Many people find that "multisensory" approaches help their children to learn spelling words moreso than just repeating them aloud, or writing them on paper. You could try "air writing" (using large arm motions to spell out the individual letters) and use a cookie sheet covered in salt, or shaving cream, to have the child spell them out.

One way to make them remember the words is that in your conversation you need to ensure you coin the word to your kid the message and make he/she understand in what context these words can be used and ask them to try out forming few example sentences using those words. This way they will memorise the word quickly.

What has worked for my boy. Now 7. On Monday we just read the words and what they meant. Tuesday we spelled them together and I made up tricks on ways to remember.Ex~ STOP I may say you see the sign at the end of road and ST! we slow down... OP means OHHH we need the brakes. Or we figure out rhymes. You only need to work on those he cannot seem to remember. By Wed. he may need help with only one or two. Thurs. We go over again. Needs to know them today. It helps to reveiw FRI morning at breakfast or in car on the way to school. You will have them memorized by now too so you can quiz him anywhere..

Hi! My older son struggled for years with spelling, and we tried many different ways for him to learn the words before finding out what worked best for him. You can try flashcards if your child is visual, writing the letters in different colors - for example, if you are doing the "st" family, you would write st in blue, and the remaining letters in red, so they stand out. We also tried quizzing him out loud (good for auditory learners) - you can do this in the bathtub or in the car so you are using downtime. The thing that worked best for him was writing the words three times each.

If your child is struggling, you can ask for the words to be handed out on Friday so you have a few extra days for review, and can work on them over the weekend when you child is not tired from other homework. Good luck, JWmomm

Spelling tests like this are not developmentally appropriate for most 5 year olds. I have two children - one an early reader (reading chapter books like Junie B jones in Kindergarten), and one severely dyslexic. NEITHER ONE would have been able to score consistently well on tests such as these.

Go over it and over it. You go one word at a time, in the car, at the dinner table, at breakfast, and more! Until he has them all memorized and you test him continually, one word at a time, until he can tell you all of them by heart.
But I'll agree with michellea that this sounds inappropriate for 5 year olds. It sounds like a 1st grade level spelling assignment. Is he in an advanced class? If he still struggles even with your strong support, you should speak with the teacher about what's appropriate.
Did they skip all the 3-letter rhyming words? That's Kindergarten. (hat, sat, pat, cat, mat, bat)

I would use Scrabble tiles on the table. A Multi-senosory approach as mentioned previously.
The Barton reading/spelling instruction site has a video on the method and if you click the demo you can see how this approach works.
www.bartonreading.com/

I am very surprised that your child is already having spelling tests? I assume he/she is in kindergarten? My son is learning to read and is reading Junie B. Jones types books as well but has never had a spelling test. I agree with Michellea... this does seem kind of strange.

My son also gets spelling words. My mom is a kinder teacher and she gives them as well. Kinder isn't at all what we remember. This week I decided to get extra creative and got some of my son's lego base plates and spell his words that way. He has to trace the letters with his finger and spell it out loud. Sometimes we trace words in the air. I also have a stash of beads with letters on them and a couple of scrabble games. What we do varies week to week but as long as I am consistent he does okay.