what works with word work - byroncenterliteracy -...

What Works with Word Work

(gr. 2-6)

Reading/Writing Workshop ConferenceAugust 11-12, 2015

Presented by Annemarie Johnson

[email protected]

www.Teacher2TeacherHelp.com@ajohnsonT2T

Ten Principles of Word Study InstructionTen Principles of Word Study Instruction

1. Look for what students use but confuse.

2. A step backward is a step forward.

3. Use words students can read.

4. Compare words “that do” with words “that don’t.”

5. Sort by sight and sound.

6. Begin with obvious contrasts first.

7. Don’t hide exceptions.

8. Avoid rules.

9. Work for automaticity.

10.Return to meaningful texts.

Source: Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction by

Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, Johnston, Merrill, 2000

Copyright © by Annemarie Johnson www.Teacher2TeacherHelp.com

Professional Resources for Teaching Spelling and Word Study:� Month-by-Month Phonics for Third Grade by Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy

Hall, Carson-Dellosa.

� Month-by-Month Phonics for Upper Grades by Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy

Hall, Carson-Dellosa, 1998.

� My Kid Can’t Spell by J. Richard Gentry, Heinemann, 1997.

� Spel…Is a Four-Letter Word by J. Richard Gentry, Heinemann, 1987.

� Spelling K-8: Planning and Teaching by Diane Snowball and Faye Bolton,

Stenhouse, 1999

� Teaching Kids to Spell by J. Richard Gentry & Jean W. Gillet, Heinemann, 1993.

� The Literacy Map: Guiding Children to Where They Need to Be (K-3) by J.

Richard Gentry, Mondo, 2000.

� Voices on Word Matters: Learning About Phonics and Spelling in the Literacy

Classroom by Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas, Heinemann, 1999.

� Word Journeys: Assessment-Guided Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary

Instruction by Kathy Gansky, The Guilford Press, 2000.

� Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom

by Gay Su Pinnell & Irene C. Fountas, Heinemann, 1998.

� Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction

by Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston, 2000.

1

Spelling WorkshopSpelling Workshop

Spelling Workshop is a way of meeting the diverse needs of all of the spellers

in your classroom. The spelling workshop described below is based on the

research of J. Richard Gentry. For more information on this subject, check

out his website (www.jrichardgentry.com). It contains research on spelling,

spelling activities, and a list of his resource materials. Following is a sample

week’s schedule for spelling workshop.

Friday1. Pretest all students on a range of 10-15 “pattern” words. These words

may come from unit words from a spelling text book or other source.

2. Students self-correct their pretests in red pencil using the “circle-dot”

method. Dictate the correct spelling slowly. Students put a dot under

each correct letter on their papers and circle the incorrect letters.

Students write correct spellings of any misspelled words.

3. Students create individual spelling lists consisting of half pattern words

which they misspelled on their pretests and half “green pen words”

(words misspelled in their own writing). 6-8 words is the suggested

number. [Note: Outstanding spellers who do not misspell any words on

the pretest, may choose all green pen words, or you may provide them

with a more challenging list of words.]

4. Check each student’s list for misspellings. Students then write their

words on a take-home sheet and in their spelling folders to use later in

the week. These lists are also checked before being put away.

Monday and TuesdayOn these two days the focus is on high-frequency words and on spelling

patterns and strategies. Many of the activities are done on individual dry

erase boards or through word sorts.

Wednesday Students study their individual spelling lists using a Look-Say-Cover-Write-

Check flip folder activity and partner review games such as spelling tic-tac-toe

or spelling board games.

Copyright © by Annemarie Johnson www.Teacher2TeacherHelp.com 2

Spelling WorkshopSpelling Workshop

ThursdayPartner quizzes:

1. Students exchange spelling lists with their spelling partners, take

clipboards anywhere in the classroom, and decide who will be quizzed

first.

2. Quiz givers call out each word and use it in a sentence, while the quiz

taker writes the word down. Partners may not give each other hints. If a

quiz giver can’t read a word, he may ask the teacher for help.

3. When the partners finish the first quiz, they reverse roles and repeat the

process.

4. Each student then brings his quiz to the teacher or a parent volunteer to

score and record on his spelling assessment sheet.

5. Students graph their results in their spelling folders.

Green Pen WordsPurpose: To help teachers pinpoint spelling words in students’ writing.

