The Vowel Sound-Spelling Patterns Assessment

Use of This Assessment

The key to effective individualized spelling instruction is assessment. You’ve got to know what your students do and don’t know to make the best use of instruction and practice. You can give this assessment to your entire class or only to those students who seem to perform below or above grade level. When in doubt, it’s best to test to confirm your judgments. Be careful in assuming that because your students get “A’s” on their weekly spelling test, they are accelerated spellers. The key question is: Have the students mastered each of the vowel sound-spellings? Students who have mastered the vowel sound-spelling patterns have moved to the syllable-juncture and derivational constancy spelling stages and need to be challenged at these spelling levels.

Teacher Assessment Administration Directions

Dictate each of the following words in the word-sentence-word format at a pace that allows your students ample time to both spell and check their spellings. Take your time on this and repeat words as necessary. Giving this assessment is not rocket science. Any parent or instructional assistant, with good English pronunciation, can give this assessment just as effectively as can the teacher. Have the students print their spellings and caution them to proofread for careless mistakes.

Assessment Organization

The diagnostic assessment tests knowledge of vowel sound-spelling patterns in this order:

#1—3 Long a #4—7 Long e #8—10 Long i #11—13 Long o #14—15 Long u #16—19 oo as in food #20—21 oo as in foot #22—23 oy #24—26 aw #27—28 ow as in cow #29—31 ur #32 ar #33 or #34—36 Long a #37—40 Long e #41—43 Long i #44—46 Long o #47—48 Long u #48—52 oo as in food #53—54 oo as in foot #55—56 oy #57—59 aw #60—61 ow as in cow #62—64 ur #65 ar #66 or The first 33 words are generally single syllables and the last 33 are multi-syllabic words. The lists of single and multi-syllabic vowel sound-spellings are intentionally separated to prevent students from using knowledge of one spelling to transfer to the other.

Correcting

Use the Assessment Organization list above to mark student errors in both the single syllable words (#1-33) and the multi-syllabic words (#34-66). -If the student spells all words correctly for each vowel sound in both the single and multi-syllabic sections, no remediation is necessary for those vowel sound-spellings. Thus, record an “M” (for Mastery) in the space provided after the first group of vowel sound-spelling patterns. -If one or both of the same vowel sound-spellings is incorrect, record an “R” (for Remediation) in the space provided after the first group of vowel sound-spelling patterns and mark a / on the Vowel Sound-Spellings Mastery Matrix.

Note: Correct only the vowel sound-spelling patterns, marking vowel sound spelling errors. Do not mark other spelling errors wrong. For example if the word is “bouf”—the student spelling of “boof” would be wrong, but “bouff” would be right. This selective grading is done to be able to isolate the vowel sound-spelling pattern problem areas.

Mastery Criteria . A remedial speller is one who needs remediation in several or many of the vowel spelling patterns as indicated by this assessment. The student still needs to work on the “Within Word” vowel patterns stage of spelling development. The Vowel Sound-Spelling Worksheets will pinpoint instruction and practice in precisely the patterns that require remediation for each of these students. . A grade-level speller is one for whom the spelling patterns traditionally taught in a grade- level spelling workbook are at an appropriate challenge level. Most spelling workbook programs finish introducing the spelling patterns tested in this assessment by the end of the 4th grade workbook. . An accelerated intermediate speller is one who scores mastery on all or most all of the vowel spelling patterns. The student is clearly working on the syllable-juncture and derivational constancy stages of spelling development.

Correction Example

1. ______11. ______

2. ______(See Note above) 12. ______

3. ______13. ______The Vowel Sound-Spelling Patterns Assessment (Teacher Copy)

Directions: Dictate the words in the Word-Sentence-Word format.

