1. Issaquah School District 2013-2014
Spelling
Issaquah School District

2. Begin with… the end in mind. When teaching spelling- what is the goal?
Questions to ponder- Why teach spelling- what are/is the goals/goal?
Answers we hope for…
Students to be able to write
Students develop a core of words that they can spell fluently
Students have strategies (tools in their tool-belt)- for spelling unknown words (they can help themselves)

3. Spelling is one of the fundamental sub-skills
of effective written communication.
 The vast majority of spelling occurs in real life applications to achieve communication objectives.  The goal of spelling instruction should not be temporary memorization of words
but rather the development of skills & strategies
to be able to correctly represent
our written language.
Word Matter, Fountas & Pinnell
Would you agree with this statement?
Where did this com

4. Beliefs About Learning To Spell
What do you believe contributes to students developing as effective spellers?
Turn and talk- Review slide- how do you think about students learn to spell

5. Explicitly teach a variety of spelling strategies
Encourage inquiry and pattern finding
Provide a variety of resources such as charts, dictionaries, and word walls
Encourage learners to take risks and ‘have a go’, when constructing words
Writing is integral to spelling success
Spelling analysis of students’ writing is the most valid assessment
Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling

6. Goals For Today Today we will look at:
Spelling strategies that can be explicitly taught to students to use while writing.
Buddy Study Spelling Program outlined in Fountas & Pinnell.

7. Spelling Strategies
Good spellers have a variety of strategies that they use automatically when they are writing a word they don’t know how to spell. We can teach the strategies used by proficient spellers to all of our students. (Fountas and Pinnell, 1998)

8.  Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling

9. Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling
Sound Strategies to Teach:
1. "Stretch the word out"
2. "Clap the word so you can write the parts syllable by syllable"
3. "Break the word into parts (syllables) so you can hear each part

10. Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling
Visual- letters patterns
1. think about how the word looks- try different patterns
2. what do you often see at the end of words

11. Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling
Meaning- Structure/meaning units

12. Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling
Analogies If I know x then I know x

13. Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling
Checking- proofreading, finding correct spellings

14. Taken from: Christine Topfer- Effective Spelling
Explicit Teacher Language handout

15. How Do You Teach Spelling Strategies?
Reference Charts
Ideas for Teaching Spelling Strategies
1. Demonstrated- and modeled- numerous times
2. Reference cards
3.Anchor Charts
4.Cards in the Writing folder
5. Books
Reference Cards
for the Writing Folder
Anchor Charts
Model, model, model…

16. Integrating Phonics & Spelling Instruction
More than one mini-lesson should be taught per week.
At the beginning of the 5 day cycle-
Teachers select a lesson for day 1 and have children choose core words for spelling for the next five days. Later in the week, another mini-lesson can be taught.
Suggested language: "When teaching phonics lessons- you will always have a mini-lesson and an application activity and sharing. You add the Buddy Study system to that structure. When children first learn this system, you may want to temporarily suspend the application activity. Work to make the Buddy Study routine and efficient.
Buddy study- the spelling program/activities
Application- the activities that the students do to study the words

17. F & P Buddy Study
A word study principle is introduced for a a 5 day cycle.
Students/teacher select the words to study for the week.
Throughout the 5 days children are taught effective ways to study the words.
Assessment is on-going by children and a buddy test is graded by the teacher.
This is also laid out in F & P on the following pages:
First Grade Book- pgs
Second Grade Book- pgs
It's important to remember that the principle is taught using a few core words representing the principle and then the goal is for students to make the kinds of connections that will help them spell many words beyond the specific examples they are studying.

18. Buddy Study Cycle Day 1: Lesson & Choose Write, Build, Mix, Fix
Day 2: Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check
Day 3: Buddy Check
Day 4: Make Connections
Day 5: Buddy Test
When teaching the procedures- since this is the first lesson on a series of new routines, feature a phonics/spelling principle that will be easy for your students. It is always best/easier to learn new routines on known or easy content.

19. 1. Choose, Write, Build, Mix, Fix
Principle- you can make a word several times to learn the sequence of letters
Choosing words requires greater attention from children.
Writing and checking them draws attention to details and provides a reliable resource for the week.
Building focuses attention on visual details.
Process-
1. Student/teacher selects words
2. Student writes the word on his/her note card
2. Students then make the words using magnetic letters 3 times, mix and fix
Good spellers know when a word doesn't "look right" because they recognize the visual sequence of letters that make up a word. If a letter is not there or another letter has been substituted, they know something is wrong. Using magnetic letters to build words in sequence and then checking their accuracy visually helps build the habit of looking closely at and remembering visual features. Ultimately, this process becomes quick and automatic as children develop systems for learning words.
*Building words focuses attention on visual details

20. 2. Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check
*Helps students learn how to look at and study words. It helps them learn what part to notice.
Principle- You can look at a word, say it, cover it, write and check it to help you learn to spell the word.
Children need to look carefully as they say a word, visualizing it, so when they cover it they can remember how it should look. They need to exercise deliberate ways of looking at words so that the visual features remain in the memory. Children can check whether they remember the word by writing the letters in sequence and visually checking them. This "slowed down" way of considering the word ultimately builds automatic ways of noticing both familiar and new/difficult features of a word.

