Spelling Homework

Students will be given a weekly spelling contract on Fridays. Contracts are due the next Friday. They must complete 25 points on the contract. The contract has a list of many ways to practice. Students choose enough activities to meet the 25 points or more (typically 3-4 activities per week.)

Recommendation: Have students sort the words for you and explain why they sorted them that way. Come up with many different sorts. Play Guess My Sort.

Be supportive and offer praise!

Model for students how to do something correctly.

“Word Study…occurs in hands- on activities that mimic basic learning processes: comparing and contrasting categories of features and discovering similarities and differences within and between categories “(Invernizzi, Johnston, Bear, and Templeton 2008).

“Becoming fully literate is absolutely dependent on fast, accurate recognition of words in texts, and fast, accurate production of words in writing so that readers and writers can focus their attention on meaning. Designing a word study program that explicitly teaches necessary skills and, at the same time, engages children’s interest and motivation to learn about how words work, is clearly one of the most important aspects of a literacy program.” (Invernizzi, Johnston, Bear, and Templeton 2008)

“I see and I forget,

I hear and I remember,

I do and I understand.”

-Confucius

A Parent’s Guide

To our Spelling Program: Words Their Way

Mrs. Monroe

Westbrook Elementary

What is Words Their Way:

Words Their Way is a developmental spelling program developed by Invernizzi, Johnston, Bear, and Templeton.

WTW is a spelling program that gives students spelling words according to their developmental level (determined by spelling inventory.) Students are given words that have features that they are learning to control (using but confusing). Students then develop an understanding for the patterns and/or features of the words through sorting and other activities. Students in the class will be in different “spelling groups” so there will be different spelling words for different children. A typical spelling test will occur, but students will be tested also on their knowledge of the pattern. So, they may be tested on words with the same pattern- but not necessarily from their spelling list. It is no longer about memorizing words, it is about internalizing patterns.

Why Words Their Way?:

“We learn best by active involvement and practice with the task at hand, which allow us to see word and letter patterns. Research suggests that the brain is a pattern detector rather than an applier of rules. If our brains are indeed pattern detectors, then we should provide our students with plenty of opportunities to investigate and organize those patterns.”

Developmental Spelling Stages

Emergent _(Pre K-K)

  • Writing attempts of students who are not yet reading
  • Random marks, representational drawing, mock linear or letter-like writing, random letters and numbers

Letter-Name Alphabetic Stage (K 3)

  • Hears first and last sounds of words
  • Hears and uses and/or confuses middle vowels
  • Uses and/or confuses consonant clusters (sh, th, bl, dr, sp, etc.)
  • Can spell Consonant-vowel-Consonant words (bed, sad, sip)
  • Encourage invented spelling

Within Word Stage (1-mid 4))

  • Attention to short and long vowel sounds (bit, bite)
  • Explores long vowel patterns (ai, oa, ee, ea, ay, vowel-consonant-e (like, bake)
  • Explores other long vowel patterns (ow, ou, igh, ew, oi, er, etc.)
  • Homophones and homographs

Syllables and Affixes(3-8)

  • Studies consonant doubling, dropping the e, adding an i
  • Prefixes and suffixes

Derivational Relations (5-12)

  • Spelling-meaning connection
  • Bases and Roots

Word Study Activities Schedule

Day 1 (Friday) (PM):

Receive new words write words in planner.

*The following are done in the spelling center:

Day 2 (Monday):

Sort, Build (magnetic letters), mix (mess up), Fix (build words again)

Day 3 (Tuesday):

Look, Say, Build (magnetic letters), Write, and Check

Day 4 (Wednesday):

Buddy Check (practice test with a partner)

Day 5 (Thursday):

Look, say, cover, write, check in spelling notebooks

Day 1 (Friday)(AM): Spelling Test

If students grasps pattern concept, student will move to a new feature. If they need more practice on that pattern, students will be given different words with that pattern.

*Students also will work on high frequency words as a part of their spelling list. These words do not follow a typical pattern and must just be known. *