Literate Environment Evaluation and Enhancement Plan Alexandra Lockwood October 2010

Harcourt Trophies Program For the past five years

 Phonics  Comprehension  Vocabulary  Fluency  Read Alouds  Writing  Listening/Speaking  Spelling  Grammar Components of the Harcourt Program

What could be improved? Writing (incorporated into the content areas) Spelling Time constraints of a 90 minute block (too much in the program to fit everything in) For example, silent reading is something the teacher finds extra time in the day for, isn't part of the literacy program.

Each day the lesson includes the following: Read Aloud and/or basal Phonics Lesson Writing Grammar Vocabulary Comprehension Skills

Although the program differentiates with leveled readers it does not differentiate in spelling.

Only five out of the 47 second graders are studying the Trophies spelling list. cried hurried replied fried tried worried carried copied married studied remarked finished alone river think

So now what do we do with the other 42 second graders? The teachers have supplemented the Trophies spelling program by doing the spelling inventory from Words Their Way (Donald Bear) This resulted in four different spelling lists in the second grade -- short vowels, long vowels, diagraphs and the Trophies list.

"We knew from our experiences at elementary school teachers that students often perform well on weekly tests yet transfer little of this word knowledge to their writing" - Diane Beckham-Hungler & Cheri Williams, Teaching Words that Student's Misspell. Language Arts., 80(4), 299. Turning to the Research

"The rules describe the system. The brain, however, is not a rule applier but a pattern detector." - Patricia Cunningham, Phonics They Use: Words for Reading and Writing (2nd ed.)

Where do we find words if word lists and memorization are not the best ways to teach spelling? The studies I looked at used words from children's own writing. Using their misspelled words made the spelling program more Relevant

Ideas for taking words from children's own writing: 1. Use the most frequently misspelled words. 2. Have at least two examples for each spelling pattern (for example snail, pail, say, may) 3. Avoid words that have little use for children's writing (words they may only use once in a while.) 4. Avoid predictable patterns with consistent elements such as rake, lake, sake, shake.

Students learn best when they acquire common spelling patters -- not just memorize words to pass a test, but really understand the pattern.

The brain sees patterns and doesn't always remember spelling rules. Choose words from student writing not arbitrary lists from basal readers or spelling programs. Allows for differentiation and makes the learning meaningful.

I want to conclude with three games that would be examples of meaningful spelling activities which could be included at centers. The first game is for students in the beginning letter naming alphabetic stage. The second is for students in the within word pattern stage. The last example is for intermediate readers and writers. All three examples were taken from Donald Bear's Words Their Way.

Making Words With Cubes Word Study for Beginners in the Letter Naming Alphabetic Stage Materials: 1. Have a variety of cubes from boggle or make your own from wooden cubes. Have all vowels on one cube. 2. Put consonants on five or six other cubes (writing pairs such as qu and ck together.) 3. A timer such as a sand timer or other type, paper and pencil and a record sheet.

Making Words With Cubes Word Study for Beginners in the Letter Naming Alphabetic Stage Procedure: 1. In pairs, students take turns being the player and recorder. The recorder writes the words made by the player. 2. The letters are shaken and spilled out onto the table. The timer is started. 3. The word maker moves the cubes about to create words and spells them to the scribe. The letters can be moved around to make more words. Errors should be ignored at this point. Write the words in columns by the number of letters in words.

Homophone Win, Lose or Draw for transitional learners in the Within Word Pattern Stage Four or more students work in teams. The teacher writes homophone pairs on cards and shuffle (for a list see the appendix of Words Their Way.) Students divide the group into two equal teams, and one player from each team is selected as the artist for that round. The artist must draw a picture representing the given homophone which will elicit the homophone itself, the spelling, and the meaning.

Homophone Win, Lose or Draw for transitional learners in the Within Word Pattern Stage A card is pulled form the deck and shown simultaneously to the artists for both teams. As the artists draw, their teammates call our possible answers. When the correct word is said, the artist calls on someone to spell both words in a pair. A point is given to the team that provides the correct information first.

Semantic Chart Sort for intermediate readers and writers In the classroom have a word wall related to a unit of study. Words selected for the wall are defined and reviewed as an ongoing class activity. Give the words to groups of students to sort into meaning-or associate based groupings. Students write the groups on chart paper with an explanation for each grouping.

Semantic Chart Sort for intermediate readers and writers For example -- penguins, rookery, eggs, hatch. I might say: Penguins live in a rookery where they lay eggs and keep them warm until the eggs hatch.