A Week of Word Sorting

Word Study Lesson Goals: SWBAT Notice sounds and patterns Compare and contrast words in order to discover essential features Discuss what is heard and observed Reproduce the pattern Reflect and generalize on what is learned Extend the patterns and apply critical thinking skills to other words Apply the pattern in the student’s writing

Word Study Lessons: Sounds like: Looks like: Friendly tones Everyone doing their own personal best 2 to 4 inch voices Students engaged Partners at work the whole time Group directions on board or group chart Teacher asking questions/leading Working the entire word study time Students reflecting and thinking out loud Small groups doing different activities Students talking about words Partners working together Word Study Notebooks in use Charts of sorts and generalizations

Lesson Planning Structure: 15-30 min. per day (30 min. when first training routines) Progression of the small-group lesson: Levels of Bloom’s Thinking Taxonomy to Demonstrate include in each plan: Sort Recognize Check Recall Reflect Judge Extend Apply

Sorting Lesson Language: What do we notice about how these words sound, spell, mean, etc? Let’s talk about some of these words. Let’s compare the key words like this. Where does this word go? Tell me about this column. Tell me about your oddball column. Let’s check these columns with the key words. Tell me about your thinking. What could we say about what we notice about these words? What generalizations can we write in our Word Study Notebook today? Share out one of your group’s words. What do you notice about the process? What do we remember about the sort? What do we know about the columns? Let’s talk about the patterns we see in each column and write it down. Sorting Procedures for Small Group Introduction Lesson on Day 1: 1) Students should be able to read aloud the words on the cards. In small group model words on the table and ask the group to read with you. Then ask them to practice individually in whisper voices. This may mean a less than quiet classroom, but students must practice reading aloud to read fluently. 2) Ask students what they notice about the similarities and differences so they can discover the spelling patterns. Provide headings for the columns before you model and the students begin sorting. Later, you can introduce “Guess My Category” sorts. 3) *Each time a student sorts a word into a column, he should read aloud the word on the card, say the sound or pattern, then read the word, sound, and pattern in the heading followed by all other words in that column to check. The student should also touch each word as s/he reads it. 4) If a student makes a mistake, wait until the end of the sort to suggest s/he re-read words in the column to see if he can see his mistake. If not, point it out to him. 5) Check the students’ sorts. 6) Have the students reflect on what they learned and check for understanding. 5) Students go back to their seats and apply their learning as they do Monday’s individual word work or you can extend the concept lesson by following the sort with a targeted pattern poem and Word Pattern Hunt or with a game like Concentration/Memory or Bingo. 6) If you meet with a group another time during the week, follow a similar lesson having the kids sort and reflect, but add an extension activity that you monitor for understanding. 7) Teacher or partner can do a spell check by giving all the words or selecting 8-10 words and call them out as a practice spelling test. Teacher or partner shows the word after the student spells or writes them. Ask students to compare words on the cards to the words they wrote for immediate feedback.

Assessing Student Work: Activity Type Daily spell checks Immediate student feedback Writing word sorts Monitor class work and homework Word Study Notebook Class work completed Observation/anecdotal records Informal teacher assessment Weekly spelling tests Gradebook entry Possible Weekly Schedule: Monday: (20–30 minutes) Student Teacher Make an identifying mark through the back Run wordlists for groups of the wordlist page in both columns Read wordlist aloud by yourself or with Duplicate wordlist and form to go home to partner and discuss patterns (2 minutes) do a written and blind sort with parents At own desk, cut out word cards and Have wordlist on each student’s desk recycle scrapes (2 minutes) before school starts Lay and say words on desk (2-minutes) Teach efficient 2-minute cutting routine Read and sort word cards by sound or spelling pattern under headings and key words (5 minutes) * Quickly meet with all 3 groups to discover, 1) Place the category heading at the top teach, and model weekly pattern sort: 2) Read all of the word cards—if you don’t Demonstrate know a word, skip it. Sort 3) Then read aloud each word a second Check time and place it under the appropriate Reflect category. Put oddballs to the side. 4) Make an observation about the spelling 1st – Low Group – 10 minutes patterns you sorted and write it down in 2nd – Average Group – 5-10 minutes your Word Study Notebook 3rd – High Group – 5-10 minutes 5) Read words again and spell them aloud If time permits: Write an agenda on board or chart Repeated Speed Sort Must Do/May Chart for independent word Open category sort study time Concentration/Memory WTW Activity/Game Centers** Homework-Pattern and Written Sort Send home wordlist and homework form

