One of our favorite tools for growing young writers is Reverse Dictation.
We take an existing passage from a beloved book and mess it up with spelling and punctuation errors. Then we turn the student loose to play editor, cleaning up the mess we made!
Try it using a passage from Anne of Green Gables. Put on your editor’s cap, and see how many errors you can spot and correct in the passage below (the answer key is at the bottom of this post).
Here’s the passage:
gilbert blith wasnt used to puting hisself out to make a gurl look at him and meeting with falure she shoud look at him that redhaired shurley girl with the littel pointed chin and the big eyes that werent like the eyez of any other girl in avonley scool
Look for misspellings, absent commas, periods, apostrophes and more! Give yourself a penny (or piece of candy) for each correct correction!
Works for your kids too. Imagine teaching a lesson about apostrophes and capitalized letters using a passage like this. Your kids will get the smug superiority feeling of correcting someone else’s mistakes all while locking in their own writing skills!
For more ideas, try our Practice Pages!
Corrected Copy
Gilbert Blythe wasn’t used to putting himself out to make a girl look at him and meeting with failure. She should look at him, that red-haired Shirley girl with the little pointed chin and the big eyes that weren’t like the eyes of any other girl in Avonlea school.
