I have always loved studying word patterns and building all sorts of words out of a set group of letters. Who knew this would be a great tool to use in the classroom! The Cunningham & Cunningham article,
Making Words: Enhancing the Invented spelling-decoding connection demonstrated some great tools that students can use to interactively create words and learn grammar rules simultaneously. Let's face it: Spelling IS HARD. Incorporating play withing spelling lessons should always be a goal. We all love creating things anyway, so why not create words? Students are able to learn when capital letters are used, and more importantly, letter combinations and how some words are spelled similarly. The other part of the article that made me think was about invented spelling. I never put it together that this was a key-identifier in where a student is at within their walk with spelling. Phonetics are important, just sometimes not so much with spelling, because sometimes students make mistakes like this:
We all know that this says:
Mouth watering pizza, but why did this student spell it this way? s/he did what they were always taught and
sounded it out. It is important to understand why this student is spelling like this and how to help them understand letter patterns in the future. The other article by Yopp & Yopp
Ten Words Plus made me really want to incorporate a word of the day. Yes, it is important to hammer in those high-frequency words, but I think it would be really fun to teach interesting words either on curriculum, or following the seasons and challenging students to make the most interesting sentence with the word. The only catch is the sentence
must use the word
CORRECTLY. Another additive for my classroom will definitely be one of these bad boys:
I can just see the flickering of eyes during writing, as students use this chart of words we will CREATE together as a quick look for spelling. Not only will it be a handy tool to help students master spelling, but it will also teach them spelling patterns as well. Anyone who doesn't speak language as a first language can tell you how hard it is, so why not offer our students a way to tackle their written language more efficiently?
My questions for you guys are:
- What other tools would help with word studies?
- Do you guys think inventive spellings are important for gauging a student's abilities?
- How important do you guys find this idea of "word study" to be?
Emily, your example of mouth watering pizza cracked me up! I can't wait for my students to write crazy words on their papers. I think this is one of the most important ways to tell if your students are understanding literacy. You know from this example that the student was trying so hard to sound out the words. For a student who is trying to learn to read and write, sounding out words and understanding what they mean is better than knowing how to spell them, but only for a short amount of time.
ReplyDeleteI think word study is an extremely important aspect in learning how to read. I found that "Word study is based on the notion that where a student is in his or her spelling development can serve as a guide for instruction." I think this part of the idea of wordy study is great because no matter where a student is in his/her process, they can build on what they know.
ReplyDeleteI also loved your examples, especially the "My Spelling Patterns Map." This is something I would also love to use in my classroom!