Tuesday: (20 minutes) – Can be part of independent word work during Reading Workshop or Guided Reading time or at a separate spelling time Student Teacher Sort by spelling pattern on desk following Teach small guided reading or word study routine groups Do a written sort in Word Study Notebook Confer with small groups or individuals Read words again and spell aloud Cruise the room between group rotations Speed sort 3 times Must Do/May Do chart for Independent Concentration/Memory Word Study Word Study Activity/Game Centers** Homework –Written Blind Sort w/ parents Remind students of homework due Wed. Wednesday: (20 minutes) - Can be part of independent word work during Reading Workshop or Guided Reading time or at a separate spelling time Student Teacher Partner No-Peeking / Buddy Blind Written Teach small guided reading or word study Sort groups (See variations) Word Hunt Confer with small groups or individuals Eye Spy Cruise the room between group rotations Word Study Activity/Game Centers** Check-in with low WTW group for understanding and progress Homework-Blind Written sort w/ parents Must Do/May Do chart

Thursday: (20 minutes) - Can be part of independent word work during Reading Workshop or Guided Reading time or at a separate spelling time Student Teacher Sort by spelling pattern and glue in Word Teach small guided reading or word study Study Notebook (K-3) groups No-Peeking Follow the Path Confer with small groups or individuals Spelling Board Game (oral or written) Word Hunt Cruise the room between group rotations Eye Spy Check-in with low WTW group for understanding and progress Word Study Activity/Game Centers** Must Do/May Do chart for Word Work Homework- Blind Written Sort w/parents Remind about test on Friday

Friday: (20-30 minutes) Student Teacher Do own personal best on assessment. Give spelling assessment (optional) Write the pattern headings at the top of test Example: Give 10 words from weekly page. wordlist, a few new words with targeted Write the test words under the correct pattern, a few review words, and a few headings. high-frequency words) Proofread as you go. Partner No-Peeking / Buddy Blind Written Monitor partner assessments and collect if Sort test to hand in to teacher desired.

Play fairly and be a good sport. Monitor class game and activities: Congratulate the winners. Sparkle Celebrate spelling! Spelling Bee Making and Writing Words Word Ladders Word Study Activity/Games Centers** Correct tests while students do activities Complete Must Do items from the chart Grade with 1 point for correct targeted pattern spelling and 1 point for correct spelling of whole word Types of Sorts Open Sort: Student-centered open sorts are those where students create their own categories as they notice various features (e.g., consonants, vowels, beginning or endings, and meaning.) After a student does his regular pattern sort, he may wish to sort again in a different way that he chooses. For open sorts, one partner sorts the words, and the other partner guesses the basis for the categories.

Guess My Category: In this sort you do not label or assign the category or pattern headings in advance. The students have to observe, decide, and group the words or pictures according to how they are alike.

Closed Sort: Closed categories are those that are teacher-directed or assigned. The teacher defines the categories and models the sorting procedure.

Sound Sort: Students sort pictures and words by initial sounds, consonant blends or digraphs, rhyming families, or vowel sounds.

Pattern Sort: Students sort by visual spelling patterns formed by groups of letters or letter sequences. Word sorts using printed word cards are the mainstay of Words Their Way pattern sorts. Targeted spelling pattern headings and key words are used to label category columns and students sort words by matching the pattern in each word to the pattern in the key word at the top of the column. Repeat these sorts many times to build accuracy and automaticity.

