Download Word Journeys - RandolphK

Presented by: Kim Beeson, Heather Crawford,
Stephanie Swartz, and Sally Williams
Stage 1: Emergent/Preliterate
 Stage 2: Letter Name
 Stage 3: Within Word Pattern
 Stage 4: Syllable Juncture
 Stage 5: Derivational Constancy
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The first stage of spelling development
 Includes the writing attempts of students
who are preliterate
 Children’s knowledge of writing will vary
considerably during this stage
 Students do not move out of this stage
until they develop phonemic awareness
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Children have only recently achieved a concept of
word and begun to read
Children at this stage rely on the names of letters to
spell words, approaching each word one sound at a
time
Characteristics of Letter Name spellers:
› Omits silent, long vowel markers (SHAD=shade)
› Omits vowels in unstressed syllables (TMATO=tomato)
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Letter name features:
› Initial & final consonants
› Initial consonant blends and digraphs (The word blend
starts and ends with a blend(bl-nd) and diagraph ends in
a diagraph (-ph))
› Short vowels
› Affricate (-ch and –j) the speech sound heard in some
words ex. “Job” spelled like “gob” and “drum” like “jrom”
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Children have developed sight word vocabularies,
they are able to chunk parts of words, fluency is
evident in phrase-by-phrase reading
Move to more conventional spelling
Short vowel substitutions gradually disappear, and
long vowel markers appear
Pattern mastery, especially the marking of long
vowels is at the heart of this stage
Within Word features:
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Vowel-consonant-e
R-controlled vowel patterns
Additional common long vowel patterns
Complex consonant patterns
Abstract vowels
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Children have become proficient readers and process
print efficiently
Most vowel patterns in single-syllable words are used
correctly
The focus of this stage is learning to apply pattern
knowledge within syllables and across syllable boundaries
Student difficulties at this stage stem from the schwa
sound (pronounced “uh”) that occurs in unstressed
syllables because it can be represented by any of the five
vowels
Syllable Juncture features:
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Doubling & e-drop with -ed and -ing endings
Other doubling patterns
Long vowel patterns in the stressed syllable
R-controlled vowels in the stressed syllable
Vowel patterns in the unstressed syllables
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The last stage of spelling development and
one that continues through adulthood
Focus on meaning related to prefixes, suffixes,
and roots
Learning to preserve the meaning units of
derivationally related words is the key issue
confronting spellers at this stage (when root
words do not stay in tact, example: audible)
Derivational Constancy features
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Silent and sounded consonants (hasten / haste)
Consonant changes (exclude – exclusion)
Vowel changes (democracy – democratic)
Assimilated/absorbed prefixes (in+merse=immerse)
Helps tailor instruction and allows
teachers to learn about their students’
orthographic understandings
 Ongoing monitoring of students’ writing is
one part of the information-gathering
process
 Periodic assessment with a dictated
word inventory is another
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Enables teachers to identify stages of
spelling development, highlight specific
strengths and weaknesses, and monitor
progress over time
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› A Screening Inventory (identifies the
developmental spelling stage of students)
› Two different, but parallel, Feature Inventories
(identifies strengths and weaknesses of spelling
features and used to determine the particular
instructional needs of students)
Determines a child’s stage of development
so that the appropriate portion of the
Feature Inventory can be dictated
 Consists of 20 words, grouped into sets of
five, that become progressively more
difficult (focuses on a different stage of
word knowledge)
 Not intended for repeated use with the
same students – once the spelling stage is
established and the feature inventory used,
the screening inventory is no longer
necessary
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The feature inventory is like the county-wide spelling
inventory that was taken from Words Their Way.
Form A and Form B were created so students
wouldn’t become overly familiar with certain words
as a result of repeated use across grade levels (Form
A p.54-57 and Form B p.64-67 in Word Journeys)
Dictating one inventory form more than twice to a
child during the same school year is discouraged
We suggest that you give the features inventory to
those students that fall into two stages based on the
screening inventory.
Small group instruction enables students
to explore spelling features within their
zone of proximity
 When planning appropriate activities
start with an area of strength
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› For instructional strategies to be beneficial,
they must move forward from the child’s
secure knowledge base
› Students are likely to remain at a given stage
of development for a year and a half or
more
Word sorts allow students to discover and
reflect on certain orthographic features
(spelling patterns) by examining words
with and without that feature
 Many types of sorts: closed, open, blind,
writing, speed, concept
 Some sorts rely on words and others on
pictures, but they all involve categories
in which the students can sort the words
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Both sight and sound associations need
to be integrated into a student’s
orthographic knowledge
 It is desirable to develop sorts that have
both sound and visual patterns
 See example (Word Journeys pg. 78)
 Outlier words that do not fit a particular
pattern can be included in sorts – this
discourages overreliance on either visual
or sound clues
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Students need to be able to read the words
being used so they can attend to pattern
rather than decoding
 Consider the word’s sophistication relative
to the student – will they use this word in
their writing or likely encounter it in their
reading?
 How many words?
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› They need enough examples of each category
type to distinguish similarities and differences
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Explicit instruction should occur at the
start of each exploration of new words
› See Steps for Guided Word Walk – Word
Journeys pg. 86
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Closed – students match words to like categories identified by
key words or labeled categories
Open – students sort a set of words freely and come up with their
own classifications
Blind – students do not see the words they are sorting. A word is
read aloud and a student identifies which category in which it
belongs based on sound clues.
Writing – words are written down under appropriate categories
Speed – students sort their words into appropriate categories as
quickly as possible (takes place after students can accurately
categorize their words)
Concept – see Word Journeys pgs. 91-92
ALWAYS have students write a discovery sentence (what they
learned from the sort) after each initial sort!
Concept Sort Example
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Earthquakes
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Volcanoes
› Faults
› Magma
› Tectonics
› Fissure
› Tremor
› Igneous
› Richter
› Emit
› Magnitude
› Crater
› Vent
SAW (Sort, Alphabetize, and Write)students complete a closed sort (with
categories given), put the words under
each category in alphabetical order,
then write each list down under the
appropriate category heading.
 This is a great opportunity to have
students record a discovery about their
categories.
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Write & Draw – students choose to either
write a sentence with a word or draw a
picture of that word (this is done for each
weekly word)
 Each drawing or sentence must illustrate
the meaning of the word!
 Students should paint a picture with words.
Any drawings should be labeled and
weekly words within sentences should be
underlined.
 All weekly words should be spelled correctly
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Word Hunts – students search through
material they are reading to find
additional words with the features being
studied (best reserved for the middle or
end of the week because students must
apply and extend their understandings
of the pattern). Students should find at
least 10 words, with a minimum of 1 word
per category.
A closed, blind, written sort is the best way
to evaluate a students spelling, as well as
their knowledge of the pattern focused on
that week
 The student is given a key word or category
label for each pattern to be sorted. Words
are called out orally be the teacher while
students must write that word under the
correct category
 One point is awarded for correct spelling,
while another point is awarded for correct
category placement
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Helpful Websites
Both of these websites include sorts that
are organized based on the letters given
to each orthographic feature.
 http://www.wcsnet.org/ci/ReadingPlus/
word_sorts.html
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http://db.dadecountyschools.org/~davis
/wordstudy/
Your Turn!
Cut your words apart.
 Try to figure out a way to sort the words.
Is there another way you can sort them?
 Discuss your findings and determine a
class sort (or two!).
 Sort words according to the class sort
and write down the sort in alphabetical
order.
 Don’t forget your “What I learned…”
statement.
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