� Keep a green pen on you at all times, with the goal of using it to help

writers, not punish them.

� If you spot a developmentally appropriate, high-frequency word misspelled

in a student’s piece of writing, write it correctly in green at the bottom of the

page. Look for words in writer’s notebooks, response logs, writing

workshop pieces, etc.

� Have students place words on their individualized spelling lists – green

means “go add this one.” I prefer to add these words myself to the spelling

assessment sheet I keep for each child in my assessment notebook. With

this sheet I am able to find patterns in a child’s misspellings, and it gives

me valuable information when I am doing report cards or sharing spelling

progress with parents. These sheets are then added to students’ portfolios

at the end of each grading period.

Adapted and reprinted with permission from Gentry, J. Richard, (2000). The Literacy Map:

Guiding Children to Where They Need to Be (K-3). New York: Mondo Publishing. (pp. 120-124)


ResearchResearch--Supported Spelling StrategiesSupported Spelling Strategies

Onsets and RimesWhat are onsets and rimes?

An onset is the consonant(s) before the vowel(s) in a syllable:

/m/ in mind

/str/ in street

Not all words have an onset (it, and).

A rime is the first vowel in a syllable and whatever follows:

/ind/ in mind

/eet/ in street

All syllables have a rime.

Onsets and rimes are important because:

� they are the most psychologically accessible units of sound that may be

mapped to a spelling pattern (Goswami, 1996).

� rimes (also referred to as phonograms, chunks, or word families) are very

consistent and reliable.

� they can be used to teach children to use reading analogies by using a

word they already know to figure out a word they don’t know (this is the

strategy used by adult fluent readers).

� about 500 easy to read, high frequency words can be derived from only 37

rimes (Wylie and Durrell, 1970).

“The brain is a pattern detector, not a rule applier.”(Patricia Cunningham, 2000)



37 common rimes

Spelling by AnalogyOne of the most useful aspects of knowing about onsets and rimes is that by starting

with one word, children can work out how to read and spell many other words. This

strategy is called decoding and spelling by analogy. They can begin to build lists of

words with the same spelling pattern such as may, say, pay, day, today, way or word

families of related words such as spell, spell-check, spelling, spelled, spells, misspell,

misspellings, misspelled, misspells. This way of thinking about words should be

included in all spelling explorations.

Word SortsGive students a list of words containing familiar chunks or spelling patterns. Have

them sort by chunks or spelling patterns. Word-sorting activities provide

opportunities for students to make logical decisions about word elements such as

sound, pattern, meaning, and use. Below is a completed word sort for some o_e

words.

Important: Students should only be asked to sort words that they can already read.


-ack

-all

-ain

-ake

-ale

-ame

-an

-ank

-ap

-ash

-at

-ate

-aw

-ay

-eat

-ell

-est

-ice

-ick

-ide

-ight

-ill

-in

-ine

-ing

-ink

-ip

-it

-ock

-oke

-op

-ore

-or

-uck

-ug

-ump

-unk

/u/

love

glove

done

some

come

/oh/

lone

home

phone

alone

nose

those

hole

/wu/

one

/o/

gone

/or/

more

5


Investigate WordsWhen teaching new words, especially irregularly spelled high-frequency

words, draw students’ attention to spelling patterns and letter combinations

with questions such as:

� How many letters are in this word?

� Are there double letters?

� Is the word spelled the way it sounds?

� Are there silent letters?

� Do I see a spelling pattern in this word?

� Do I see a base word in this word?

� Is there an apostrophe in this word?

� Is this word spelled with a capital letter?

� How many tall letters do I see?

� How many tail letters do I see?

� Is there a jingle that helps to spell the word?

� Is there anything special about this word to help remember its spelling?

Source: Increasing Student Spelling Achievement BER Handbook by Rebecca Sitton, 2004.

Mnemonics—Memory Devices Help students develop memory devices to help them remember spellings of

words. This research-supported technique works especially well with second

language learners and special needs students. Share common ones or ones

you have made up. Here are a few to get you started:

� all right - Two words. Associate with all wrong.

� friend - Friends till the end.

� hear - I hear with my ear.

� there - Is it here or there?

� potatoes - Potatoes have eyes and toes.

� separate - There is a rat in separate.

� together - to + get + her

� arithmetic - A rat in Tom’s house might eat Tom’s ice cream.

