Word Study: Grades 1, 2, & 3 Research has shown that students often memorize words for a test and then promptly forget them. Assigned spelling lists often require students to study isolated words rather than phonics, the sounds that letters make within the words. Therefore, the goal has been to create a program that does not completely abandon weekly lists, but emphasizes opportunities for students to investigate and understand the patterns in words and build word knowledge that can be applied to both reading and writing.

Using Inventories to Determine Students’ Stage of Spelling Prior to beginning word study at the beginning of the year it is important to assess where your students are at. There are two different types of spelling inventories to gain information about each student’s developmental spelling stage and also to determine where you will start with whole-class instruction: Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory High Frequency Word Inventory

Words Their Way Primary Inventory You may want to administer the Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory during the first couple of weeks of school. This inventory provides the teacher with specific information about each student’s knowledge and application of specific spelling features. For example, in the sample you can tell the student has mastered short vowels and consonant blends, but needs more work on long vowels. This student falls within the “within word pattern” developmental stage of spelling. You can use the information from this assessment to plan strategy groups and also to determine where to begin with your whole class instruction. If you find that most students have already mastered beginning consonants, you can skip those lessons and address beginning consonants in strategy groups with the few students who need more practice. Please contact the ELA consultant for a copy of the assessment “Primary Spelling Inventory.” Download “Spelling Inventory” diagnostic test sheet from Moodle page.

High Frequency Word Inventories While the Words Their Way assessment is great for obtaining knowledge about students’ ability to apply common spelling patterns, it does not provide information about their ability to spell words outside of common spelling patterns and words that they will likely use in their everyday writing. During the first two weeks of school, you may want to administer high frequency word inventories using the Fountas and Pinnell 500 High Frequency Words. When you correct students’ tests, highlight only the words that they were able to spell correctly on a recording sheet in their word study folder. Students will use this list throughout the school year to create weekly individualized high frequency word lists containing the words they spelled incorrectly on the assessment. Download “Spelling Inventory” high frequency test sheets from Moodle page. Download high frequency word list from Moodle page. 1-500 1-500 list words to cut-apart word lists alphabetically for each grade

Creating a Yearlong Plan A variety of resources were used to determine the spelling patterns that a typical student should master at each grade level. Download a specific yearlong plan for word study from Moodle page: First Grade Second Grade Third Grade The assessments may reveal that students are at different stages, however it may be overwhelming to start students at different units within your yearlong plan, so you may choose to differentiate by having a regular list and a challenge list for each unit. That way you can challenge the students who need more difficult words, but still focus on a common spelling pattern for your whole-class instruction. Download “Stages of Spelling Development” from Moodle page to read more about each stage. Download spelling lists for grades 1, 2, and 3 from Moodle page. Sources: Phonics Lessons, Letters, Words, and How they Work: Grade 1 by Fountas and Pinnell which contains a word study continuum with a suggested order for teaching common spelling patterns. Phonics Lessons, Letters, Words, and How they Work: Grade 2 by Fountas and Pinnell which contains a word study continuum with a suggested order for teaching common spelling patterns. Word Study Lessons: Grade 3 by Fountas and Pinnell which contains a word study continuum with a suggested order for teaching common spelling patterns. The Science of Spelling by Richard Gentry Words Their Way by Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston

Making Word Lists There are many different opinions when it comes to weekly spelling tests. Research shows that students do not master spelling patterns or become good spellers by memorizing words each week. To strike a balance, the word study program gives students a weekly list of five words that follow a specific pattern. Students can use the list to compare and contrast spelling patterns, and they can use it in vocabulary activities. However, activities do not require students to simply focus on the assigned words, but contain a wide variety of words that follow the pattern of study for the week. Also, the final test includes five additional words that students were not assigned but follow the weekly pattern. This helps to assess how well students can apply the spelling pattern to new words. In addition, students are held accountable for words spelled incorrectly. These words are added to a “Words to Learn” list and are added to future spelling lists.

Word List for each Unit Ten Pretest Words Select ten words that follow the pattern. Students who are able to spell at least nine out of ten words correctly on the practice test receive the assigned challenge words for the week and the others receive the regular list. Assigned Pattern Words All students are given five words to study for the week that follow the weekly pattern. However, there is a challenge list and a regular list. The regular list contains five words that follow the pattern in a basic way. The challenge list contains words that follow the pattern, but are more complex. The New Pattern Words portion of the weekly test shows whether or not students are truly able to apply the weekly spelling pattern to new words that they were not just able to memorize. New Pattern Words There are also five pattern words that are not on the assigned list for students to study. However, students may have been exposed to the words during the week in whole class lessons or at the word study literacy station.

Word Study Notebook It is important for students to have a place to organize all of their word study materials. You may want to use a duo-tang folder to hold the resources.

Word Study Notebook holds the following resources: Word Study Notebook: a small notebook in the front pocket of the folder. Students use this notebook to write the five high frequency words they will be studying each week.

