Word Puzzles

How many words can you make from the letters in "VACATION"?

Initially all answers are accepted, including one letter words, abbreviations, proper names, etc. This provides plenty of opportunity for discussion about word forms, spelling patterns and word families.

As the year goes on, and students become more proficient the expectations change. Words must be three, then four letters minimum length. Later in the year I use problems like the "TARGET" word puzzle that is found in the newspaper. A nine letter word is scrambled and one letter is put in each square of a 3x3 grid. The challenge here is that every word MUST contain the letter in the center square. Sometime I use the puzzle that is in the newspaper, if the big word is a word that might be familiar to the students, but at other time I make up my own puzzle in this format.