� family – Father and Mother, I love you.



Look, Say, Cover, Write, CheckThis is an effective study technique for practicing new words. I put a 3-column

sheet (see reproducible) on the back of my students’ weekly spelling

homework assignment and ask them to write their words in the first column.

Later in the week students use these sheets to complete the Look-Say-Cover

Flip Folder review activity.

Reprinted with permission from Gentry, J. Richard, (2000). The Literacy Map: Guiding Children

to Where They Need to Be (K-3). New York: Mondo Publishing, p. 124.

Word Hunts After introducing a spelling pattern, write the pattern on the top of a piece of

chart paper. Challenge students to hunt for and find words containing those

patterns and add them to the chart. Encourage them to find words that

contain the pattern in the beginning, middle, and end of words. This helps

students make the connection between spelling and reading.



Spelling ConsciousnessMany children, no matter how hard they work, will continue to be challenged

by spelling. In fact, about 1 in 5 children may never become expert spellers.

They can compensate, however, by developing a spelling consciousness.

Spelling consciousness, not expert spelling, is more closely tied to success.

(Gentry, 1997)

I.F.O.M. WordsI.F.O.M. stands for “in front of me.” Students should be expected to spell

correctly words that appear on a worksheet or assignment that is right in front

of them. (from Writing Strategies That Work! BER Resource Handbook by Diane Murphy).

Daily Fast WritesGive students a high frequency word to spell on individual white boards. Have

them refer to the high frequency word wall to confirm the spelling. Then tell

them: “Write it. Erase it. Write it again. Do it fast.” (Routman, 2000)

What Looks Right? This activity helps children learn to use their visual memories and a dictionary

to determine the correct spelling of a word. Choose two word chunks that are

pronounced the same way. A few examples include: ail/ale, eal/eel, eap/eep,

ear/eer, oan/one, ute/oot, oat/ote, oke/oak, are/air, all/awl, tion/sion, el/le.

Create two columns on an overhead projector labeled with the two chunks.

Have students do the same on paper. Pronounce a word that rhymes with the

chunk. Example: Give a word that rhymes with oat/ote. Say, “If the word is

spelled like coat, it would be written g-o-a-t. If it is spelled like vote, it would

be written g-o-t-e.” Write the two spellings on the transparency. Ask students

to decide which one “looks right” and write the one they think is correct on

their papers. Next have each child look up the word in the dictionary. Cross

out the incorrect spelling. (Cunningham, 2000)



Spelling Buddy Review Games Use board games to review spelling words. Have partners exchange spelling

lists. Partner A dictates a word to Partner B. If partner B successfully spells

the word, (I have my students write the words on individual dry erase boards)

s/he advances to the next spot on the gameboard. Another variation is

Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe. If the student spells the word correctly, s/he puts an “X”

or “O” on the board.

What Good Spellers DoGood spellers have a variety of strategies that they use automatically when

they are writing a word they don’t know how to spell. We can teach the

strategies used by proficient spellers to all of our students. Consider posting

a chart labeled “What Good Spellers Do” in the classroom. Add one or two

strategies at a time. Model the use of these strategies during shared,

interactive, and modeled writing lesson.

Good spellers:

� Look for patterns

� Look for word parts

� Try several ways to write a word

� Write sounds in words

� Write a vowel in each word and in each syllable

� Think about words that sound the same

� Think about words that look the same

� Check to see if words look right

� Think about what words mean

� Practice words

� Use a dictionary to check

� Use a computer spell check

� Look for words in the classroom

� Ask someone if they can’t figure it out

---Fountas and Pinnell, 1998



Inquiry LearningUse the following steps to guide students through the process of discovering

spelling generalizations:

1. State the purpose and focus of the inquiry, relating it to what you have

noticed about the children’s writing needs (for example, learning how to

form plurals).

2. Use the class reading materials to find and list examples of words

containing the spelling focus.

3. Have the children find further examples from material they are reading and

add examples to the class list.

4. Guide children to notice ways to categorize the examples to see what can

be learned from them (for example, to notice that the spelling pattern may

be pronounced different ways) and to group the words accordingly.

Children can continue to find further examples and place them in

appropriate groups.

5. Guide children to form hypotheses based on their examples, to verbalize

and write about their understanding, and to reflect on how their new

understanding can be applied to their own writing and reading.

