Do word finds really help students improve their spelling?
Hey there Crystal. Excellent question. The reason I really like this question is that people tend to assume that just about any game or puzzle that involves words is automatically great for spelling and vocabulary. Not true. Did you know that some of the best English-language Scrabble players in the world are from Thailand and barely speak a word of English?! Framing a word game or puzzle to enhance its educational value takes work… To make a word find (at Word-Buff, I usually call them Word Searches, incidentally) really helpful for improving spelling, the puzzle maker has to put in some effort. You have to do things that force the solver to scrutinize the spelling of each word on their list. How? Here are two tips for making your puzzles better spelling helpers… 1. Make sure you choose word lists containing frequently misspelled words. Don’t give the student a chance to relax and go into autopilot. Every word should force the solver to think twice about how it’s spelled. 2. Inclu
