Word Study
( Teaching how to Spell words )
How do you teach spelling words? Many teachers teach spelling by
giving students a list on Monday and a test on Friday with practice in
between. This type of drill and practice has earned traditional spelling
instruction a reputation for being boring. As soon as one
spelling list is tested, another list takes its place.
Now, there is an alternative to traditional spelling instruction
called "Word Study," which is not based on the random memorization of
words. A word study program is a cohesive approach that addresses word
recognition, vocabulary, and phonics as well as spelling.
Some consistent rules of spelling:
English spelling is challenging because its sounds are not very well represented by the letters used in writing it. Unlike many languages, English writing is not phonetic. Most English sounds have several very different spellings.
2-English words do not end in u or v. We add a silent e at the end of the word to keep the u or v from being the last letter. (true, twelve).
3-C followed by an e, i, or y says /s/. (cent, city, cycle) .
4-Take, for example, the difference between "hard c" (as in cat) and "soft c" (as in cell). After collecting many words containing the letter "c," students discover that "c" is usually hard when followed by consonants (as in clue and crayon) and the vowels "a," "o," and "u" (as in cat, cot, and cut).
5-In contrast, "c" is usually soft when followed by "i", "e," and "y" (as in circus, celery, and cycle).
6-"I" comes before "E" except after "C".
7-/ʃ/is the sound of the letters(sh) as in the words(show) and (share)
8-/tʃ/is the sound of the letters (ch) as in the words/check/and (chair).
9-The letter/Q/ is always followed by the letter/u/.
10-/ð/ is the sound of the letters(th) as in the words(The)or(This).
12-/θ/is the sound of the letters(Th)as in the words(Think)and(Both).
13-/dʒ/is the sound of the letters(Ge)or(J)as in (Just) and (large).
14-/ʒ/is the sound of the letter(S)or(si)as in(Pleasure)and(vision).
15-/ŋ/is the sound of the letters(ing)as in (sing)and (finger).
16-/u:/is the sound of the letters(ue)or(oo)as in(blue)and (food).
17-/i:/ is the sound of the letters(ee)or(ea)as in (feel)or(heat).
18-/ɜ:/ is the sound of the letters (ur) or (ear) as in the words of (turn) and (Learn).
20-/au/ is the sound of the letters(ow ) or (ou) as in the words( now and out).
21-/
ɔɪ/is the sound of the letters (oy) or (oi) as in the words(boy) and (join).22-/ei/ is the sound of the letters(ay) or (ei) as in the words (say) and (eight).
23-/eə/is the sound of theletters(ere)or(air)as in(where) and (air).
24-/oʊ/is the sound of the letter(o)as in the words of(go)and (Home).
25-The plural noun for the noun that ends in /f/ , /f/ becomes/v/ and add /es/.
Ex: /half, halves/and/ wife, wives/.
26-To help learners notice the effect of adding
an 'e' to the end of a word, you could give the learners some of the
words from the following list:
/Cap, cape/ hat. hate/
/Pin, pine/ kit, kite/ .
/
/pet, Pete/.
/Cut, cute/.Traditional approach to teach spelling:
- Rote memorization is not an effective way to learn and remember. How many kids forget their spelling words as soon as they finish the test?
- With traditional spelling instruction, kids are passive learners. Spelling is boring – for both the students and the teacher!
- Children move through the stages of spelling development at a different pace. Just a handful of kids’ needs are met when the entire class has the same word list!
Advanced strategy to teach spelling:
The advanced method to teach spelling is the Word study method.
What is word study?
Word study provides students with opportunities to investigate and understand the patterns in words. Knowledge of these patterns means that students needn't learn to spell one word at a time.
1-In the first or early treatment sessions, make sure the student has a secure understanding of sound-symbol correspondence and letter name knowledge.2-Dividing words into syllables can help students identify spelling patterns at the morphological level.
3-Do not teach too many spelling patterns within a lesson.
For example, you might decide to contrast –tion versus –sion in a lesson. This will require acute attention to the verbal production of “shun” (-tion) as in “production” versus “zhun” (-sion) as in “lesion.”
4-Make learning spelling fun with using cards, games, activities.
6-Learning spelling through using affixes, suffixed and prefixed.
7-Teach the long words spelling through showing the words roots or origins.
8-Teach words that don't conform to regular patterns.
9-Seeing the word in print also helps one use Spellcheck.
10-Teach spelling through homophones and silent letters.
11-Spelling Word Memory: Create a double set of word cards and play a game of Spelling Word Memory by spreading out the cards face down and then taking turns flipping two cards at a time to find a pair!
