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Daily Five:
Word Work Guidelines & Activities
“The goal is to teach our children to become word solvers…to read for
meaning and to communicate in writing.”
(Fountas & Pinnell, 1998)
Best Practices for Word Work:
Focusing on words and how parts of words represent meaning are critical to
the literacy development of a child. The term “word work” refers to more than
simply learning words; it helps students learn how the written language
works. Word work involves talking about words, analyzing words, sorting
words, taking words apart, connecting words with other words and building
words. Through these actions, students learn words in a strategic manner that
helps them be more successful readers and writers.
In Daily Five, teachers try to provide word work opportunities that focus on
spelling, phonics, and vocabulary. While there are many different ways to
incorporate word study, it is important to remember a few key concepts about
using word work activities in a Daily Five setting:
 Word work is meant to be an opportunity for students to practice a skill
that’s already been taught; the activities should not be a “first
experience” for students. Spending time practicing spelling helps
students become better readers and writers.
 While it’s important to select activities for practice, we still want
students to experience some sort of challenge to the task at hand. In
other words, we don’t want the word work to be so easy that no thinking
or “stretching of the mind” is needed (i.e. don’t have a student practice a
list of sight words that he/she can already read).
 Focus on creating opportunities that are hands-on, engaging and
applicable that promote literacy skills of the students you teach.

Find activities that are generative. This helps with the ease of preparing
activities, adds rigor as needed, and instills a familiar routine for
students to follow. (See “Open-Ended Activities” that follow.)
 For guidance, use the Guided Reading & DRA Text Levels continuum
(see section titled, “Phonics, Word Study, Word Recognition”) to help
select appropriate activities that match your students’ needs.
Resources that Support Best
Practices
in Word Work:
District Curriculum & Resources:
o Wright Skills picture cards
o Wright Skills CD
o Sitton Spelling
o GLAD strategies with organizers
o Fountas & Pinnell Phonics Lessons (Book K, 1, 2, 3)
o Comprehensive Literacy Resource for Grades 1-2
o Thinking Maps: Tools for Learning
Other Resources:
o Florida Center for Reading Research website @
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http://www.fcrr.org/SCASearch/SCA_Search.aspx
Read, Write, Think website @
www.readwritethink.org/search/?resource_type=16&type=32
 Construct a Word (K-2)
 ABC Match (K-2)
 Picture Match (K-2)
 What’s in the Bag (K-2)
 Word Family Sort (K-5)
 Eye on Idioms (3-5)
 Flip a Chip (6-8)
“The Sisters” website @ www.thedailycafe.com
Making Words by Cunningham
Systematic, Sequential Phonics They Use by Cunningham
Words Their Way by Templeton & Bear (a great resource for picture,
letter, and word sorts)
The Continuum of Learning by Fountas/Pinnell (pgs. 223-341)
Literacy Work Stations by Diller
Practice with Purpose by Diller (pgs. 87, 92-99 &198-199 – Personal
Word Walls)
Open-Ended Activities (for all levels):
1. Word Sorts = Select certain spelling patterns and a list of words. Have
students sort the words into categories (i.e. examples below):
Short a
hat
map
Pan
1 Syllable
he
go
sit
2 Syllables
faster
crying
planter
Long a
make
wait
play
3 Syllables
wonderful
carefully
2. Picture Sorts = Sort pictures according to initial sounds, vowels, word
endings, categories, rhyming, vocabulary, or grammar.
3. Word Study Notebooks = Students study certain words by phonetic
pattern or word element to internalize the spelling of a word. Then
students document their work in their Word Study Notebook. A
consistent routine is taught on how to use their notebooks with words
that change over time. (See section titled, “Word Study Notebook
Routine.”)
4. Making Words = Select a single, long word (i.e. “imagination”), cut the
letters apart, and have students create smaller words such as: “man,
main, gain, tin, ton, not, got.” Write the words in a word study notebook.
5. Wright Skills Vowel Pattern Chart = Give students a list of words. Ask
students to categorize the words according to the Vowel Pattern Chart.
Have students copy their words into a word study notebook.
6. Memory Games = Have students read a word card and try to locate its
match according to the synonym, homonym, contraction, definition,
singular/plural, sight word.
A Continuum of Word Work Experiences
Word Work for Emergent Readers:
1. Student Names on Word Cards = Sort cards by beginning/ending
letters, number of letters, or by syllables.
2. Letter/Word Hunt = Search for specific letters, spelling patterns
and/or sight words. Record findings in a word study notebook.
