Homophones are not exactly my favorite thing to teach, but homophone instruction and practice is so necessary. Homophones are a concept that students can usually grasp in isolation, but are frequently misused in student writing. This blog post shares five lessons and activities you can use to teach homophones, so that you can see evidence of their understanding in their reading and writing.

I first introduce homophones with picture books and an anchor chart. At this time I don’t expect students to understand how to correctly use homophones, but I do want them to have a general understanding of what homophones are. Some of my favorite books include: Dear Deer, How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear, Eight Ate, The King Who Rained. These books are a great way to kick off your homophone lessons and activities.

After I introduce the concept of homophones, I introduce my Homophone of the Week.  I  think it’s overwhelming and unrealistic for students to grasp a huge number of homophones in a short period of time, and I don’t think a week or two homophone unit is enough for students to get a firm grasp on using them correctly.  For the past several years, I’ve introduced one homophone a week to my students, and for just a minute or two each day, we discuss the homophone and practice using it in a sentence.  I also occasionally give a very brief quiz over our homophone of the week. You can display the Homophone of the Week in many different ways. This is just two pieces of black construction paper taped to my dry erase board. I simply replace the homophones on the bottom sheet of paper each week.

I also have a chalkboard version that I used to use when I didn’t have a black background.

I included a mini homophone booklet that can be used as a journal or quiz in the file. I like having them for my students to reference as needed.