Personal Dictionaries

Last year I had a word wall in my room that I barely used at all. It was something that always got shoved down the priority list when I was running behind. So this summer I was thinking about how I could do a better job with my word wall this year. I decided that, instead of a word wall, I would give each student a personal dictionary where they could write down words they wanted to use in their writing but had trouble spelling. I like that a personal dictionary is also differentiated, since not all kids are going to be in the same place in terms of what sight words they can or can't spell. Well, turns out I have to have a word wall in my room, so I figure the personal dictionary can be in addition to it, not instead of. I think that'll actually work out really well, because then we can still do activities and word work around the word wall words to help kids remember them, and then the act of writing them in the dictionaries will help them remember them as well. And then they can add other words they need help spelling, on an individual basis. I'm excited to try it out! I didn't get around to creating the dictionary this summer, but I, uh, have some time on my hands right now, so I made it the other day! And because I am a nerd, I even looked up the frequency of letters appearing at the beginning of words, so there should be plenty of room in each section for whatever words students put in there all year. Here's a link to the pdf it if you want to use it. The pages are in order for copying back to back then folding in half. (The first blank half page I didn't know how to get rid of, but you don't need it. Copy pages 2-9, with 2-3 back to back, 4-5 back to back, etc).