Word Study Instruction as Part of a Balanced Literacy Approach

1. Word Study Instruction as Part of a Balanced Literacy Approach Amy W. Thornburg, Ph.D. thornbua@queens.edu

2. What is Word Study? A hands-on approach where students: • compare and contrast word features • discover similarities and differences within and between categories • work in ability groups, not as a whole class You need 28 exposures to internalize and fully understand a concept. - PEAK

3. Three Layers of Orthography The Basis for Word Study: • Alphabetic – Relationship between letters and sounds • Pattern - Certain words (or syllable parts) have patterns (or chunks) within them to help us pronounce them. Most of the time, we can take these patterns/chunks and apply them to other words. • Meaning - Groups of letters represent meaning directly. This is when we learn prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots.

4. Where do I find teaching points? • CCSS • Continuum of Literacy Learning • Guided Reading Section (see Planning for Word Work after GR for each level of reader) • Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Section

5. Five Stages of Word Knowledge Emergent Reader— Emergent Beginning Reader— Letter Name-Alphabetic Transitional Reader— Within Word Pattern Intermediate Reader— Syllables and Affixes Advanced Reader— Derivational Relations

6. Additional Resources for Word Work • Month By Month Phonics • Making Words • Guess the Covered Word • Word Wall Games • Read Alouds connected to word work • Nifty Fifty • Websites • FCRR, Spellingcity, Starfall, ABCya, RAZKidsdecodables & projectables, ReadWriteThink, Turtlediary, Smart Exchange

7. Research Shows… The best way to develop fast, accurate perception of word features is to… • engage in meaningful reading and writing • have multiple opportunities to examine the same set of words (both out of and in context) • use hands-on practice with words

8. Word Study is effective when… • Working with struggling students • Working with high ability groups • Used in conjunction with Guided Reading / Reader’s Workshop • Used in conjunction with Writer’s Workshop (spelling, word choice, parts of speech, vocabulary)

9. Successful Implementation for Internalization • Word Study words should be weekly spelling words • Word Study groups must be based on ability level and individual student needs • Word study groups should coincide with reading groups • Word study should include sorts (pictures or words) AND supplemental activities/games • Word study should include reading and writing • Word study should be used every day because students need repetition and practice

10. Assessments Spelling assessments can help us determine what spelling features to address in our instruction. Informal: Weekly tests, journals, writings, reading, conferencing Formal: Student Written Work—shows errors in writing Running Records – shows errors when reading Spelling Inventories—given at the beginning of the year and end of each quarter

11. Other Considerations Management • Don’t waste instructional time cutting out sorts! (Early arrivals, rainy day recess, parent volunteers, afterschool students…) • Color code your levels of sorts (yellow = emergent, blue = derivational) • Work as a team to divide and conquer the copies! • Scan copies and Smart board activities on shared drives

12. Final Thoughts What are you currently using for word work / word study? How is it impacting your students’ learning? How are you creating multiple opportunities for students to interact with words in authentic and meaningful ways? How are you building fluency and writing with word work? How do you need to revise word work for next year?