Speed Sort: In a speed sort, students are asked to work quickly to build processing skills. Students can use stopwatches to time themselves as they do repeated pattern sorts or partners can time each other. Repeat at least three times. Students should only compare their speed with their own earlier speeds and work toward individual improvement. Beat-the-Teacher Speed Sort: The teacher sorts the word cards as the students time and then the students try to beat the teacher’s time.

Writing Sort 1: After pattern sorting the word cards on the desk, a student writes the targeted pattern headings and key words on a page in his or her Word Study Notebook and records the sort into columns under the correct headings. Writing words into categories is more than just copying the word. It demands that students attend to the sound and/or pattern of letters and to think how those characteristics correspond with the assigned categories and key words in the columns.

Writing Sort 2: (alternative version) Working with a partner, each student writes the headings on a page in their Word Study Notebook. They take turns picking word cards from a draw pile and calling the words out like a spelling test. They both write the words in their Word Study Notebook under the correct heading. Words must not only be spelled correctly, but must also be in the correct category. They check each other’s work after each word is called and choose another word card. Continue until all words have been recorded. Visual Sort: Sometimes one partner reads the word and shows the word to the other, who indicates where to place it in the column.

Blind Sort or No-Peeking Sort (Buddy Blind Sort or Partner No-Peeking Sort): Use just one partner’s word cards for this activity so they don’t get mixed up. Partner 1 is the tester and partner 2 is the test taker.

Blind Sort 1: Partner 1 puts the pattern headings and key words in columns on the desk. S/he shuffles the remainder of the word cards and places a draw pile in his or her hand. S/he picks a card and says it to Partner 2. Partner 2 points to the pattern heading where s/he think it belongs. Partner 1 shows the card to check and places it under the correct heading. Player 1 continues to call out all the words as Partner 2 points to the correct heading until all are words are sorted. If time is short, have partners do Blind Sorts by alternating who is the tester every five words. Or, partners can place the draw pile on the desk and partners can alternate drawing cards and calling them out to the opposite partner who points t the correct heading.

Blind Sort 2: (alternative version) Same as above except, partners have to point to the correct heading and also spell the word out loud before seeing the card.

Blind Written Sort: Same as above except partners write the column pattern headings in their Word Study Notebooks and have to write the word under the correct heading before seeing the word card to check.

Meaning Sort/Concept sort: Concept sorts involve grouping words or pictures in categories related to their meaning (e.g., clothing, food, animals that swim and walk, parts of speech.) They are a good way to link vocabulary instruction to students’ conceptual understanding and to build background knowledge in content areas. They are particularly helpful for ELL students.

Spelling-Meaning Sort: Meaning influences how a word might be spelled. Teaching homographs and homophones through sorting activities helps students build their vocabulary and learn spelling patterns at the same time. By sorting homographs into grammatical categories by parts of speech, students also pay attention to syllable stress. Students learn that words that are derivationally related have similar spellings and will sort words with similar Greek and Latin roots and stems.

**Routine Activities and Games for Word Study Activity/Game Centers:

Word Hunts (K-5, Picture Hunts in K) Students or partners look through familiar reading materials and word banks for words that match the targeted word study pattern and record them in their Word Study Notebooks. These additional words can be added to the spelling list. For younger students use previously read material so they can skim through the words quickly and easily. Students can work with the teacher or read the room for examples. Older students can find words in their current reading materials. Word Hunt words can be sorted, too. Eye Spy: Partners take turns giving pattern and/or meaning clues for other partner to guess a word from the weekly wordlist, collected word bank or word on a page or in the classroom.

Making and Writing Words: Students pick a word and see how many other words they can build and spell using the letters in the original word.

Changing Words: Students choose nouns from the spelling list and make them plural by adding –s, -es, -ies, -eys. Choose verbs and spell the root word in the past tense and spell the participle. For example, walk, walked, walking, hop, hopped, hopping, hope, hoped, hoping, etc.

