Stage Assignment #1

Group:

Student Spelling Stage Reading/Writin Receives EL

g Stage Intervention
C Late Letter Late Beginning  2x/week 
Name
T. B. Late Letter Late Beginning  2x/week
Name
S Late Letter Late Beginning  2x/week
Name

Mastered UBC Absent

 Beginning consonants  Blends  Long vowels
 Ending consonants  Digraphs  Other vowels
 Short vowels

Group Justification: I chose to place C, T. B., and S in a group because they all fell into
the Late Letter Name-Alphabetic stage. All of them have mastered beginning and ending
consonants as well as short vowels. C and T. B. are clearly struggling with blends and digraphs.
S was placed in this group because even though his score indicated that he could be placed in
early within word pattern, evidence has shown that he is confusing blends and digraphs as well.
Therefore, it is preferred that we begin word study instruction at a slightly lower level instead of
jumping into something new when they haven’t officially mastered the components of the
previous stage.

Sort:
 Oddball
shell whip
chip
what shall then
shack
chat wham Whiz them
chill When
check

shed
ship chap

Justification: After reviewing the spelling assessments of each child, I concluded that they were
struggling with the ch and sh digraphs but appeared to have mastered short vowels with an
understanding of how to use the wh digraph. Therefore, I chose to work with a short vowel
digraph sort comparing sh/ch/wh words.

Introduction and guided practice. The day 1 teacher-guided instruction with this sort would
follow these steps:

1. I would sit down with my group of students and we would read each word and look at the
pictures. I would ask questions to determine whether or not the students understood the
meaning of each word as well as how to read them. This will be especially helpful for C
who is an EL learner.
2. Next, I would have the students look at the headers and we would discuss the pictures
and the names of each header.
3. Next, I would have the students look at each word and determine whether or not they
could separate the words based on how they looked (the letters displayed in each one).
4. Then I would have the students read through the words to determine if they could match
the sounds of each word with the picture on the headers.
5. Finally, I would have them identify any words that did not fit into the columns with the
headers. We would label these oddballs and then discuss what those words may have in
common with each other.
6. After completing the sort together, I would have the students try again on their own or
with a partner to determine whether or not they understand the sort.
EL Modifications: English learners tend to struggle with the sh, ch, and w sounds in our
language. Therefore, many of the words in this sort could cause trouble for C. However,
looking over his assessment, he appears to understand the ch and the wh digraphs. He
struggles with the sh digraph. He leaves the h off and just uses the s. He is inclined to do
this because the sh sound does not exist in many languages (Bear, et. al, 172).

Follow-up/Extension

Activity: I would recommend that these students practice identifying words that begin with
ch/sh/wh while completing a word hunt of a familiar text they are reading.

Justification: A word hunt would be a good activity for these students because they would
be reading for practice as they were searching for the words they need to complete the
activity. I would recommend that Miguel assist this group as a scribe to help record the
words that are found in the word hunt to be sure they are spelled correctly. He can also
clarify any pronunciations that may be missed while they are reading. This would be a good
job for Miguel because he is performing at the highest level in the classroom.

Reading

The instructional reading text I would use with this group is the following:

Text: Shelly’s Shell Shop Shelly Shrek had a shell shop. Her shop was
Author: Cheryl Ryan next to lots of ships.
Readability Level: Beginning Shane Shrek liked shells. He rushed to
Reader/Decodable Book Shelly’s Shell shop to shop for shells. He
had lots of cash.

Justification: I chose Shelly’s Shell Shop because it specifically addresses the sh digraph.
This is one of the digraphs that the students in this group are struggling with, especially C.
The words are simple to read and many of the words are repeated throughout the story. It
also exposes the students to long vowels which is a concept that will be appearing in the next
spelling phase. This book is one of several books that are recommended to be used together
as students are working through the study of digraphs.
Writing

Activity: After the students have read through the stories containing the different
digraphs being studied, I would create a word bank for them to refer to when writing in their
journals. Next, I would have the students write a story about a trip to the beach. I would
encourage them to tell about what they are going to do at the beach, what sights they will see,
and what treasures they may find. I will encourage them to use words from their word bank
to be used in their stories. When they finish, we will read over the stories together and
identify any words that contained the spellings of the digraphs we are studying.

Justification: I believe this writing activity will be a good one to help show how well
they can spell words that contain the sh/wh/ch digraphs that we are working with. Writing
always allows great insight into what students actually know because they can spell without
the pressure to perform on a test. Having them read over their writings when they finish will
help reinforce the spelling knowledge they have acquired through their word study activities.

Intervention Collaboration

I would meet with the reading specialist and discuss the texts, sorts, and activities we are
working on in class. I would share what struggles the students are having and encourage
focus to be placed on those particular issues as well as vocabulary for C. It is important that
we speak weekly to determine the progression of the students so that adjustments can be
made. Hopefully, with the extra instruction the reading specialist is providing there will be
enough support to help this group move along through the stage at a little faster pace.
Bear, Donald R., Invernizzi, Marcia, Johnston, Francine, & Templeton, Shane (2016). Words
Their Way (6th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Ryan, Cheryl (n.d.). Shelly’s Shell Shop. Retrieved from

https://www.readinga-z.com/books/decodable-books/