21. 3. Buddy Check
*Gives students an opportunity to focus on (and highlight) the specific word components that are difficult for them to remember.
Principles:
You can write a word, look at it, and try again to make it look right.
You can notice and think about the parts of words that are tricky for you.
You can write words to see if you know them.
The "try it another way" technique is one adults often use. When we notice a word doesn't look right, we try other letter sequences until the pattern looks right. Children need to learn that looking at the word is a way to search for accurate spelling. Using the looking and checking strategies that build their ability to tell when a word "looks right," they apply this knowledge to solving an unfamiliar word.

22. 4. Making Connections
*Helps children look at words in flexible ways and use known words to solve new words
Principles:
You can use parts of words you know to read or write new words.
You can use what you know about words to read new words.
Children need to develop and network of knowledge about words. Rather than learning each word in the language, children learn principles, strategies, and patterns that help them use old knowledge to create new knowledge. Establishing the habit of making connections among words by how they look or sound or what they mean will help children form these categories.

23. 5. Buddy Test
*Students are tested to document their learning and provide evidence for evaluation and accountability.
Principle: You can write words to see if you know them.
Ultimately, spellers must call to mind the features of a word and produce it in their writing. This process must be fluent, automatic and largely unconscious, so that the writer can keep the meaning of the message in mind as well as continually construct and reconstruct it. It is useful for spellers trying new words to test their knowledge so that they can get an idea of what parts of the word they control and what they still need to learn and remember.
The buddy test is written in the word study notebook
Children give each other the text, providing a sentence for each word given.
The word study notebook and card are given to the teacher
The teacher checks the test.

24. Analyze writing samples
What are they using but confusing
High frequency word assessment

25. Spelling Assessment Tools
Observation- of how students spell unknown words- what strategies are they using, what words can they spell correctly?
Analyze student writing samples
High frequency word test
Observation- watching kids while they are writing
List the strategies that students are using- because teachers think all kids sound it out
A scenario- not just a pretest- a reader who has no strategies- and appeals vs a writer who has no strategies and appeals

26. Which Words To Teach?
F & P Phonics Lessons (select commonly used words representative of the principle)
High-frequency grade level appropriate words
Words To Learn List- words the
teacher and student select
Where do we get the spelling words to teach?
There are sources for spelling words
Words To Learn List- words can be from student writing

27. Source 1- Selecting Words From The Phonics Lessons
This list is starting point-
Teachers may find lessons that they want to add-
They may have words they want to add to this list-
Please emphasize that this is a list to be added to.

28. Source 2- High Frequency Words
Students take a pretest- and the words they pass are highlighted. Then the high frequency word pages are stapled in the students spelling folder and students chose which high frequency word they would like to focus on this week.

29. Source 3- Words Students & Teachers Think Students Should Learn
This would be additional words that the student or the teacher selects- ideas- content area words, words a student continuously misspells in his/her writing

30. Selecting Buddies
Use assessment information to pair children with similar achievement at a particular point in time.
Need to be able to read each other’s spelling words.
Children will learn from each other’s lists.
Rotate partners monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly.
Word Matters, page 169
Alter the buddy combinations often enough to give children new learning relationships, to accommodate changes in student achievement or to improve learning when buddies aren't working.

31. Ideas For Weekly Scheduling
Schedule can be Monday – Friday or any other way teachers would like to set up the program. Thinking outside the box….

32. How Many Words?
Choose fewer words. Brain research tells us this in many ways. We learn new words better by associating them with words we already know. We also learn better by chunking information into the right-sized chunks. We have phone numbers like for a reason. Cunningham advises, "Add words gradually, no more than five each week." The reason why we lost the ability to spell our 20 word lists by the next week? Too many words! They stayed in our short-term memory for the Friday test, but never made it into our long term memory of working words that we use for writing
Teachers can use professional judgment as to the amount of spelling words for students to learn each week- although they need to keep in mind this information.

33. Ideas For Organization
Word Study Board

34. Organization
Prior to beginning your spelling program, give high frequency word tests to help children create an ongoing list of words they need to learn.

35. Explore on your own…. First Grade Book- pgs 467-486
Second Grade Book- pgs

36. The problem with formal spelling instruction
is the lack of transfer from rote memorization of words
to application of this knowledge in writing and editing.
Spelling application is enabled by problem solving words,
working out their structure,
and perceiving how they fit into patterns.
This understanding reflects that spelling
is not a low-level, rote-memory activity,
but a high-level cognitive skill.
Doreen Scott-Dunne
When Spelling Matters (2013)
We all know about the test on Friday- words are gone by Monday issue!
Also- perhaps this is where we discuss the teaching practice of assigning spelling on Monday and testing on Friday- the haves and have nots- (thanks Chuck!) If we just give kids a spelling list on Monday- they take the list home and "study" it- and then we test on Friday-

37. Guiding Students To Think About Their Spelling
With this type of spelling program- what thinking habits and skills are students required to use?
Thinking curriculum vs. rote memorization curriculum?