Words Their WayWord Study Program for

Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction

Words Their Way has evolved from decades of research exploring the developmental aspect

of word knowledge with children and adults.

Teresa West

Lake Orion Community Schools

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Purpose of Word Study

Students are explicitly taught the necessary phonics,

vocabulary, and spelling skills to become proficient readers,

writers, and spellers.

Words Their Way provides opportunities to discover

patterns, manipulate word concepts, and/or apply critical

thinking skills.

Students work at their own developmental level.

Purpose of Word Study (Con’t)

Students will…

1. develop a general knowledge of English spelling.

Students learn to explore words and develop

generalizations about English spelling.

2.learn the regularities, patterns, and conventions needed

to read and spell.

3.develop increased knowledge of word- spellings and meanings.

Why is Word Study Important?Research says that students do not generally retain the correct

spelling of words when their purpose for spelling is just to spell the

words correctly for an assessment; therefore, Words Their Way

focuses on patterns and rules as well. If they learn correct phonetic,

vocabulary, and spelling patterns and rules, they can use that

information and apply it to many words in their reading and writing.

“Becoming fully literate is absolutely dependent on fast, accurate

recognition of words and their meanings in texts and fast, accurate

production of words in writing so that readers and writers can focus

their attention on making meaning. Understanding of phonics and

spelling patterns, high-frequency-word recognition, decoding

strategies, and insight into word meanings are among the attributes

that form the basis of written word knowledge.” (WTW, p.3)

Developmental Stages

Emergent Spellers: (Ages: 1-7; pre-K to mid-1)

Students spell their words with random marks, representational drawing, mock

linear or letter like writing, random letters and numbers.

Letter Name Spellers: (Ages: 4-9; K to early 3rd)

Students generally spell their words with initial and final consonants and some

vowels.

Within Word Spellers: (Ages: 6-12; 1 to mid-4)

Students spell their words with initial and final consonants, and with some blends

and digraphs. In addition, they use some long and short vowel letter combinations.

Syllables & Affixes Spellers: (Ages: 8-18; 3rd to 8th)

Students are able to spell some words that include consonant doubling, common

suffixes, and past tense endings.

Derivational Relations Spellers: (Ages: 10+; 5-12)

Students begin making connections between spelling and meaning. The begin

learning internal morphology in syllables (bases and roots) as well as prefixes.

Words Their Way Inventories

Each student will be placed in the correct developmental stage group based on his or her

Words Their Way Inventory. An inventory tells teachers two things. First, it tells the

teachers what each student knows. Secondly, it tells teachers what he or she needs to teach

to his or her students.

Words Their Way Inventories:

Key Points:

Students must generate a number of errors for you to determine a spelling stage.

The validity for the inventories has been established using the California Standard Tests

for English Language Arts.

Spelling Inventories Grade Range Developmental Range

Primary Spelling Inventory

(PSI) pg. 315

K-3 Emergent to Late Within

Word Patterns

Elementary Spelling Inventory

(ESI) pg. 319

1-6 Letter Name to Early

Derivational Relations

Upper Spelling Inventory

(USI) pg. 322

5-12 Within Word Pattern to

Derivational Relations

Administration of Inventories

Key Points:

Students must generate a number of errors in order to

determine a Words Their Way developmental stage.

The validity for the inventories has been established using

the California Standard Tests for English Languages Arts.

If the protocol is changed, the findings are invalid.

Teachers use the appropriate word list (grade level/developmental level) to administer the inventory.

Scoring of Inventories The inventories are score by hand using the appropriate

feature guide.

The words are scored by checking off the features spelled/identified correctly.

Students will be reassessed using thePrimary Spelling Inventory (lower level) or

Upper Level Spelling (higher level) Inventory, if needed.

This student was reassessed using the Primary Spelling Inventory because he missed 5 words in a row.

This student was reassessed using the Upper Level Spelling Inventory because he spelled 20+ words correct.

