jot, pot

Week 3: cob, job, mob, rob, sob

Week 4: nod, pod, sod, rod, God

Week 5: log, hog, dog, bog, job

Week 6: hop, pop, top, mop, sop

Week 7: Sam, Bob, Ted, Kim, Jan 

Week 8: (choose 20 of the previous words to informally test, 4 per day)

Week 1: up, pup, cup, us, bus

Week 2: cub, hub, rub, tub, sub

Week 3: dug, mug, tug, jug, hug

Week 4: run, sun, bun, fun, gun

Week 5: cut, hut, nut, but, jut

Week 6: dust, must, rust, gust, just

Week 7: bump, dump, jump, lump, pump

Week 8: (choose 20 of the previous words to informally test, 4 per day)

There are many different ways to keep spelling fun and interesting for our children.  I try to choose a variety of activities each week.  Here are some ideas:

~ write the spelling word using different writing utensils:  pens, pencil crayons, wax crayons, felt markers, chalk, bingo markers, etc.

~ use your finger to write the spelling word in a pan of sand, rice, pudding, outside in the snow, etc.

~ write the spelling word outside with sidewalk chalk.

~ find the letters for the word in a newspaper, cut out and paste on a new sheet of paper in the correct spelling.

~ use stencils to trace the word then color and decorate.

~ paint the spelling word on a large sheet of paper.

~ make the word out of playdough.

~ write the vowels in a word using a different color.