Welcome to

SPELLING…ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Spelling Then and NowTraditional Spelling

InstructionWord Study

The English language is seen as confusing.

Learners find spelling patterns that can be organized.

Teachers create lists for the entire year before meeting the students.

Teachers determine the student’s level before obtaining the lists.

The word list is the same for the entire class.

Learners work together in small groups sharing the same words.

The Friday test is either too easy or too difficult each week.

The learner masters the words each week, because the words are developmentally appropriate.

Spelling is a separate subject and often disconnected from reading and writing.

Learning the word patterns on their level leads to greater success in reading and writing.

22)  Oral and Written Conventions/Spelling. Students spell correctly. Students are expected to:

(A)  use phonological knowledge to match sounds to letters to construct known words;

(B)  use letter-sound patterns to spell: (i)  consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words; (ii)  consonant-vowel-consonant-silent e (CVCe) words

(e.g., "hope"); and (iii)  one-syllable words with consonant blends (e.g.,

"drop"); (C)  spell high-frequency words from a commonly used list; (D)  spell base words with inflectional endings (e.g.,

adding "s" to make words plurals); and (E)  use resources to find correct spellings.

Same TEKS, just taught in a different way!

How do I teach 5 different levels of spelling?

I can’t possibly keep up with all

of that!

Where there is a will, there is a way!

It’s called…

WORD STUDYMADE EASY

byVenette Bradham

Just follow me…

It starts with a simple whole group test to find the child’s level. Don’t let them get frustrated. 26 words is a lot for the 1st week of school! Tell the children that you are giving them words they might not know how to spell, but even one letter correct will help you know what to teach them this year. I give this test 2-3 times a year. This data is great information to show on a graph or chart for a SIT meeting!

Grading the test is easy and very informative. Circle every letter or chunk that they write correctly on this form. 5 or less in that category marks their level.

Now record each student on the chart so you can make your groups. In August, a 1st grader on level would be on short vowels.

Now that you know your children’s levels, choose a book like this… to select the words.

I prefer pictures and words. That way they have to hear the sound, not just see the letters for sorting.

Here is something to ponder.

If the order to learn is initial, final, short vowels, digraphs, blends and then long vowels, then shouldn’t you only expect them to know what was previously taught? So when I saw pages like this, I decided to mark only the words I wanted for their sort. (They haven’t learned long vowels yet.)

The makers of the books have a reason for adding long vowel wordsto the list even though the child hasn’t learned long vowels yet.I prefer to keep the words sequential.Sometimes I create my own lists.

Once you have gathered your lists, it’s handy if you make yourself a notebook with tabs or use file folders to organize your lessons. I labeled mine with a lesson number.

If you put together your own notebook, label each lesson.

Here is my chart that shows the lessons I have copied for each child. Copying ahead, makes it easy to be prepared.

I keep the copies in file folders for each level. I write the names of the students on each folder.

Student Names

The time it takes the children to learn each set of words doesn’t have to be from Monday to Friday. Be flexible with how long they might need to study their list of words. Maybe it’s a week and a half!

Don’t stress about the time. Be confident that the children are learning to spell “on their personal level”!

OK, so now that we know where the words are coming from, how do they learn them?

On the 1st day, they cut out the words and headings and store them in a bag.As students are cutting, I walk around and talk to each child about their words, pointing out the number of headings they have.

“You have 3 headings. (sh, th, ch)”

On a different day, they will sort the words. Be sure they say the words out loud so they can hear the sounds. You may need to help them fold the paper to match the number of headings. Don’t forget to check their work before they use this sheet to study.

1. Sort2. Say3. Glue(You don’t have to have them glue the words down on the 2nd day.)

x xx

I’ve seen some classes glue the words in a spiralnotebook.

There are thousands of ideas

on-line to practice independently!Follow me on

Pinterest or search

“word study”.

A teacher from College Hills shared this great file folder practice board with me.

The dry erase markers don’t erase well on lamination, so I slipped aplastic pocket protector over them.

eraser

For a word study station, practice writing words on an app such as

“Art of Glow”.

One of their favorite ways to practice is by simply testing each other using a dry erase board. One child is the teacher, the other children are the students, depending on how many you have in a group. I don’t recommend more than three.

Black socks make great erasers.

How do they know who gets to be the “teacher” that day?

They look at the chart! The heart shows who will be the “teacher” that day.

During the day, pull a small group to teach or check for understanding.

Use anything:Plastic lettersPaper letters

Magnetic letters

Instead of giving a “Friday Spelling Test” you can evaluate a variety of ways:

- Check for understanding in a teacher/small group session.- Give students the evaluation worksheet found in the books at the end of each section.- Have the students test each other on paper to turn in.- Check to see if they are using their spelling rule in their reading and story writing.

Change is hard. But, hopefully my years of trial and error will save you some time in getting started. I explain to parents that they won’t see a spelling list coming home every week. Their child will be learning to spell at school in a variety of ways and on their level. This will lead to success in their reading and writing. As a teacher you will feel so good to have concrete evidence that your children are growing. No wasted time…just pure success!

And that’s all there is to it!

For any further questions, please contact me at vbradham@csisd.org

This powerpoint presentation is for information only. There is no intent to sell any products or publications.

Venette Bradham has taught 1st grade for 23 years. (25 total) She has created this powerpoint to help teachers find ways to manage teaching multiple levels of spelling to a diverse classroom of thinkers.Spelling…One Size Does Not Fit All!

2015