Interpreting Inventories/Grouping(WTW, pg. 313)

1. Look down each feature column to determine instructional needs.

2. Note where students make 2 or more errors under the stages listed in the shaded box at the top of the Feature Guide. Circle this stage. These students need additional instruction. Therefore, that is the developmental group the student should be placed in for instruction.

Letter Name & Within Word Vocabulary Development

Students are introduced to high frequency words, homophones, homonyms, and contractions.

high frequency words: words most commonly used in the English language

homophones: 2 or more words that sound the same but are spelled differently

Ex. great / grate

homonyms: 2 or more words that are spelled the same and may or may not sound the same but have more than one meaning.

Ex. bat: an animal & bat: an object used to hit a baseball wind: breeze & wind: bend or turn

contractions: a combination of two words using an apostrophe

Ex. don’t = do not

Syllables & Affixes & Derivational Vocabulary Development

Students are introduced to prefixes and suffixes that change the meaning of the base words.

prefix: an affix or chunk added to the beginning of a base word

Ex. pre- means “before” re- means “to do again”

suffix: an affix or chunk added to the end of the base word

Ex. –ed makes a verb past tense

Ex. -er/-est changes an adjective into a comparative adjective

Ex. -s or –es changes a singular noun into a plural noun

One Week At A Glance• Day 1 – Discovery Day/Open Sort

• Day 2 – Teaching Day

• Day 3 – Teaching Day

• Day 4 – Review/Games

• Day 5 – Assessment

• I pull my groups starting at 9:05am – during their morning work time. It takes me about 10 - 25 minutes to get through 3 groups, depending on the lessons.

* The number of sorts/activities will vary based on the sort for the week.

Day 1 – Open Sort• Students receive two copies of

their word list; one for home, one for their notebooks.

• Sometimes I meet to read the words out loud, sometimes I do not.

• Students work independently to sort their words.

o 2 or more categories is required

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm6TdlUFiw0&feature=youtu.be

Open Sort Video

This video shows Gretchen’s group meeting to go over their open sorts. Then, Gretchen works on assigning a pattern sort and breaking it into another undetermined

sort based on their discovery.

Day 2 – Teaching Day• Lead students to discover the

focus of the sort (pattern, sound, pattern & sound, rules, accented/unaccented syllables, etc.).

• Assign closed sort

• Meet with groups and share how students sorted their words.

Day 3 Teaching Day• Review previous day’s sort with

students.

• Discuss additional focus/sort and assign sort/activity (vocabulary, parts of speech, etc.).

• Always check the end of the sort, there are often. challenge/extend options for

words

Teaching Day 2 or 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upGAgUk6N-A&feature=youtu.be

The video shows Gretchen meeting with her students the next day to review the previous day’s work. They clearly did not get what she was hoping they would discover (which was ok), so she lead them into another sort assignment for the day.

Day 4-Review Day• Review previous day’s sort/activity

• Review assessment focus

• Assign game/activity – specific games are often listed in the sort book

o Word Battleship, Boggle, Making Words

Day 5-Assessment• Assessment option 2

o Spelling Score

o Pattern Score

• Assessment option 1o Spelling Score

o Pattern Score

Two Weeks at a GlanceNote: The number of activities and lessons varies based

on the patterns, features, or rules being studied.

Day 1–Discovery Day/Open Sort

Day 2/3–Teaching Days–Closed Sorts

Day 4/5–Teaching Days-Another Sort, a Hunt or a Vocabulary Activity

Day 6–Teaching Day-Connecting Word Study and Writing

Day 7/8-Review for Assessment/Game Day

Day 9/10–Assessments

•An open sort is completed independently or in partnerships.

•The purpose of an open sort is for students to think critically about their words and discover commonalities.

•Students share sorts and we discuss discoveries.

•Students’ sorts have to have two or more categories•and every word on the list has to fit into the •categories created.

•I made a template that I use for all of my groups. •(See sample page.)

Day 1: Discovery Day

Open Sort-What do you think our pattern or feature is this week?•Are we sorting by the number of letters in each word?•Are we sorting by a sound pattern?•Are we sorting by parts of speech (noun, verb, adj.)?•Are we sorting by syllables?

