Word Work

1. Word Work .

2. What is Word Work? • Word work refers to many different types of practices with reading and writing words. These are the spelling/word wall words that come home each week, including the word family words.

3. Students practice with these words during the week at school and should practice a little every day at home also. They can choose this as part of their Reading Workshop activity for a session.

4. How does word work look during Reader’s Workshop? • Children highlight word wall words in their personal dictionary.

5. How does word work look during Reader’s Workshop? • practice writing the word on a whiteboard or magna doodle • make the word with magnetic letters—play mix and fix with a partner • make the word with play dough • use rubber stamps to stamp and write the words • write word family words

6. How does word work look during Reader’s Workshop? • write sentences using those words • unscramble cut up sentences • spill and spell • alphabetizing words • do word sorts—categorize words by particular features child determines or can be predetermined categories

7. Tying it all together… • The goal of these varied activities is to help the students become aware of how letters work in words and to help them learn how to put down the sounds they hear. • When they write we encourage them to stretch out the word, then write each sound in order. The visual and auditory channels must work together. • When a child reads, in a split second she/he reverses this process and says the sounds that are represented on the page.