6. Demonstrate how to use the new knowledge or strategy during shared or

modeled writing, and observe and confer with children about this during

independent writing time.

Boulton, Faye, & Diane Snowball. 1999. Spelling K-8: Planning and Teaching. York, ME: Stenhouse.

Have-a-Go Sheets Have students circle several words from a rough draft that may be misspelled.

Ask them to “have a go” at spelling the words again. Encourage them to

visualize the word, spell it like it sounds, or spell it by analogy to a spelling

pattern they already know.

Spelling Survival Sheet Send home the Spelling Survival Sheet and parent letter. Have parents help

students complete the sheet with CORRECT spellings of names, places, etc.

that their child may use frequently in their writing. Include the Survival Sheet

in the child’s writing folder for future reference.



Spelling in Parts (SIP)The teacher models examples first and provides other demonstrations as

required. The children do the following:

1. They say and clap the word in syllables.

2. They divide the word into syllables as they pronounce each syllable. (The

teacher may check that it is a reasonable division without teaching

syllabication rules. The legal division for bucket would be buck-et; buc-ket

is acceptable, but not bu-cket.)

3. They say a syllable and then spell it, say a syllable and then spell it. (The

teacher checks that students are saying each phoneme within the syllable

as they have marked them.)

4. They circle syllables with difficult spelling patterns.

5. They study circled syllables and may think of a mnemonic or analogy to

recall the spelling pattern (e.g., the mnemonic to-get-her may require the

child to divide the word differently to recall the syllables; recall the spelling

of the first syllable in frighten by associating it with light—I was frightened

by the light).

6. They cover, say a syllable, and then write the syllable; they say a syllable

and the write the syllable.

7. They check and repeat if necessary.

To learn more about this strategy, read the article “Spelling in Parts: A Strategy for

Spelling and Decoding Polysyllabic Words” in the April 2008 edition of The Reading

Teacher.


Reliable Spelling Rules to TeachReliable Spelling Rules to Teach

Rule 1. The Qu Rule

Remember q is always followed by u.

Exception: Iraq

Rule 2. The Syllable Rule

Every syllable has a vowel or y.

Rule 3. The Silent E Rule

When words end in silent e,

drop the e when adding endings beginning with a vowel.

(have�having)

keep the e when adding endings beginning with a consonant.

(late�lately)

Rule 4. Changing Y to I

When the singular form ends with consonant + y, change the y to i and add -

es. (baby, babies)

When the singular form ends with vowel + y, add s. (boy, boys)

Rule 5. The IE or EI Rule

Write i before e

Except after c

Or when sounded like a

As in neighbor and weigh.

Weird and neither

Aren’t the same either.

Exceptions: caffeine, codeine, either, Fahrenheit, fiery, financier, height,

hierarchy, leisure, neither, protein, seize, seizure, sheik, sleigh, stein, their,

weird.

Reprinted with permission from Gentry, J. Richard, (2000). The Literacy Map: Guiding Children to Where They Need to Be (K-3). New York: Mondo Publishing, p. 96.


Copyright by Annemarie Johnson

Sample Parent Letter

Dear Parents,

I would like to explain the spelling program we will be using this year. It is probably

a little different from what you have been familiar with in the past, so if you have any

questions that are not cleared up by this letter, please feel free to contact me. I will also

answer questions at our Open House meeting next week.

This year I will be working with your child to develop individual spelling lists that are

appropriate for your child and that contain words that s/he needs to know how to spell.

Each child’s spelling list will be different according to his/her needs. Half of the words on

the list will be “pattern” words--words that follow a phonetic pattern or skill we are

working on. Some examples include: short “a” words, consonant blends, or contractions.

The other half of your child’s list will come from words s/he has misspelled in his/her daily

writing.

This year you may hear your child talk about “green pen” words and you will see

“green pen” words on your child’s written work. Green pen words are those words that your

child has misspelled in daily work. When I look over your child’s work and notice a

misspelling, I will circle it in green and write it correctly at the bottom of the page. I will

then write these words on his/her Spelling Assessment Sheet, and these words will become

part of a future spelling list. The purpose of “green penning” words is not to punish students

or call attention to mistakes, but rather to help them become more aware of correct

spelling and help them improve. Important note: I will not correct every misspelled word

in your child’s daily writing. I will only green pen words that are developmentally

appropriate for your child to learn.

