Word Study
Word study is effective instruction in phonics, spelling, and vocabulary. Becoming fully literate is absolutely dependent on fast, accurate recognition of words and their meanings in text, and fast, accurate production of words in writing so that readers and writers can focus their attention on making meaning (Balmuth, 1992; Smith, 2002; Matthews, 1967). Developmental spelling research describes students’ growing knowledge of words as a continuum, or a series of chronologically ordered stages, or phases of word knowledge. I have briefly described the stages below; however, if you would like in-depth information, I will be happy to share it with you. The stages are as follows:
I. Emergent Spelling – May range from random marks or scribbles to legitimate letters that bear a relationship to sound. Toward the end, students begin to memorize some words and are able to write them repeatedly.
II. Letter Name – Alphabetic Spelling – Use the names of the letters as cues to the sound they want to represent. They listen closely to how a word sounds as they are trying to spell it correctly. This stage is divided into early, middle, and late periods because of the rapid growth.
III. Within Word Spelling Pattern – Can read and spell many words correctly because of their automatic knowledge of letter sounds and short-vowel patterns.
IV. Syllables and Affixes – Consider spelling patterns where syllables meet and meaning units such as affixes (prefixes and suffixes).
V. Derivational Relations – This final stage continues throughout adulthood. Students examine how words share common derivation and related base words and root words.
I have assessed each child. By plotting their words on an error chart, their level was determined by the spelling patterns they used during the assessment. Please remember that these stages are broad and some of the skills often overlap. I have also grouped your child with others who are struggling with some of the same spelling patterns. Each group will receive different spelling words according to the patterns they need to work with. These groups may change depending upon the needs of the children.
The end-of-the year spelling stage goal for third grade is Early Syllables and Affixes. My goal is to try to bring each student to that stage. For the children who are close to meeting that goal, I want to help them surpass it!
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 (Juel & Minden-Cupp, 2000). Part of our word study time will be sorting words into various categories to discover patterns that the students need to learn. Your child will be bringing home a collection of spelling words weekly that have been introduced in class. Each night of the week, your child is expected to do a different activity to ensure that these words and the spelling principles they represent are mastered. These activities have been modeled and practiced in class, so your child can teach you how to do them.
Monday: Remind your child to sort the words into categories like the ones we did in school. Your child should read each word aloud during this activity. Ask your child to explain to you why the words are sorted in a particular way – what does the sort reveal about spelling in general? Ask your child to sort them a second time as fast as possible. You may want to time them!
Tuesday: Do a blind sort with your child. Lay down a word from each category as a header and then read the rest of the words aloud. Your child must indicate where the word goes without seeing it. Lay it down and let your child move it if he or she is wrong. Repeat if your child makes more than one error.
Wednesday: Assist your child in doing a word hunt, looking for words in a book they have already read that have the same sound, pattern, or both. Try to find two or three from each category.
Thursday: Do a writing sort to prepare for the Friday test. As you call out the words in a random order, your child should write them in the categories. Call out any words your child misspells a second or even a third time.
For the Friday test, the students will be assessed over twenty of the words they have worked with. If you have any questions about our word study time, I will be more than happy to discuss them with you. Thank you for your support. Together we can help your child make valuable progress!
Mrs. Wiggs