1. Word Study for Phonics, Spelling and Vocabulary Instruction
Words Their Way
Word Study for Phonics, Spelling and Vocabulary Instruction

2. A study by Clarke (1988) found that first graders who were encouraged to use invented spellings wrote more and could spell as well at the end of the year as first graders who had been told how to spell the words before writing.
Many teachers wonder when they should make the shift from allowing children to write in invented spelling to demanding correctness. The answer is “from the start.” Teachers must hold students accountable for what they have been taught.
p. 81 Words Their Way
Because the sequence for phonics and spelling instruction is cumulative and progresses linerarly and there will always be some features that have not yet been taught, children will always invent a spelling for what they do not yet know.

3. Why word study? Literacy is like a braid of interwoven threads.
Reading
Oral Language
Writing
Words Their Way demonstrates how exploration of orthographic knowledge can lead to the lengthening and strengthening of the literacy braid.

4. Word study, as described in Words Their Way, occurs in hands-on activities that mimic basic cognitive learning processes; Comparing and contrasting categories of word features and discovering similarities and differences within and between spelling features.

5. During word study, words and pictures are sorted in routines that require students to examine, discriminate, and make critical judgments about speech sounds, word structures, spelling patterns, and meanings. The activities build on what students can do on their own.
Concrete pictures and words are used to illustrate principles of similarity and difference.

6. The power of the Words Their Way model for word study lies in the diagnostic information contained in the students’ spelling inventions that reveal their current understanding of how written English words work.
By using students’ invented spellings as a guide, teachers can differentiate efficient, effective instruction in phonics, spelling and vocabulary.

7. Why word study is important?
Becoming fully literate is absolutely dependent on fast, accurate recognition of words in texts, and fast, accurate production of words in writing so that readers can focus their attention on making meaning.
Students need hands-on opportunities to manipulate word features in a way that allows them to generalize beyond isolated, individual examples to entire groups of words that are spelled the same way (Juel & Minden-Cupp, 2000).
Students must engage in meaningful reading and writing, and have multiple opportunities to examine those same words out of context.

8. Word Study can be accomplished in as little as 15 minutes a day!
1. Through active exploration, word study teaches students to examine words to discover the regularities, patterns and conventions of English orthography needed to read and spell.
2. Word study increases specific knowledge of words – the spelling and meaning of individual words.
The better our knowledge of the system, the better we are decoding an unfamiliar word, spelling correctly, or guessing the meaning of a word.

9. 2. Errors dealing with letter patterns (SNAIK for snake,) and
Word Study has evolved from 3 decades of developmental aspects of word knowledge with children and adults
The research has documented the convergence of certain reoccurring orthographic principles.
These principles have been described in relationship to the types of errors noted, specifically:
1. Errors dealing with the alphabetic match of letters and sound (BAD for bed).
2. Errors dealing with letter patterns (SNAIK for snake,) and
3. errors dealing with words related in meaning (INVUTATION for invitation).
(3decades builds on what Spelling basal textbooks had begun.) Basal textbooks did not provide for differentiation and hands-on experiences.

10. Individuals move from using but confusing elements of sound,
To using but confusing elements of pattern,
To using but confusing elements of meaning.
Word Study stems from what researchers have learned about the orthographic structure of written words. There are
3 layers of English orthography:
alphabet, pattern and meaning.

11. 3 Layers of English Orthography
1. Alphabet :
Our spelling system is alphabetic because it represents the relationship between letters and sounds.
Letter sound relationships occur from left to right.
Either single letters or groups of letters produce single sounds – example:
Cat /c/, /a/, /t/ Chin /ch/, /i/, /n/

12. 2. Pattern:
The pattern layer overlies the alphabetic layer.
Patterns help talk efficiently about the alphabetic layer as well. Words of more than one syllable also follow spelling patterns.
Overall, knowledge about patterns within words, will be of considerable value to students in both their reading and writing.
Two of the most common patterns are:
-VCCV robber
-VCV radar, pilot, limit

13. 3. Meaning (layer of information):
This is when students learn that groups of letters can represent meaning directly, that they will become much more less puzzled when encountering unusual spellings.
Ex: photo in photograph, photographer, and photographic
By building connections between meaning parts and their derivations, we enlarge our
vocabulary.
****Alphabet, pattern, and meaning represent three broad principles of written English and form the layered record of orthographic history.