The following is the schedule for our weekly spelling workshop:

• Friday - I will pretest students on 10-12 pattern words. Each child will choose up

to 3 of the words s/he misspelled on the pretest and add these words to an

individual spelling list. Students will then look on their Spelling Assessment

Sheets for green pen words they need to learn how to spell. They will add 3 of

these to their spelling lists.

• Monday through Wednesday - We will learn and practice spelling and phonics

strategies to review the spelling pattern of the week.

• Thursday - Students will take a spelling quiz on the 8 words on their lists. Any

misspelled words will be added to the following week’s list.

• Homework: Practice reading, pronouncing, and spelling words on the spelling list.

Complete and return the written spelling homework assignment by Wednesday

each week. Homework assignments will be sent home on Mondays.

I hope this explanation is clear and helpful to you as you work with your child to help

improve his/her spelling this year. Again, if you have any questions, please bring them to

Open House or call me at _________.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Johnson

13


_________________’s Spelling Assessment Grading Period:_____

The following are words that have come from your own writing (journal, response log, writing

workshop pieces, etc.) Choose at least 3 of these words to add to your personal spelling list on the

back of this sheet. Check off (�) the words you used.

Personal Word List � � � � � � � �

� � � �

� � � �

� � � � � � � �

� � � �

� � � �

� � � � � � � �

� � � �

� � � �

� � � � � � � �

� � � �

� � � �

� � � �

� � � �

� � � �

� � � �

Spelling Test Scores Comments:

Date Score

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

Total /

%

Adapted with permission from Michelle Lumley, 2001.

14

________________________’s Personal Spelling Lists

Unit______ Date______________ Unit______ Date______________

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

7. 7.

8. 8.


1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

7. 7.

8. 8.


1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

7. 7.

8. 8.


1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

7. 7.

8. 8.

Spelling Partner:________________________ 15


Spelling Test Results # OF WORDS SPELLED CORRECTLY

10 10

9 9

8 8

7 7

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

Unit/Skill

16


My Spelling Survival Sheet

Mom/stepmom:___________________________________

Dad/stepdad:____________________________________

Brothers:_______________________________________

Sisters:________________________________________

Pets:__________________________________________

Friends:________________________________________

______________________________________________

Grandparents:____________________________________

______________________________________________

Aunts, uncles:____________________________________

______________________________________________

Cousins:________________________________________

______________________________________________

Address:_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Teachers:_______________________________________

Principal:_______________________________________

School:_________________________________________

Places I like to visit or vacation:______________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

Other important people, places, or things I might write about

this year and will need to know how to spell: ______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

17


Dear Parents,

Please assist your child in correctly spelling any

applicable information on the attached Spelling

Survival Sheet. This sheet will stay in your child’s

spelling folder throughout the year so that s/he will

have a quick reference during his/her daily writing.

Thanks for your help!

Dear Parents,

Please assist your child in correctly spelling any

applicable information on the attached Spelling

Survival Sheet. This sheet will stay in your child’s

spelling folder throughout the year so that s/he will

have a quick reference during his/her daily writing.

Thanks for your help!

18

Copyright by Annemarie Johnson www.Teacher2TeacherHelp.com

Have-a-Go at Spelling

First Try Second Try Standard Spelling

1.____________ ____________ ____________

2.____________ ____________ ____________

3.____________ ____________ ____________

4.____________ ____________ ____________

5.____________ ____________ ____________

6.____________ ____________ ____________

7.____________ ____________ ____________

8.____________ ____________ ____________

9.____________ ____________ ____________

10.____________ ____________ ____________

11.____________ ____________ ____________

12.____________ ____________ ____________

13.____________ ____________ ____________

14.____________ ____________ ____________

15.____________ ____________ ____________

16.____________ ____________ ____________

17.____________ ____________ ____________

18.____________ ____________ ____________

19.____________ ____________ ____________

20.____________ ____________ ____________

19


Look – Say - Cover Homework: Write your list of spelling words in the first column of this sheet only. Be sure that every word is spelled

correctly! We will complete the rest of this spelling study activity in class on Thursday.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

20

___________________________’s Personal Editing List (Things I Know)

Date

Added

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Fo

ld

here

21

_________________’s Personal Spelling List � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

Fold line

�

22

what works with word work - byroncenterliteracy -...

Documents