Concentration/Memory (K-5) 1) Play with a partner or by yourself. Youngest player goes first. 2) Use one person’s word cards for the week. 3) Place the key words under each of the headings. Set aside the oddballs. 4) Shuffle the rest of the word cards. 5) Lay the word cards face down in a pattern of rows and columns. 6) Player 1 turns over 2 cards and places them back in their spots so the other player can see them. 7) Player 1 then reads and spells both word cards and checks to see if they have matching spelling patterns. If they do, Player 1 keeps both cards. If the cards have different spelling patterns, Player 1 turns them back over in the exact place. and his or her turn ends. 8) Then Player 2 takes a turn flipping, reading, spelling, and trying to match two more cards. The player with the most matching pairs wins. If time, shuffle the cards and start over. No-Peeking Follow the Path Spelling Board Game (K-5) 1) Use any blank game board, two pennies or game tokens, one person’s set of weekly word cards, and one die. (If coins are used as tokens, Player 1 uses the heads side of the coin and Player 2 uses the tails side.) You can add directions on some blanks of the game board that read Go Back 3 Spaces, Lose a Turn, and Go ahead 2 Spaces 2) Highest roll goes first. 3) Shuffle word cards and place them face down in a draw pile. 4) Player 1 picks a card from the top of the draw pile and calls out the word without showing it and Player 2 has to spell it out loud correctly before he or she can roll the die to move. If spelled correctly, Player 2 throws one die and moves that many spaces on the game board. If the word is spelled incorrectly, Player 1 shows the word to Player 2, who then has to read and spell the word again correctly. Player 2 does not get to roll the die or move and the turn is over. 5) Player 2 then draws a card and calls out a word for Player 1 to spell and play continues as above. 6) First player to get to the end wins. *An alternative version of the game is for one player to draw a card and call out the word for the other player to write on a whiteboard or in the Word Study Notebook before checking and rolling the die to move.

Spelling Sparkle: The object of this game is to be the last person standing, without being sparkled. It depends on good spelling and luck, so the best spellers aren’t always the winners. This game is played in groups of four to six students. Even as many as 20 students can play, standing in a circle. The person with the next birthday goes first. Place the spelling cards in the center of the desk face down. The student picks up a card, reads the spelling word, and spells the first letter of the word. Play moves to the right. The second student spells the second letter, the third student spells the third letter, and so on, until the word is spelled. The next student must say, “Sparkle,” and sit down. For example, if four students are playing and the word is cat, play would look like this:  Student 1: Cat. C  Student 2: A  Student 3: T  Student 4: Sparkle. The sparkled student is out of the game. Whoever is sparkled gets to pick the next card from the spelling word pile and read it to the group. Play continues until only one person is left that hasn’t been sparkled. Note: if a student spells the wrong letter, he or she is out, and the next person should say the correct letter. Then play continues as before.

Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe Squares: This partner game requires the ability to spell as well as talent at Tic-Tac-Toe. Have one student draw a Tic-Tac-Toe board on a whiteboard or piece of paper. Lay the spelling cards in a draw pile in the center of the desk. Decide who goes first by quietly playing rock, scissors, paper. Player 1 uses Xs and Player 2 puts Os on the Tic-Tac-Toe board when they spell a word correctly. The person who goes first draws a card from the deck and reads the word to his or her opponent. The opponent must spell the word correctly. If he does, he puts an X in a space on the Tic-Tac-Toe spelling game board. If not, he loses the opportunity to make a mark on the board. There is no penalty for misspelling a word other than not getting to make a mark on the Tic-Tac-Toe board. The other person should say, “Good try! The correct spelling is…” and spell the word out loud to the other player. Play continues in this manner until someone gets three in a row. Spelling Word Scramble: The object of this word scramble game is to be the first to unscramble a spelling word. The game can be played in groups of three to six students. The person with the longest pencil gets to be the first scrambler. The scrambler takes a spelling word card from the pile in the center of the desk, or chooses one from a spelling list and scrambles the letters of the word. The scrambler should write the mixed up letters on a whiteboard or paper. When everyone is ready, the scrambler shows the scrambled letters by holding up the whiteboard or paper. The scrambler should continue to show the mixed up letters until someone unscrambles the spelling word. No hints are allowed. The first person to unscramble the spelling word correctly gets to be the next scrambler. Play continues as long as everyone wants.