14. The Role of Word Sorting
Word sorting offers the best of both constructivist learning and teacher-directed instruction.
Picture and word sorting differ from other phonics programs in some important ways.
They are interesting and fun because they are manipulative.
The process of sorting requires students to pay attention to words and to make logical decisions about their sound, pattern, and /or meaning as they place each in its group.
Sorting is analytic, whereas many phonics programs take a synthetic approach. (In both approaches, students are taught letter-sound correspondences however in a synthetic approach they are expected to sound out unknown words phoneme by phoneme, sometimes every word in a sentence which can make reading tedious and detract from meaning and engagement.
Analytic phonics supports the synthetic skill necessary to decode new words when reading and encode words when writing.
Sorting does not rely on rote memorization, or on the recitation of rules prior to an understanding of the underlying principles.
Memorization does have a place and is necessary to master the English spelling system. As in: an animal is spelled bear & the adjective is spelled bare.

15. Role of Word Sorting (cont.)
Sorts are more efficient because they offer more concentrated practice than most phonics programs by doubling or tripling the number of examples children study, and they study them for a shorter amount of time.
Finally, because of the simplicity of sorting routines, teachers find it easier to differentiate instruction among differentiate instruction among different groups of learners because……………
Sorting is infinitely adaptable and the process involved in categorizing word features lends itself to cooperative learning.
One central goal of WTW / Word Study is to teach students how to spell and decode new words and to improve their word recognition speed and understanding in general.

16. Hands-on experience comparing and contrasting words by sound so that they can categorize similar words and associate them consistently with letters and letter combinations. The heart of the alphabetic principle.
Hands-on experience comparing and contrasting words by consistent spelling patterns.
Hands-on experience categorizing words by meaning, use , and parts of speech.

17. Types of Word Sorts Sound Sorts
Picture sorts- can be used to develop phonological awareness and also phonics when used with letters/words.
Word sorts- not all word sorts involve a sound contrast, but most do.
Blind sorts- A key word or picture for each sound is established; the teacher or partner shuffles the word cards, and then calls the words aloud without showing them. The student indicates the correct category by pointing to or naming the key word that has the same sound. (can also be used as a blind writing sort)

18. Types of Sorts (cont.)
Pattern Sorts –
When students use the printed form of the word they can sort by the visual patterns formed by groups of letters or letter sequences.
Sometimes a new feature is best introduced with a pattern sort to reveal a related sound difference.
Word sorts are the mainstay of pattern sorts and use key words containing the pattern under study to label each feature category.

19. Types of Sorts (cont.) Meaning sorts Spelling – Meaning sorts
homophone and homograph sorts, and
(b) roots, stems, and affix sorts.
Concept sorts – using pictures or words is a good way to link vocabulary instruction to students’ conceptual understanding and are appropriate for all ages, stages of word knowledge and should be used regularly in all content areas. ( Good for building background knowledge before a story or new unit of study. Use for advanced organizers for anticipating new reading and then revisited and refined after reading, organize ideas before writing and even for teaching grammar by sorting parts of speech)

20. Approaches to Sorting Variations of Sorts
Teacher-directed closed sorts
Student-centered open sorts
Variations of Sorts
Guess My Category
Writing sorts (p.57- “Writing words as a study technique for spelling is well established. Undoubtedly the motoric act reinforces the memory for associating letters and patterns with sounds and meanings. However the practice of assigning students to write words five or more times is of questionable value because it can become simply mindless copying. Where there is no thinking, there is no learning. Writing words into categories demands that students attend to the sound and/ or the pattern of letters and to think about how those characteristics correspond with the established categories cued by the key word, picture, or pattern at the top of the column. Writing sorts encourage the use of analogy as students use the key word as a clue for the spelling of words that have the same sound, pattern, or meaning.”)

21. Sorting Variations (cont.
Word Hunts- Students do not automatically make the connection between spelling words and reading words. Word hunts (finding additional words that are examples of the sound, pattern, or meaning unit they are studying) help students make that connection between spelling words and reading words. These words should be added to writing sorts. It is important that students not confuse skimming for word patterns with reading for meaning, therefore students should use familiar text, already-read text or text that they are currently reading for word hunts.