Name __________________________________________#____________Date___________ Score__________

CATEGORY: CATEGORY: CATEGORY: CATEGORY: CATEGORY:

Day 2/3: Teaching Day •Each group completes a closed sort with the teacher. A closed sort is when students sort their words by the given pattern, feature or rule.

•While one group is with me, the other groups are completing other sorts or a vocabulary activity.

CATEGORY:Soft g = /j/ sound

(in front of e, I, or y)

CATEGORY:Soft c = /s/ sound

(in front of e, I, or y)

CATEGORY:Hard g = /g/ sound

(in front of a, o, or u)

CATEGORY:Hard c = /k/ sound

(in front of a, o, or u)

Within Word List #39 Closed SortName __________________________________________#____________Date___________Score___________

Day 4/5: Teaching Day Each group meets with me to go over their other sort or

vocabulary activity. Students complete a classroom word hunt.

Hard C Soft C Hard G Soft G

Classroom Word Hunt-List #39

Name_________________________________________#____Date__________Score__________

Directions: •Read around the room to find 10 words that have a c or g in them.•Then, sort the words by hard c, soft c, hard g, and soft g.

Words Found in Word Hunt

____________________________________ ___________________________________

____________________________________ ___________________________________

____________________________________ ___________________________________

____________________________________ ___________________________________

____________________________________ ___________________________________

Words Sorted by…

Day 6: Teaching Day •I meet with all of the groups to teach a mini-lesson on sentences or paragraphs.

•Then, students practice writing sentences, paragraphs or stories using their spelling words.

Day 7/8: Review/Game Day•I meet with the groups to review their patterns and the expectations for the assessment.

•While I am meeting with one group, the other students play classroom games or games on Spelling City.

Day 9/10: Assessment Day

Word Study Words Hard c Soft c Hard g Soft g1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Within Word Unit #39 Hard/Soft C and G

Name _______________________________________#________Date_______________Score________/______ pts.Directions:•Your teacher will read each word once, use it in a sentence, and read it one more time.•Record your words on the lines below.•Then, check off whether the word has a soft g, hard g, soft c, or hard g sound.•Remember: If a word has two or more sounds, check off all sounds that are made in the word.

What can I do to help my student develop his/her word study skills?

• Cut apart the list of Word Study Words and practice sorting them by the pattern(s) at home.

• Go to www.educationextras.com and use the PowerPoint Presentations to practice sorting your words.

• Hunt for words with their pattern(s) while driving or while reading.

• Play word games like Word Yahtzee, Scrabble, Wheel of Fortune, Boggle, Word Searches, etc. where students can look for chunks or patterns to make words.

What can I do to help my student develop his/her word study skills?

Watch www.youtube.com videos that teach or reinforce the patterns being taught.

Ex. When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fb3Pdt8kxg

Ex. comparing long and short vowelshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TjcT7Gto3U

Ex. silent –ehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnanlcyRuuI

What can I do to help my student develop his/her word study skills?

• Homophone Rummy Have a parent write homophones on index cards. Now students will work to find as many matches as they can until the deck is gone. As a student gets a match, he/she will place it face up on the floor for everyone to see. If they get a third word that matches one group already on the floor, then they may lay it down with their own cards and it will count.

• Gypsy Word Teller - Students stack their own word cards face down. First player pulls a card and puts it on his/her forehead not looking at the word. The partner will give one-word clues until the person holding the card on his/her head guesses the word. Then it’s the partner’s turn.

What can I do to help my student develop his/her word study skills?

• Battleship Played just like the real game, students will arrange about 10 spelling words going down or across. Make sure they are not touching. As the opponent makes a guess, you will check your own sheet to see if a letter is in that spot. If it is, then the opponent will mark that letter on his guess sheet. If it’s a miss, then they will place a dot in that square so they won’t call it again. When you think you have sunk a ship … you will say the word a loud and then that person will circle it to know that it has been sunk.

• Go Fish – Do you have any _____________? You need lots of different patterns (4) or rhyming words or homophones. Keep playing until someone goes out.