A Look at Word Study: Part 1 (New Words)

Have you ever wondered how word study is being taught in our classroom?  Well here is your inside sneak peek.

First off, the basics.  Word study words change every two weeks.  On the Monday of the first week each student meets in a specialized word study group.  Students are grouped by ability and what they currently need help with.  At this point their categories are taught.  We look at the categories and discuss patterns.  For instance, if the group's categories are long and short vowels we would discuss that commonly, words with a long vowel sound have an "e" at the end and words with a short vowel sound do not. We also highlight the patterns as they're seen in words (simply the vowel sound in short vowel words and the vowel sound + e in long vowel words) and answer any and all questions.

After this group meeting students work independently on a variety of different task throughout the next two weeks.  These activities are meant to strengthen their understanding of their categories and the word patterns.  These are the things you see done on the weekly Daily 5 menus.  One such task is writing their categories as well as three words from each in their planner.  We do this so that you at home know what patterns we're working on.  Be sure to take a look at this when you get a chance.