Word-O: Students conduct a word operation (Word-O) on 5 to 10 words on the weekly spelling wordlist. Add, subtract, or substitute consonants to make a new word. For example, start with the word space and subtract the s to get pace.

Word Ladders: Similar to Word-O but students write clues to change each consecutive word to fill in the blank rungs on the Word Ladder.

Making Words with Magnetic Letters, Letter Cards, or Letter Stamps: Students can make words that: Start or end the same Feature silent letters Are contractions Are compound words Contain prefixes and suffixes Are homonyms (homophones, homographs) Have the same root (Greek or Latin) Contain the same number of syllables

Vocabulary, Word Structure, Meaning, and Relationship Activities:

Word Web: Make a word web, placing a word in the center, and branch out to synonyms, short definitions, pictures, or sentences from texts where students have found the word.

Is/Is Not: Make two columns and label them Is and Is Not. Select a word, and then write synonyms in the first column and antonyms in the second column.

Concept Chart: Make a chart with two columns and choose a word that represents a concept. Have students write what they know about a word or what they predict it might mean in the first column. Then have the students read material that provides more contextual information. Have them add what they learned in the second column.

Take Apart: Have students separate words with affixes or compound words into smaller, meaningful parts, write the meaning of the parts, and then write the meaning of the whole word. Wordstorming: Choose a concept from a reading, science, or social studies lesson and have students brainstorm as many words as they can think of that relate to the concept. Create a web with the concept in the middle branching out to all the suggested vocabulary words. Have students record the web in their Word Study Notebooks or Vocabulary Journals. Then they web off of each of the brainstormed words with information they know or learn about each wordstormed word.

Word Tree: A Word Tree is a great activity to grow words from base words and roots. Decide on a base word or word root. Write it at the bottom of the tree, and think of as many derived words as possible. Write all the derived words on individual branches. Root Web: Choose a set of common roots, such as phot-, geo-, aqua-, astro-, etc.) Brainstorm related words with the same root and web them out from the center root. Record web in Word Study Notebook. Students should use dictionaries to locate roots, verify their meaning, find their origin, and search for related words. Eliminate words that do not fit the meaning of root. Lead students to examine parts and meaning.

Brainburst: Students brainstorm as many words as they can that are derived from the same root. Make game cards with roots written on them such as graph, phon, scope, aud, dict, port, tract,strict ,spec, etc. for the draw pile. Each team needs a pencil, a piece of paper, a timer, and a dictionary. A card is turned over and the timer is set for 2-3 minutes. Each player or team tries to think of as many words as possible derived from that root. When timer goes off, players draw a line under the last word they wrote and count th number they have. The player with the longest list reads the list aloud. If another player has the same word, it is crossed off of everyone’s list. Any words that are not on another player’s list are checked. Each player in turn reads aloud any words that no one else has called to determine if he or she has a unique word. Only unique words earn points. Disputes should be settled with the help of a dictionary. The player or team with the most unique words is the sinner of the round. Play continues by turning over the next root card from the draw pile. This game can also be played with prefixes (ex-, sub-, pre-, post-, etc.) and suffixes (-ible,_-able,-ant, -ent, etc.)

Other games and activities can be found in the game folder from specific lesson patterns in Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction and other resources. There are also many websites with interactive spelling games available on the Internet for use in a classroom computer center or at home such as: Make Words Flip It Greek and Latin Jeopardy Take It Assimile Shopping etc. Treasure Chest Feed the Alligator Prefix Spin Syllasearch