Trick to teach their and there

[niccig]

DS has both these words on a spelling list. He can spell them, but doesn't know when to use which one. Any hints/tricks to teach it.

Thanks.

Nicci

[ourbabygirl]

Maybe something that they possess that starts with "I" like "I want their ice cream!"

And something with two E's, like "There are elephants over there in Ethiopia" ?
:shrug:

[lilycat88]

We just went through this last week! My DD who hasn't missed a spelling word all year mixed these two up and was heartbroken.

We ended up doing something with saying that if you could replace the word 'there' with "here" (which is a part of there), it's "there". If you can't put "here" in the sentence, it's their. It worked. Her teacher retested the words the next week and she got it with no problem.

[MamaKath]

I always tell the kids "Over HERE, over THERE" (in a crazy sing song voice) for a place THERE. Otherwise it is the people THEIR taking ownership, like THEIR puppy dog.

[lalasmama]

We're another family that has there/their trouble, along with to/two/too.

We say "We go from HERE to THERE with a 't'!". We have nothing for their, DD just knows if it's not the "here" there, then it's the other one (at least until we get into contractions).

For to/two/too, "We have tooooo many t_w_o_sss to give away to people!" We really draw out the "tooooo many".

This has been the thorn in my side as the parent of a 2nd grader!