3. Letter Matching = Students match letters. Make it tactile with
magnetic letters, letter rods, letter cards or tiles.
Word Work Examples for Early Readers:
1. Basic Word Family Practice = Practice reading and writing word
family words on white boards, with magnetic letters, letter cards,
phonogram cards, cubes with chunks, and word puzzles (i.e. “pl-ay”)
2. Jumbled Sentences = Use Wright Skills. Introduce a sentence,
unscramble it, and record it in a word study notebook. You may also
use sentences from the GHGR shared or guided reading books.
3. Wright Skills (computer)
4. Sentence Pattern Chart = Sort words to be placed on the sentence
pattern chart. Write a sentence using the words.
5. Read, Make, Write = Select high-frequency words for students to
learn. For each word, have students do the following routine:
 Read and say the word out loud.
 Make the word using magnetic letters or tiles.
 Write the word and check to make sure the spelling is correct.
Word Work Examples for Transitional Readers:
1. Word Family Practice = Practice reading and writing word family
words on white boards, with magnetic letters, letter cards,
phonogram cards, cubes with chunks, and word puzzles (i.e. “ch-air”
or “p-ow-er-ful”). Record words in word study notebook.
2. Making Words = Select a single, long word (i.e. “imagination”), cut
the letters apart, and have students create smaller words such as:
“man, main, gain, tin, ton, not, got.” Write the words in a word study
notebook.
3. Wright Skills Vowel Pattern Chart = Give students a list of words
with complex spelling patterns. Ask them to categorize the words
according to the Vowel Pattern Chart. Then, have students write
what they learned about their words in a word study notebook.
4. Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check = Select challenging words for
students to learn. For each word, have students do the following
routine:
 Look at the word.
 Say the word out loud.
 Cover up the word.
 Write the word.
 Check to see if the spelling is correct.
Use letters tiles or letter cards to make it tactile.
5. Vocabulary Calendar = Provide a monthly calendar. Label each day
with a word that you’ll discuss. Have student engage with activities
related to the “word of the day” and record their answers in a word
study notebook:
 Put all the words in week one, in ABC order.
 Locate all of the nouns/verbs/adjectives and categorize.
 Write all the words that have long vowel sounds.
 Write three words in a sentence.
6. Writing “Super Sentences” = Provide banks of words and phrases (i.e.
nouns, verbs, adjectives…) listed on word cards. Have students read
the words and create sentences.
Word Work Examples for Fluent Readers:
1. Word Study Notebooks = Students use their personal notebooks to
list, categorize and sort words. (See the document titled, “Word
Study Notebook Routine.”)
2. Personal Word Walls = Students create their own word walls listing
interesting words, content-area words, or high frequency words that
are challenging to spell. Students may add to their personal words
walls as they engage in word study activities and use them as a
resource for writing.
3. Frayer Model = Have students use the Frayer Model graphic
organizer to brainstorm words related to a concept. Select a concept
students related to content-area studies.
4. Sitton Spelling Routines = Use the following activities from Sitton to
learn important or high frequency words:
Stretch it
Sort it
Finish it
Fix it
Add it
Find it
5. Making & Writing Words = Select a single, long word based on an
area of study (i.e. “ecosystems”) or a particular spelling pattern (i.e.
“oy, oi”). List specific letters and have students make words.
Students should write and categorize the words in a word study
notebook. Categories could include the following: verbs, nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, rhyming words, number of syllables.
6. Suffix, Roots, or Prefix Sorting: Have students read and sort the (-er)
words according to meaning such as the following:
 People who do something (i.e. reporter, teacher)
 Objects that do something (i.e. pointer)
 More (i.e. heavier, smaller)
 The last chunk (i.e. words that simply have –er as the last
chunk)
Word Study Notebook Routine
Day 1
Students will work in partnerships to sort words into categories. They will
copy down their responses in their Word Study Notebooks. Teach students the
following routine:
1. Read each word out loud and place the word card in a category based
on the spelling pattern/rule.
2. After finishing the word sort, copy the words into the Word Study
Notebooks.
3. Write an explanation stating why the words were sorted in a particular
way.
4. If time, have the partners sort the words a second time as fast as
possible (this reinforces learning and helps establish “speedy
processing”).
Day 2
Students will engage in a word hunt, looking for words in a familiar book that
have the same sound, pattern, or both. Try to find two or three words for each
category. Add these words to the Word Study Notebook.
Day 3
Students engage in a writing sort. Have a partner call out the spelling words
in a random order while the other student writes the words in their
appropriate categories. If a word is misspelled, the misspelling should be fixed
and practiced a second or third time.