22. Sorting Variations (cont.)
Brainstorming – for additional examples for sorts and may be used to introduce a sort.
Repeated individual and buddy sorts- one of the best ways to build fast, accurate recognition of these spelling units. Fluency shows mastery.
Speed Sorts – motivating and develop fluency and automaticity (Samuels,1988) Students should record times. Also, beat-the-teacher sorts.
Draw & Label / Cut & paste sorts- variation to a drawing sorts.
**Modeling the categorization procedure you want your students to use is important, so think about how you will do this. P. 63 Preparing your Sorts

23. Words Their Way / Word Study is Developmental.
WTW is not a one size fits all program of instruction that begins in the same place for all students within a grade level.
By interpreting what students do when they spell, educators can target a specific student’s “zone of proximal development”
(Vygotsky, 1962) and plan word study instruction that this student is conceptually ready to master.

24. The Development of Orthographic Knowledge
This occurs in stages which are marked by broad, qualitative shifts in the types of spelling errors students commit as well as behavioral changes in their reading and writing.
WTW is based on the student’s levels of orthographic knowledge and activities presented in the book are arranged by the stages of spelling.

25. For each stage of learning, students’ orthographic knowledge is defined by three functional levels that are useful guides for knowing when to teach what (Invernizzi, 1994):
-1. What students do correctly- an independent or easy level.
-2. What students use but confuse- an instructional level where instruction is most helpful.
-3. What is absent in students’ spelling – a frustration level where spelling concepts are too difficult.

26. It is important to know the continuum of orthographic knowledge
It is important to know the continuum of orthographic knowledge. Synchrony of Literacy Development
The scope and sequence of WTW is based on the developmental foundation of specific kinds of errors at particular stages of orthographic knowledge reflect a progressive differentiation of word elements which determine how words are read and written.
This harmony in timing of development has been described and the synchrony of reading, writing and spelling development (Bear, 1991).

27. Stages of Reading / Spelling Development
Emergent
Beginning Reader / Letter Name – Alphabetic
Transitional Reader / Within Word Pattern
Intermediate Reader / Syllables and Affixes
Advanced Reader / Derivational Relations
By conducting regular spelling assessments, about 3 times a year, you can track students’ progress and development. The spelling assessment will also inform us about the students’ reading development.

28. Stage 1: Emergent Spelling Stage
Emergent Spelling is a period of prereading and pretend writing.
Pretend to read by rehearsing and reciting well-known poems and jingles to heart.
Pretend to write. Writing is based on language and can be talked about.
Gradually acquire directionality.

29. Stage 2: Letter Name - Alphabetic Stage
Letter Name – Alphabetic Stage is the beginning of conventional reading and writing.
They use the sound/letter match to write..
Initially in this stage, the students spell beginnings sounds and ending sounds. By the middle of the stage, students begin to use a vowel in each syllable, and begin to spell short vowel patterns conventionally.
Finger-pointing.
Some sight words.

30. Middle and Late Letter Name-Alphabetic Spelling
Differentiation between consonants and vowels
Clear letter sound relationships
Frequently occurring short vowel words.

31. Stage 3: Within Word Pattern Spelling
Students build on their knowledge of the sound level of English orthography and explore the pattern level.
Students are in the transitional reading/literacy stage. Transitional readers read most single-syllable words accurately and with increasing fluency. They can read some multi-syllable words when there is enough contextual support.
Students in the within word pattern stage use but confuse vowel patterns. They no longer spell boat sound by sound to produce BOT, but BOTE, BOWT, BOOT, or even boat as they experiment with possible patterns for the long –o sound.

32. Within Word Stage (cont.)
The study of prefixes and suffixes is explored in the next stage, syllables and affixes. Increasingly, however, the reading and language arts content standards of many states are requiring that students are developmentally in the Within Word Pattern phase.
These words should be explored first as vocabulary words students encounter in their reading, and are not treated as spelling words until students know how to spell the base word on which they are built.
The sequence of word study in the Within Word Pattern stage begins by taking a step back with a review of short vowels as they are compared with long vowels then shifts to common and then less common and r-influenced long vowel patterns.