12-Flip 4 Steps: In just 4 steps, your child can practice reading, spelling, and writing his words. Have him flip over a word card, look at the word, say it out loud, say the letters, then flip it back over, and write the word on paper.
13-Trace, copy, recall: Fold three columns on a piece of paper, and label one column ‘trace’, the next ‘copy’ and the last ‘recall’. Write the word in the first column, and have your child trace the letters. Next have her copy the word by looking at what she’s just written. Have her fold (and hide) the first two columns and recall the spelling as she writes the word independently.
14-Spelling Word Race: Create two teams, with a player from each team taking the ‘pen’ at a time. Teacher calls out a word from the list, and players race to write the word.
15-Spelling Puzzle: Make a home-made puzzle by writing each word in large letters on an index card and then having the child cut each card apart. The fun is in putting the puzzle back together!
16-Stairsteps: Write words as if they are stairs, adding one letter at a time.
17-Window writing: All you need is special wind0w-safe crayons to use, and Window-Writing makes learning spelling words totally crazy and so much fun! Example: ( S -SP -SPE- SPEL- SPELL).
18-WORDO: Kind of like Bingo but with letters, words, or numbers! (Or just stick with — but doesn’t WORDO! sound more fun?)
19-Water Paint: Use water and a paintbrush to water paint the spelling words. On a hot, sunny day, words disappear quickly, so spellers move fast!
20-With a computer and fun electronics:
- Type it Out: Open up a Word document and have your child type the spelling words on the screen as you call them out. Enlarge the font, make it a cool color, and he’ll have a ball.
- Spell on Tape: Have your child spell the words into a tape recorder or using the voice recorder on your phone or computer.
- Video Record: Pull out the video camera or flip cam and take a video of your child spelling the words. Have him put on a funny hat, dress-up, or use a silly prop to add to the fun.
- Use puzzle maker: Have your child type in all of the week’s spelling words and then let her search for them using this cool resource from Discovery!
- Use "Let them sing it": Type in a spelling word on this site, and the word is sung back to your student.
21-With space to run, jump, and play:
- Chalkboard Race: Form two teams, with one player from each team holding a piece of chalk and standing at a designated spot about 10 feet from a chalkboard. Teacher calls out a word, and players run to the board and write the word correctly as quickly as possible. The winner finishes the word first and spells it correctly.
- Ball Toss: Players stand in a circle with a Nerf ball or something else safe to toss. Teacher calls out a word, tosses the ball to a student, and that student spells the word. If the word isn’t spelled correctly, the student tosses the ball to another person who will try to spell it if it is spelled correctly, the player tosses object to another student and teacher gives her a new word to spell.
- Swing and Spell: Teacher gives the student a word to spell, and the student says a letter of the word with each back and forth movement of the swing, much like you can do when teaching syllables.
22-With anything and everything else:
- Spelling Word Hunt: Look for those spelling list words in the newspaper or in another book, magazine, or text! Circle them or use a highlighter to highlight them.
- Scrabble, Boggle: Use these cool game pieces to ‘build’ spelling words on the on a cookie tray, on the table, or on the floor.
- Crazy Words: : Put something ‘crazy’ (like jell-o mix, shaving cream, sand, or rice) on a cookie sheet, and have your child use his finger to ‘write’ spelling words on the tray.
- Paint Bag Writing: Put poster paint in a gallon-sized ziplock bag and seal it tightly! Then have your child use her fingertip to write the letters of each word on the paint bag.
- Stamp it: Use alphabet letter stamps to ‘stamp’ the spelling words, first by looking at the words and then on your own!
- 23-With magnetic letters or letter cards:
- Word Scramble: Scramble up the letters of each word and have student put them in the correct order. (Don’t forget to point out patterns and families!)
- Word Train: Have your child create a ‘word train’ by using the last letter of the first word to begin the second word : cat / tap / pan.
- 24-No prep, no materials:
- Spell and Eat: While making breakfast, lunch, or dinner, have your child spell a word, and after each word is spelled correctly, reward her with a small, healthy “treat” from your meal prep.
- Examine the Word: Really look at the words, talk about the tough parts and analyze patterns. Make up silly ways of remembering the ‘tough’ parts: ‘president’ has an ‘I’ in the middle because one day I’ll be president.
25-You can use fun spelling games — cards to cut into a Spelling Fun Box for days when you’re stuck, bored, in a rut, or want to leave that day’s spelling excitement up to a little at-home lottery.
View other links:
- What is a poster?
- What are sentence building cards?
- What is a sentence building grid?
- What is a syllable wheel?
- What are word building cards?
- What is a word slide? Back
