Spelling

The Mansfield Public Schools have adopted the Cast-A-Spell spelling program as the primary instruction for third grade.  In part of the Cast-A-Spell program, students are expected to know and practice high-frequency words (commonly called muscle words).

As part of nightly homework, students received the following Muscle Word Lists and Challenge Lists pack that contain the words we work on for third grade.  If you lose that copy, a copy is provided below.  We will work on third grade skills and strategies during Cast-A-Spell learning time in the classroom.  The lessons will include some work with muscle words.

Muscle Word and Challenge Word Lists (PDF Format)

Each night written homework is assigned, students should practice a group of words from the assigned muscle word list. Since each list is practiced for approximately 3 months, students should select the group of words with their parents and several review words from the previous week’s practice.  Here is an example:

New Muscle Words #5-10
Review Muscle Words #1-5
Total practice for the night: 10 words in about 5 minutes

Students can also use a web site to practice their muscle words.  I have loaded lists of words into spellingcity.com.  There are many activities available for your child to practice the words!  As lists are loaded into the web site, links will be published here:

Muscle Word List #1 at SpellingCity.com

Several traditional spelling tests are given over the course of the marking period to review progress with the lists.  If your child is advancing with the word list and needs some challenge words, I have provided a list for you to use.  This “Challenge List” contains the 1,200 words that are used the most throughout the English language.  All though this list is not officially tested, families have asked for additional words to practice beyond the third grade muscle words.

If you have any questions about nightly homework practice, please contact me.