1. gate The gate swung open. gate 2. train A train chugged down the tracks. train 3. way The cat found its way home. way 4. street Down the street lived an old woman. street 5. reach The ball rolled out of reach. reach 6. scary The old house was very scary. scary 7. machine I used that machine many times. machine 8. kite She flew the kite in the wind. kite 9. bright A bright star shone in the sky. bright 10. fry He liked to fry the chicken in oil. fry 11. stove The stove was difficult to clean. stove 12. coats Their coats were bright red. coats 13. grown The young child had grown up. grown 14. cute How cute the puppies were! cute 15. chew She liked to chew sugarless gum. chew 16. school The school bell rang loudly. school 17. clue Another clue was left on my porch. clue 18. dune The sand dune reached down to the water. dune 19. stew She made a wonderful beef stew. stew 20. stood The girl stood next to the boys. stood 21. pushed He pushed her against the fence. pushed 22. spoil I told you not to spoil the child. spoil 23. toys The children loved to play with toys. toys 24. crawl The baby had just learned to crawl. crawl 25. sauce The tomato sauce was delicious. sauce 26. stall The horse was led to the empty stall. stall 27. brown A brown stucco house sat on the corner. brown 28. cloud The white cloud hung in the sky. cloud 29. jerk He tried to jerk the knot free. jerk 30. first The batter reached first base. first 31. hurt That man hurt his finger. hurt 32. stars The stars in the sky twinkled brightly. stars 33. fork She used the fork on her hamburger. fork 34. lately It seems like that always happens lately. lately 35. raining I hear it may be raining later today. raining 36. payment I received his payment last July. payment 37. weekend Last weekend she went to a party. weekend 38. teacher His teacher was kind and intelligent. teacher 39. possibly She could possibly attend the dance. possibly 40. submarine A submarine can be very long. submarine 41. provide She likes to provide ice for the sodas. provide 42. delight The new neighbor is such a delight. delight The Vowel Sound-Spelling Patterns Assessment (Teacher Copy)

43. supply A huge supply came in yesterday. supply 44. hopeful I am hopeful that this is near the end. hopeful 45. soaking When you are soaking in a tub, life is fine. soaking 46. below The rulers are kept below the shelf. below 47. useful Rules are very useful in games. useful 48. fewer There are fewer than three winners. fewer 49. poodle The black poodle loved to eat ice cream. poodle 50. truly I truly think that you should apologize. truly 51. ruling The court’s ruling was quite clear. ruling 52. brewing The coffee is always brewing at her house. brewing 53. looked He looked older than he really was. looked 54. butcher The local butcher was very skilled. butcher 55. poison The poison killed all of the ants. poison 56. destroy He had to destroy the work of art. destroy 57. awesome The view from the mountain was awesome. awesome 58. sausage The Italian sausage was very spicy. sausage 59. falling The paper plane was falling slowly. falling 60. crowded This school is very crowded. crowded 61. counting She began counting on her fingers. counting 62. winter This winter I want to visit the beach. winter 63. firmly The student held the handle firmly. firmly 64. curling She liked curling her hair with her fingers. curling 65. alarm The man set off the car alarm. alarm 66. boring The television show was very boring. boring Name ______

The Vowel Sound–Spelling Patterns Assessment

Directions: Print the spelling word dictated by your teacher. Check each word for careless errors.

1. ______21. ______

2. ______22. ______

3. ______23. ______

4. ______24. ______

5. ______25. ______

6. ______26. ______

7. ______27. ______

8. ______28. ______

9. ______29. ______

10. ______30. ______

11. ______31. ______

12. ______32. ______

13. ______33. ______

14. ______34. ______

15. ______35. ______

16. ______36. ______

17. ______37. ______

18. ______38. ______

19. ______39. ______

20. ______40. ______The Vowel Sound-Spelling Patterns Assessment

41. ______63. ______

42. ______64. ______

43. ______65. ______

44. ______66. ______

45. ______

46. ______

47. ______

48. ______

49. ______

50. ______

51. ______

52. ______

53. ______

54. ______

55. ______

56. ______

57. ______

58. ______

59. ______

60. ______

61. ______

62. ______Vowel Sound-Spellings Mastery Matrix Directions: Record any un-mastered vowel sound-spellings with a / in the appropriate column for each student. i t r r r y e a o d

a o o u o g a o g g g o g o n f c n n n f n

Teacher o o o o o n n n i i L L i

______s s s a a a

o o w o Class o o ______