“Words Their Way”

Chapter 1

OBSERVATIONS:
- Orthography: the correct sequences of letters in the writing system
- Children acquire word knowledge through listening and talking about life
experiences and stories
o They also develop a rich speaking vocabulary
o Begin to make sense of their world and use language to negotiate and
describe it
- Word study occurs in hands-on activities that mimic basic cognitive learning
processes:
o Comparing and contrasting categories of word features
o Discovering similarities and differences within and between categories
- The best way to develop fast and accurate perception of word features is to
engage in meaningful reading and writing, and to have multiple opportunities to
examine those same words out of context
- Word study teaches students how to look at words so they can construct an ever-
deepening understanding of how spelling works to represent sound and meaning
- Purpose of word study:
o Students develop a general knowledge of English spelling
o Students learn the regularities, patterns, and conventions of English
orthography needed to read and spell
- To become fully literate, you also need specific knowledge about individual
words
- The purpose of word study is to examine words in order to reveal consistencies
within our written language system, and to help students master the recognition,
spelling, and meaning of specific words
- Alphabetic: represents the relationship between letters and sounds
- Three layers of English orthography:
o Alphabetic
o Pattern
o Meaning
- Word study is developmental
o The study of word features must match the level of word knowledge of the
learner
- For each stage, students’ orthographic knowledge is defined by three functional
levels that are useful guides for knowing when to teach what:
o What students do correctly
o What students use but confuse
o What is absent in students’ spelling
 - Stages of Spelling Development
o Stage 1: Emergent Spelling
o Stage 2: Letter Name—Alphabetic Spelling
o Stage 3: Within Word Pattern Spelling
o Stage 4: Syllables and Affixes Spelling
o Stage 5: Derivational Relations Spelling
- Literacy Development Stages
o Emergent Readers- the child may undertake reading and writing in
earnest, but adults will recognize their efforts as more pretend than real
o Beginning Readers
o Transitional Readers- move into the within word pattern spelling stage
when single letter-sound units are consolidated into patterns or larger
chunks and other spelling regularities are internalized
o Intermediate and Advanced Readers

CONNECTIONS:
In my second grade field placement, I am constantly observing students reading,
which connects to this chapter. In the book, they discuss the different stages in which a
child learns to read, and how to categorize each child based on their reading ability. It is
interesting watching the students, and then thinking about which stage of reading they
would be placed under.

WONDERINGS:
- What are some exercises to use with students to practice spelling?
- Are there any tactics to help students remember sounds for spelling better?

Chapter 2

OBSERVATIONS:
- Important insights into orthographic knowledge are also made when we observe
students reading
- Reading
o Words can be recognizes with many types of textual supports, so the
ability to read words correctly lies a little ahead of students’ spelling
accuracy
- Spelling
o A conservative measure of what students know about words in general
o If students can spell a word, then we know that they can read the word
- Spelling Inventories:
 o Primary spelling inventory: consists of 26 words that begins with simple
CVC words and ends with inflected endings
o Elementary spelling inventory: a list of 25 increasingly difficult words that
begins with bed and ends with opposition
o Upper level spelling inventory: can be used in upper elementary, middle,
and high school
- These inventories are not used for grading purposes and students should not study
the particular words either before or after the inventory administered
- Pronounce each word naturally without drawing out the sounds or breaking it into
syllables
- Static reversal:
- Kinetic reversals:
- Grouping for instruction is a challenge for teachers and there are reasons to be
suspicious of homogenous or ability grouping
o May be stigmas associated with grouping and sometimes the lower ability
groups receive inferior instruction
o Students benefit from developmentally appropriate instruction
o Many teachers organize three and sometimes four small groups by
instructional level for reading
- Spelling assessments are used to identify students’ developmental stages, to
determine the features that need instruction, and to form and reform instructional
groups
- Weekly tests at most grade levels are a way to monitor mastery of the studied
features and to send a message to students and parents alike that students are
accountable for learning to spell words they have sorted and worked out in
various activities all week

CONNECTIONS:
This chapter posed interesting ideas, because it was all about making sure that
students are keeping up with each other, and that teachers know the different ways to be
able to assess their students. One thing that I found that may be helpful is to arrange
children in different groups, sometimes by ability level. In my second grade class, they
have four groups of desks, with four different colored chairs. Judging from the different
types of kids that sit at those tables, I am not quite sure the teacher has grouped them in a
specific fashion, but she could easily use ability as a category.

WONDERINGS:
- Does ability grouping work?
- Do parent/teacher conferences better the chances of the child succeeding in the
classroom, or the opposite effect?
Chapter 3
OBSERVATIONS:
- Categorizing is the fundamental way that humans make sense of the world
o Allows us to find order and similarities among various objects, events,
ideas, and words that we encounter
- Word sorting offers the best of both constructivist learning and teacher-directed
instruction
- Three basic types of sorts that reflect the three layers of English orthography:
o Sound
o Pattern
o Meaning
- Approaches to sorting:
o Teacher-directed closed sorts
o Student-centered open sorts
- Variations of Sorts:
o Guess My Category
o Writing Sorts
o Word Hunts
o Brainstorming
o Repeated individual and buddy sorts
o Speed sports
o Draw and label/cut and paste
- Teacher-Directed Word Study Lesson Plan
o Demonstrate: Introduce the sort using key pictures or words
o Sort and Check: individually or with a partner
o Reflect: compare and declare
o Extend: activities to complete at seats, in centers, or at home
- Make a routine for word study, because it will benefit your students to know
when everything is happening, and when they should study their words
- Ten Principles of Word Study Instruction:
o Look for what students use but confuse
o A step backward is a step forward
o Use words students can read
o Compare words “that do” with words “that don’t”
o Sort by sound and sight
o Begin with obvious contrasts
o Don’t hide exceptions
o Avoid rules
o Work for automaticity
o Return to meaningful texts

CONNECTIONS:
 After reading about word sorts and studying vocabulary in this chapter, I came to
realize that the current second grade class I am in does not do word study enough. The
only time I hear the teacher saying anything about the meanings of words, or the helping
the students understanding something, it is when they are doing a read-aloud, and it is a
very brief statement. I think that they should focus a little more on vocabulary and word
study, and a little less on the actual story. There should be a good balance between the
two, and be able to understand all elements of the readings.

WONDERINGS:
- What are good tactics to teaching word study that second graders would enjoy?
- When is it appropriate to define words for students, and when do you want them
to try and figure it out for themselves?