Word Study 1
Implementing Word Study in a
Fourth Grade Classroom
Rachel Greene Lamb
RE 5546
July 2007
Introduction
Background
Oxford Elementary is a small, rural school with about 600 students who are predominantly white and participate in free and reduced lunch programs. A growing population of Hmong children is also enrolled. No spelling program has been adopted by the school and no spelling basals are used. Teachers rely on high frequency word lists, basal reading textbook lists, and teacher created lists. Spelling is often ignored. In fourth grade students take a state writing assessment and conventions of writing, including spelling of basic fourth grade level words, are scored. Students entering the fourth grade are more often than not ill prepared in spelling knowledge as well as writing skills.
Statement of the Problem
As a fourth grade teacher the implications of only using high frequency words and no true spelling program by the time students reach the upper elementary grades is apparent. While learning the high frequency lists in first, second, and third grades, lower grades teachers feel they are helping upper grade teachers by requiring students to use these lists for spelling, but the case is simply that features and high frequency words must both be taught. The majority of students are unaware of spelling patterns.
In the past the basal list of spelling words has been the only resource used for spelling lists and activity worksheets. It is grouped by patterns beginning in the within word stage, but many students are unable to spell words on the fourth grade level. The basal quickly moves to the syllable juncture with compound words and affixes by the fifth list and students get lost in the system. After the first four weeks of short vowel patterns, students begin failing post tests miserably.
A structured spelling lesson has been disregarded for many reasons, but mainly due to lack of time. This year there will be a change. An allotted time for spelling instruction in the classroom has been set aside rather than a just a list sent home on Monday to be memorized by Friday. The question is whether or not this can be done successfully.
Review of Literature
The first step in implementing a word study in the classroom will be giving a spelling inventory test and using the feature guide included in the Words Their Way: Word Study forPhonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction (Bear, et al., 2008) text the first week of school. Bear and Barone (1989) assert that matching students with their instructional spelling level makes “generative learning possible” meaning students are not able to apply this knowledge to new words encountered while reading and writing. In order for students to internalize these spelling features, they will work in groups each day with games, word sorts, writing, word hunts, and teacher instruction to build the necessary basis. These authors also touch on another subject, teacher created lists from novels and content. In the past spelling lists for a new unit on poetry or Halloween words have been created in my classroom, but each time it was noted that students struggled on the test Friday. Barone (1992) says the problem with using these lists is that students are forced to learn each word independent from the rest on the list and they are not familiar with the meanings. Spelling will also be taught out of context. According to Barone (1992) words must be investigated in isolation.
Templeton and Morris (1999) also attest to the fact that words must be “taught outside of actual reading and writing” and “explicit examination” is necessary for the majority of students. They also suggest that activities involving the words and using the words in students’ reading and writing are equally important. Word knowledge may best be discovered through reading and writing, but “some examination” is necessary (Templeton and Morris, 1999).
Having students participate in activities like word sorts and word-play activities “help students investigate word patterns and become knowledgeable spellers who do not need to rely solely on memory” (Bloodgood, 1991). The author also suggests that while students’ assessments may show the need for five or more groups, three reading groups allow for a more practical word study arrangement. Bloodgood (1991) also states that learning centers where students study and explore the word features for the week is important so they can then be applied to new words and only then are they “internalized”.
Word study is important to the development of better readers and writers. Bear, et al. (2008), noticed that many spelling programs focus is on explicit instruction, but repetitious and often boring worksheets and drill and practice type activities. Using a broad range of games and sorts, a classroom of better readers and writers is the goal of this plan.
Method
Action Plan
After the inventory is given and analyzed, students who place below grade level (within word stage and lower), will not work in the basal list. Rather word lists available from the Words Their Way appendix will be utilized (Bear, et al., 2008). Students who place in the Syllable Juncture pattern will work with the basal list which includes compound words, irregular plurals, consonant doubling, and multisyllablic words; and students in the Derivational Constancy stage will work with Greek and Latin roots in a program adopted by the county.
Ideally, three to four spelling groups will be created. These will be flexible and students will be able to move up or down according to teacher observation and informal assessments. This is an important aspect to maintain that students are instructed on their instructional levels. Reading groups are already set up this way.
The schedule allows for 15-20 minutes of spelling instruction per day. This is sufficient time to meet with each group several times a week and according to Bear, et al. (2008), spelling should consist of brief lessons and activities each day.See table below for a proposed schedule rotation.
MondayIntroduce words in each group and pretest / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday
Group 1 (low) / T, C, C / Group 1 / T, S / Group 1 / S, C / Group 1 / T, S
Group 2 (med-on grade level) / C, T, C / Group 2 / S, T / Group 2 / S, T / Group 2 / C, S
Group 3 (high) / C, C, T / Group 3 / S, C / Group 3 / T, S / Group 3 / S, T
(C=center (spelling activity), T=teacher, S=spelling seat work)
Activities to be included should be meaningful and students need to be allowed to manipulate the words and their patterns (Bloodgood, 1991). In various seat work students would work with partners or individually to complete word hunts, write sorts in word study notebooks, developing sentences, and open sorts. In centers students will be able to work as a group to play games like letter-spin, speed sorts, racetrack, blind sorts, and other spelling games (Bear, et al., 2008). Bloodgood and Pacifici (2004) offer a few activities appropriate for groups 2 and 3 like “Root of the Day” which would lend itself well to group 3, perhaps as a “Root of the Week” activity. Fridays are reserved for assessment. The concept of blind sorts as a spelling test is appealing (Bear, et al., 2008), but may reserve this for small group time with the teacher on Thursdays as a quick informal assessment. Simply calling out one group’s word, then the next group’s, and the next, etc. will be appropriate in the beginning. With groups being flexible, assessments and writing will be carefully monitored.
I also plan for students to complete all activities in class. A simple composition book can hold all the year’s word sorts and lists. In the low socio-economic area I teach we are encouraged to not send home too much homework because it is usually not returned. This also allows for more observation.
Rationale
I feel the time for change has arrived. Using the basal lists and worksheets is leaving too many of my students behind. “Students need hands-on opportunities to manipulate word features in a way that allows them to generalize beyond isolated, individual examples to entire groups of words that are spelled the same way” (Bear et al., 2008).
Conclusion
Plans for implementing a word study program in the classroom are already being planned for the 2007-2008 school year. A large task is set before me, but as Bloodgood and Pacifici (2004) note, word study is not “all or nothing” and bits and pieces may be further developed over years.
References
Barone, D. (1992). Whatever happened to spelling? The role of spelling instruction in process-centered classrooms. Reading Psychology: An International Quarterly, 13, 1-17.
Bear, D., & Barone, D. (1989) Using children’s spellings to group for word study and directed reading in the primary classroom. Reading Psychology: An International Quarterly, 10, 275-292.
Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnson, F. (2008). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Bloodgood, J. W. (1991). A new approach to spelling instruction in language arts programs. Elementary School Journal, 92, 203-211.
Bloodgood, J. W. & Pacifici, L. C. (2004). Bringing word study to intermediate classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 58, 250-263.
Templeton, S. & Morris, D. (1999). Questions teachers ask about spelling. Reading Research Quarterly, 34, 102-112.