Word Study Notebook holds the following resources: High Frequency Word List: in the middle of the notebook, students have their highlighted high frequency word lists. When their corrected tests are returned to them, they highlight the high frequency words that they spelled correctly. When they make their new list for the week, they choose the next five words that are not highlighted. Remember, words that are not highlighted are words that they spelled incorrectly in the high frequency word inventory at the beginning of the year.

Word Study Notebook holds the following resources: Words to Learn List: students rewrite any pattern word that is spelled incorrectly on their test on this page. This ensures that misspelled words are not ignored. Every so often, students will have a week in which their entire spelling list is made up of these misspelled pattern words from their “Words to Learn” sheet. Download from Moodle page a copy of the “Words to Learn” list.

Week at a Glance Each week follows the same routine as described on the following slides.

Day 1: Pre-test & Introduce Spelling Pattern Administer the pre-test. Students who are able to spell at least nine out of ten words correctly on the practice test receive the assigned challenge words for the week and the others receive the regular list. Introduce the spelling pattern for the week. Download from Moodle page a copy of the “Spelling Pre-test” handout.

Introducing New Patterns Introduce the new pattern to the whole class. Introduce the pattern and give examples of words that follow the pattern. Select one or two sample words to post on the word wall. Students take part in a guided exploration of the pattern (e.g., words are sorted by pattern, and the different patterns are compared and contrasted; use a Mimio device to teach the pattern). Students may use a whiteboard and marker to actively participate in making and sorting words by pattern during the lesson.

Days 2, 3, & 4 Students practice the spelling pattern through a variety of word study tasks: Word Sorts (teacher-led, individual, buddy, speed, blind) Make, Write, & Mix Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe Flip Folder: Look-Say-See-Write-Check Buddy Check Making Connections Download from Moodle page “Instructional Strategies, Routines, & Procedures” for an explanation and instructions for the tasks mentioned above.

Day 5 This is the day of the weekly spelling test. The tests are corrected and returned to students so that they can record any misspelled words on their “Words to Learn” list and highlight any high frequency words that they spelled correctly. Download “Weekly Spelling Test” form from Moodle page.

Administering the Test Since students may have different words, they either write #1 on the top of their test, if they are receiving the regular words, or a #2 on their test for the challenge words. Assigned Pattern Words: you may give the assigned pattern words, going back and forth between the regular list and the challenge list (e.g., Group #1, your first word is cat. Group #2, your first word is flat). New Pattern Words: next, all students are given five words that follow the weekly pattern that they were not able to study. These five words help to determine how effectively each student is able to apply the spelling pattern to new words. High Frequency Words: for the last section of the test, students give their word study notebook to their assigned spelling buddy (turned to the page where the student wrote his or her five high frequency words for the week; the buddy reads the words to his or her partner.; the student writes the high frequency word and if they are able they write the high frequency word in a sentence. Using the high frequency word in a sentence ensures that students are not only able to spell the word, but they also know the meaning of the word and can use it in context. It also provides an opportunity to assess conventions such as capitalization and punctuation.

Post-Test Spelling Work Once the corrected tests are returned to students they complete the following tasks: High-Frequency Word Highlighting: any of the high-frequency words that are spelled correctly on the test are highlighted in the student’s word study folder. If a high-frequency word is misspelled the word is not highlighted and it goes on the student’s high-frequency word list the following week.

Post-Test Spelling Work Make New High-Frequency Word List for Following Week: students take the next “unhighlighted” high-frequency words from their individualized word list to create a new list of five words

Post-Test Spelling Work Record Misspelled Pattern Words: students add any pattern words that they missed on the test to their “Words to Learn” list in their word study folder. During short weeks, you may have students create spelling lists made up entirely of words they have missed earlier in the year that are on this list. This ensures that misspelled words are not ignored.

Record Keeping Keep track of students’ scores on the “new pattern words” section of the test each week. Highlight students who spell fewer than 50% of the pattern words correctly. This will allow you to create strategy groups of students who struggle with common patterns and prevents students from just “moving on” when they are not secure in the patterns taught in a specific unit. Download from Moodle page a copy of “Word Study Records.”

High-Frequency Words In addition to the spelling pattern a few minutes each day may be spent reinforcing the correct spelling of high-frequency words.

Word Wall Each week select 3-5 high frequency words to focus on. Post the words that are being focused on for the week in a special spot and keep the spot consistent each week. When new words are introduced the following week post the words from the previous week on a word wall in the classroom. The Word Wall is actually a big classroom dictionary that grows as new words are added each week. Once a word is added to the wall, it stays up all year so children can use and practice it. Words spelled incorrectly in daily work, writing, agenda…are marked with “WW” and students are responsible for correcting the error. Focus words for the week are posted on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

Practice Ideas Each day conduct a short (about 5 minutes) word wall practice lesson. practice the new words for the week review previous word wall words that students may still be struggling with Vary word wall practice lessons: Write, Clap, Chant Letter and Rhyme What Word Makes Sense Word Wall Sentences Read My Mind Funny Voice Chants What is the Password? Download from Moodle page “Word Walls” for suggestions on how to practice high-frequency words.