This week we talked in detail about a different approach to spelling - word study. Word study provides students an opportunity to manipulate words (and parts of words) in meaningful and enjoyable activities and games. Word study activities call for active problem solving. Students are encouraged to look for spelling patterns, form hypotheses, predict outcomes, and test them. These activities require students to continually ask themselves, "What do I know about this new word, and how is it similar to words that I already know?"
My students love working with words, and frequently ask for more "word games." They thoroughly enjoy the various word work that I incorporate into their literacy centers. One of the things the kids like best is speed sorting. I get out my stopwatch and they sort their words as fast as they can. We do it once to practice, again to see how fast they can go and finally a last super-speed round.I always emphasize that no one is competing with anyone else. They are trying to improve on their own performance. They also love to do word study art. I have them write their words and then draw a picture around them so they are "hidden". Then they switch with someone else in their group and find the words. Sometimes they make shapes (flowers, stars, circles) and write their words along the edges of the shape (like a shape poem). These are good for when they are getting used to the words. Be sure you include some work on the vocabulary side of word study, like writing the words in sentences or a story. Sometimes kids just memorize these lists, so to work against that, I always ask for a challenge word when assessing them so they have to remember and use the sort rule.
I think a very important part of word study is consistency. Children need reinforcement and extra practice working with words and exploring patterns. The more exposure we can give our students, the better. Even if you cannot devote time for word study every day, finding a way to incorporate it into your classroom is the best solution. Developmental spelling research does indicate that as students develop and gain sufficient orthographic knowledge within a level of development, correct spellings increase. The more exposure to a word, the more we remember the word-specific information, including the general word structure or orthography (Beers, Beers, & Grant, 1977). Take some time in the morning, before lunch, after recess, during reading groups (etc.), any time you can squeeze in some extra practice would be beneficial.
Beers, J.W., Beers, C.S., & Grant, K. (1977). The logic behind children’s spelling. Elementary School Journal, 77, 238-242.
I love your ideas for word study activities! I have found it difficult to come up with engaging learning tasks that the students enjoy doing. These two activities, "word art" and "speed sorting," are great to use in any classroom! I hope to be able to use these two ideas in my classroom next year.
ReplyDeleteAt my school, each grade level has similar "centers" activities in each classroom. Even though our center ideas are researched-based, many of them are not very engaging, and students become bored doing the same centers every week. One of my goals is to find a variety of centers that are effective and fun at the same time. It sounds like your students enjoy doing these two centers throughout the year. Even though they may be the same action, the words change, which makes the whole activity new and exciting for the students.
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ReplyDeleteAnnie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, word study activities and games help students learn new words faster and more effective. When I took a course last semester on Diagnostic/Assessment for Reading Instruction, one of the projects I had to do was administer spelling tests and analyze the student’s results. Then, basing it on the Words Their Way textbook, I had to plan an activity that matches the student’s spelling stage. There are word study games for students in their emergent, letter name-alphabetic, within word pattern, syllables and affixes, and derivational relations stage.
Since this class deals with emergent literacy, the Words Their Way book suggests teachers have their students play with sounds to develop phonological awareness. An example is giving students opportunities to rhyme words by matching and sorting pictures. Also, at this young age, students can even invent rhymes (make up words that aren’t really words). Another simple activity I think all emergent literacy teachers should have in his/her teaching toolbox is the beginning-middle-end manipulative. This game includes large letter cards and a three-pocket holder. To complete this activity, place the letters needed to spell a three letter word in the pocket. Announce the word and have students try to spell the word by figuring out the beginning, middle and end sound. More ideas can be extracted from the book.
Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2007). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Annie,
ReplyDeleteI really like using Words Their Way, too. I think that the biggest strength of the intervention program is the natural differentiation built into the program. After giving the spelling assessment, the teacher sorts students into small groups, based on their spelling stage. In previous weeks, our class talked about the importance of differentiated instructions for emergent literacy. Like the theories of Maria Montessori, this approach allows teachers to meet students at their level. While some might find the Montessori method too flexible, I think it is crucial to be aware of students abilities and skills before teaching them new (or hopefully new) skills.
I have been blogging a lot about the summer school language arts that I am teaching. What I like a lot about curriculum is that it encourages teaching whole group strategies, but allows students opportunities to read and respond to the text on their own level. However, the program also comes with vocabulary words for every two weeks. Unfortunately, the words are not related by word patterns so it is difficult for students to learn the patterns. Using the word study, a future idea might be to select words with similar spelling patterns or to create different word groups for students based on their level demonstrated by a spelling inventory.