I recently had the good fortune of watching the wonderful Natalie Louis deliver a word study lesson at a school in Harlem. It was so cool. For a mostly upper grade person like me, word study has always been a bit shrouded in mystery. What exactly is the difference between phonemic and phonological awareness? What… Continue reading What I’ve Learned about Word Study
Category: word study
Three Favorite Word Wall Games
A well-planned word wall allows students to quickly access familiar high frequency words from word study instruction. As they are writing, they can simply glance up, find the word, and continue to write. With the word wall, there's no need to interrupt their work to search through a dictionary or booklet. Glancing at the word word… Continue reading Three Favorite Word Wall Games
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How to Use the Word Wall: From a Student Point-of-View
A short and sweet reminder, from a student point-of-view.
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In the Classroom We Are All Learners: Reflecting on a Year of Becoming Word Conscious
Elizabeth Siracusa, a fourth- and fifth-grade looping teacher, reflects on the ways she infused vocabulary instruction into her classroom this year.
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Phonemic Awareness! Yeah!
Sometimes colleagues tell me that the feel intimidated or uneasy about setting out to teach phonemic awareness, because it all feels so technical. Even the terminology is tricky: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics... I like to think of teaching phonemic awareness as being just like kindergarteners themselves--complicated indeed, but also a lot of fun.
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The Perfect Word
Have you ever been in the midst of your writing and you have to stop in order to find the perfect word?
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Professional Talk: Differentiation in Word Study
I recall hearing about differentiated spelling words, for students in Word Study, the first time I visited the school I taught at in Rhode Island. I was unsure of how it would be possible to differentiate for students. Once I began teaching fourth grade in Rhode Island, I quickly learned the easiest way to find… Continue reading Professional Talk: Differentiation in Word Study
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Spelling Help
Need to assist a student who has trouble spelling while writing? Watch this video for a practical tool/tip entitled "My Fast Word Fixer."
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Spelling Sites
I tend not to focus much on spelling when I write about the teaching of writing. However, I'm well-aware that using conventions properly is extremely important. Each week, my students have eight personal words, which are drawn from their own writing and/or high-frequency words they misspell on assessments I give. [These are in addition to… Continue reading Spelling Sites
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play with words + help end world hunger.
Click on the picture below to play a vocabulary game. For each word you get correct, United Nations will donate 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger.
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Customized Spelling Lists
I've been grading my students' personal narratives this morning using the rubric I created last month. That being said, I decided not to just grade their personal narratives, but also to use them as a way to create lists of misspelled words so that I can differentiate their weekly spelling lists. My colleague Kate gives… Continue reading Customized Spelling Lists
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Word Boxes
Inspired by Donovan's Word Jar and motivated by my school's vocabulary initiative, my students created word boxes yesterday with foam letters yesterday afternoon. These boxes are meant to be kept at home (though one student wanted to keep hers in school) and are almost like a portable word wall, but with index cards inside. I… Continue reading Word Boxes