33. What about high frequency words?
A number of spelling programs feature high-frequency or high-utility words and focus on a small core of words students need the most such as said, because, there, etc.
In many cases, this reduces spelling to a matter of brute memorization and offers students no opportunity to form generalizations that can extend to the reading and spelling of thousands of unstudied words.
Many of these high-frequency words do not folow common spelling patterns, but can be included in within word pattern sorts as oddballs. Ex. Said is usually examined with other words that have the ai pattern, such as paid, faint, and wait. It becomes memorable because it stands alone in contrast to the many words that follow both the sound and spelling pattern feature.
Most of the top 200 most frequently occurring words according to Dolch and Fry are covered by the end of the Within Word Pattern Stage.

34. Guidelines for Creating Word Sorts
Sorts that contrast sounds and patterns are the key to effective word study in this stage. Possible contrasts are suggested in Table 6-2 (pages ) and lists of words in Appendix E.

35. Intermediate Readers / Syllables & Affixes Stage
Beginning in 2nd and 3rd grades for some students and in 4th for most students, cognitive and language growth allows children to make new and richer connections among the words they already know and the words they will learn.
Teachers can establish a firm foundation in spelling and vocabulary development as they facilitate students’ move into understanding the role of structure and meaning in the spelling system.

36. Syllables & Affixes Stage
One of the most important responsibilities for word study instruction at this stage is to engage students in examining how important word elements- prefixes, suffixes, and base words – combine; this structural analysis is a powerful tool for vocabulary development, spelling, and figuring out unfamiliar words during reading. (See p.205)
P Exploring New Vocabulary
P. 220 Guidelines- It is fine to select a few words that students might not know the meaning of, or words that they only know tenuously, but do not overburden sorts with these words. (Looking a few words up in a dictionary as a part of the initial demonstration lesson is a good way to encourage regular dictionary use for an authentic reason.

37. Features - Syllables & Affixes Stage
1. How consonant and vowel patterns are represented in polysyllabic words
2. What occurs when syllables join together (syllable juncture)
3. How stress or lack of stress determines the clarity of the sounds in syllables
4. How simple affixes (prefixes and suffixes) change the usage, meaning, and spelling of words

38. Syllables & Affixes Sequence and Pacing
Table 7-3 (p.217)
P. 219 Word Study Lesson Plan and Extensions for Word Study Notebooks.
1. Find words that have base words and underline the base word.
2. Break words into syllables and underline the accented syllables.
3. make appropriate words on your lists plural or add –ing or –ed.
4. Circle any prefix and /or suffix, when possible, to words on your list.
5. Add a prefix and /or suffix, when possible, to words on your list.
6. Select five words and use them in sentences.
7. Sort your words by parts of speech or subject areas and record your sort.
8. Go for speed. Sort your words three times and record your times.
9. Select five words to look up in the dictionary. Record the multiple meanings you find for each word.

39. Activities / Syllables & Affixes Stage
Many of the suggested games and activities provided in the text (p )
are related to vocabulary.

40. Advanced Readers/ Derivational Relations Stage
The term, derivational relations, emphasizes how spelling and vocabulary knowledge at this satge grow primarily through processes of derivation- from a single base word or word root, a number of related words are derived through the addition of prefixes and suffixes which students began to explore in the Syllables & Affixes Stage.
There is reciprocity between growth in vocabulary and spelling knowledge and the amount of reading and writing in which students are engaged (e.g.,Carlisel, 2000; Cunningham & Stanovich, 2003; Mahony, Singson, & Mann, 2000; Smith, 1998).

41. Words that are related in meaning are often related in spelling as well.
Ex. – COMPISITION for composition
Word related in meaning would provide spelling clue compose

42. Characteristics / Derivational Relations Stage
Specific spelling errors characteristic of this stage fall into 3 main categories.
1. In polysyllabic words, there are often unstressed syllables in which the vowel is reduced to the schwa sound, as in the second syllable of opposition. Remembering the root from which this word is derived (oppose) will often help the speller choose the correct vowel.
2. Suffixes like the -tion in opposition also pose challenges for spellers because they are easily confused with –ian (clinician) and –sion (tension), which sound the same.
3. Other errors occur in the feature known as an absorbed or assimilated prefix. The prefix in opposition originally comes form ob, but because the root word starts with the letter p (pos), the spelling changed to reflect an easier pronunciation (obposition or opposition?)

