Spelling Test in Kindergarten?

It sounds like a sight word test. Just doing what you're doing is fine. It will click, it just might take a little time. Those words will be on his continuous list until they're automatic for him and he won't need to "read" them but will know them by sight aka "as sight words."

There are a lot of words that you can read without reading them. For instance, every word in the sentence right before this one had words in it that you don't have to actually read but the brain can identify them instantly simply through sight. :-)

Get a plate/pan of sugar. Have him trace the words in the sugar with his finger. Put the sugar in a ziplock bag to use for next time.

First let me say I am TOTALLY against Kindergartners doing this type of work. They should not be doing this until they are 7. (I won't go into all the developmental reasons why).

However, since your son has to do it, and I'm sure my opinion that he shouldn't is not going to make you run out and enroll in a Waldorf school ; ) ......

Try making up little songs for the heart words (what we call ones you have to learn by heart because you can't spell them phonetically). Some children learn easily when things are musical. Such as (and this is off the top of my head, so don't be making fun of my lame example!)

(To the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
You is Y O U
Y O U is you
You and me together is We
and that's spelled W E

We used to do bath crayons, writing each letter on a different tile.
I didn't like it when my son had spelling tests in kindergarten because the teacher counted it wrong if he spelled it correctly but formed the letters backwards.(He still writes letters backwards even in 4th grade).

yes. we had them, tho not right away.

only other suggestion is to right each word on a seperate paper and post them in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Shaving cream in the bathtub. Also, have him look at the flashcard while he says the letters aloud.

Maybe you could "pickle" the words with him. He says one letter, you say the next, his turn, etc...

Good luck! He will get it.

Haven't read any of the other responses. But last year in KG my daughter brought home "popcorn" words. Basically sight words above. The teachers used white paper and shaped them like popcorn (big enough to read from a distance) and wrote (printed) the words on the "popcorn". I bought magnets and we put them on the fridge.

When I was cooking dinner or in the kitchen she would come in, tell me a popcorn word she wanted to practice and we practiced spelling. We used them in a sentence then spelled them again.

I am a firm believer in figuring out how to best help/teach people to learn things. I for one am a Kinesetic learning. I can't stand visuals or learning by lecture, I have to physically do it and make mistakes to get it. My daughter learns better by audio and visual. So I try to teach her using what works for her. (BTW I am a trainer in the corporate world and have studied this myself)

I've never heard of spelling tests in kindergarten, are you sure this isn't a sight word test? Those are sight words here.

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I just read in my Parents Magazine that a mom printed our her kids spelling words and used one of those photo holders with the little clip on them and put them in front of her kids every morning at breakfast. It was fast, easy, and they could multitask! I thought it was cute.

Another idea is, if you have the space somewhere at home, to make a little mini wordwall for him to study. Put the words up there and add them each week, someplace like the kitchen or the hallway might work!