43. Spelling – Meaning Connection
The spelling – meaning connection is another way of referring to the significant role that morphology plays in the spelling system.
A number of sound changes may occur in a group of related words whose spelling remains the same, and so we guide students first ot notice particular changes that represent an increasing order of difficulty and abstractness. Templeton (1979, 1983,1989, 1992) and Templeton and Scarborough-Franks (1985) originally identified this order of difficulty and abstractness, recent work by Leong (2000) further substantiates this sequence.
Sequence of Word Study / Derivational Relations Stage
Table 8-1 (p )
Consonant Alternation, Vowel Alternation, Adding –ion to Words, Greek and Latin Elements, Advanced Suffix Study, Absorbed Prefixes, Content Area Vocabulary, and Word Origins

44. Activities / Derivational Relations
Pages

45. Getting Started: The Assessment of Orthographic Development Chapter 3
There are 3 steps in the assessment processes:
Step 1: Collect a spelling sample that includes several invented spellings
Step 2: Analyze the spelling sample to determine the stage of orthographic development.
Look for what the student is using but confusing.
Step 3: After completing a spelling-by-stage assessment you will need to plan and organize their instruction and then monitor the student’s growth.

46. Spelling Inventories
The spelling inventories are not to be used as part of students’ grades.
Should be given 3 times a year (or more):
September, January, and May
As the students advance, more advanced spelling inventories should be administered.
Spelling inventories are located in the appendix of the WTW textbook and are also available on the accompanying CD. (Alternate inventories are also included.)

47. Spelling Inventories (cont.)
The words in the spelling inventories are arranged from easiest to hardest.
The inventories should be as easy as a spelling test to administer and take no more than 15 minutes. Can be given to whole groups.
Should be given in a relaxed atmosphere.
Explain to students why they are taking the inventory.
If you are having trouble reading the student’s handwriting, ask them to help you instead of guessing.
See specific inventories to determine how many words to call/ students should be asked to spell. (This may vary by age group and inventory.)
Note scoring directions.

48. Analyzing Students’ Assessment Papers
Use the checklist, error & feature guides (that show the most common errors).
Feature guides assist teachers to determine students’ orthographic stage by using some of the features in orthographic development.
Note how many words the student spelled correctly out of the possible number of words.( A raw score of the number of words spelled correctly will give you a rough estimate of the student’s spelling stage. )
In planning for instruction, analyze the features he uses but confuses (his instructional level): this is generally in the first feature category where the student misses 2 or more.
Reversals should be noted, but not counted as incorrect features. (Static reversals / ex. b/d) They should not get the extra point for the word being spelled correctly.
Kinetic reversals – when the letters are present but out of order, as with beginning spellers, ( Ex. FNA for fan) should be noted but not counted incorrect as features. They should not get credit for having the word spelled correctly. (Students should get credit for what they have used.) Such errors offer interesting insights into their developing word knowledge.
See scoring the Feature Guides – pages 34-38
Spelling Inventories are valuable artifacts to add to students’ portfolios and can be used in parent conferences to discuss individual needs and progress.

49. Using Classroom Profiles to Group for Instruction
Use feature guide scores to complete a Classroom Composite which helps you to create instructional groupings.
On the classroom composite, students and scores should be listed from the highest total score to the lowest. (P.33-37)
Spelling –by-Stage Classroom Organization Chart can further assist in building developmental spelling groups. (Grouping – p.38-43)
Groups should be fluid / flexible so that students can move-on when necessary.

50. Weekly and Review Spelling Tests
Weekly tests at most grade levels are recommended.
Students should be accountable for learning to spell the words they have sorted and worked with in various activities all week and will ideally be very successful on these weekly tests.
If students miss more than a few words, it may mean that they need to spend more time on a particular feature/contrast or that they are not ready to study the feature and should work on easier features first.
Periodically, review tests should be given – without asking students to study in advance – to test for retention.
Weekly spelling test grades should NOT be their only spelling grades. Students should be held accountable for features already mastered in their daily writing.
Be creative with spelling tests. ( if there are 25 words in the weekly sort – use a random drawing for 10 and then use a couple of words found in their word hunts that follow the patterns for the sort but were not included in the given word list for the weekly sort)

51. Jackie Richardson, M.Ed., NBCT
NC Reads Coach
Sunset Park Elementary