What iS Words Their Way?

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What iS Words Their Way?

• Presented by
• Nicole Polacco
• Andrew Vail

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WTW in WOODSTOCK

• In 2012, with the help of our staff developer
  from Columbia, all of the primary teachers
  starting using Words Their Way (WTW).
• Prior to that time, we used a variety of
  programs.
• This years work
• Consistent resources for each teacher and
• professional development for all teachers
• Continue our study of best practices
• Set routines
• Develop differentiation schedules
• Make materials for student use
• Address concerns that pop up

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What is Words Their Way?

• WTW is word play designed to help kids think
  about words in multiple ways. Rather than simply
  studying one specific word, we study kinds of
  words. We play with words and word-parts to
  understand how they work.

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Kindergarten SeCOND

• take
• him
• jug
• pile
• give

In the kindergarten example above, students might
sort pictures based on the first sound. Second
graders might sort long and short vowel words.
The word give is an oddball because it requires
more thinking and talking. The i makes a short
sound, but it follows a long vowel spelling
pattern.
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HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT MY CHILD SHOULD BE WORKING
ON?

• Let us show you!
• 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

At our presentation, we gave a small spelling
inventory and asked parents to include some
errors which we looked at using the next slide as
a guide.
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initial sound final sound short vowel digraphs blend long other vowels endings
mad m d a          
hen h n e          
stem   m  e   st      
chime       ch   i-e    
bright         br igh    
catches c   a ch       es
/3 /3 /4 /2 /2 /2 /0 /1
We use a chart like this to look for patterns in
student spelling. This gives us insight into how
each child thinks about words.
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TOOLS that help us place LEARNERS

• Spelling inventory
• Student writing from writing workshop
• Periodic spot-checks (in some cases, a spelling
  test)

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The Basics

• Kindergarten beginning sounds, rhyming,
  syllables, word families
• First short vowel words, blends, diagraphs,
  vowels with r
• Second compound words, VCe words, vowel pairs,
  other vowel pairs
• Third unusual past tense, more vowel pairs,
  endings, syllables

NP
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• In the fall, we made spreadsheets for the
  classroom teachers.
• Initial assessments help them build groups of
  learners with similar abilities.

Consonants Consonants Short     Long Other Feature Total
Initial Final Vowels Diagraphs Blends Vowels Vowels Points Rank Order
7 7 7 7 7 7 7    
7 7 4 6 6 0 1 31 37
7 6 6 0 5 0 0 24 29
7 6 6 4 7 1 1 32 39
7 7 7 5 7 0 0 33 39
7 7 7 2 6 2 1 32 41
7 7 7 5 7 2 2 37 46
7 7 6 5 6 4 2 37 47
7 7 6 7 5 4 0 36 45
7 7 7 6 6 0 2 35 44
7 7 5 7 7 3 0 36 44
7 7 6 6 6 2 1 35 45
7 7 7 6 6 2 2 37 48
7 7 7 7 7 0 3 38 49
7 7 7 7 7 2 2 39 49
7 7 6 7 7 5 2 41 52
7 7 7 7 7 5 3 43 57
7 7 7 6 7 7 4 45 61
7 7 7 7 6 7 5 46 66
7 7 7 7 7 7 6 48 69
              Unaccented      
  Short   Long Other Inflected Syllable Final Harder Bases or Total
Consonants Vowels Diagraphs Blends Vowels Vowels Endings Junctures Syllables Suffixes Roots Rank Order
7 5 6 7 5 7 5 5 5 5 5 62
5 4 6 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 21
6 3 4 7 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 22
7 3 5 7 2 6 1 1 1 0 1 34
6 5 4 6 4 4 1 1 1 0 0 32
7 5 5 6 2 4 1 1 0 0 0 31
7 5 5 7 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 32
7 5 6 7 4 5 4 2 1 0 0 41
7 5 6 7 5 5 4 3 2 0 1 45
7 5 5 6 4 7 1 3 1 0 0 39
7 5 6 7 5 7 3 4 3 1 0 48
7 5 6 7 5 7 3 5 4 2 2 53
7 5 6 7 4 7 4 5 2 1 2 50
7 5 6 7 5 6 4 5 3 0 0 48
7 5 6 7 5 7 4 5 3 0 1 50
7 5 6 7 5 7 4 4 3 2 2 52
7 5 6 7 5 7 5 5 3 1 2 53
7 5 6 7 5 7 4 4 5 4 3 57
In some classes, it is very easy to build
differentiated groups. At other times, its a
challenge.
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WHAT KIND OF WORK HAPPENS IN SCHOOL?
k 1 2 3
routine Two 10-day cycles per month 5 day cycle 5 day cycle 6 day cycle
groups 3 3 2 3
word wall plan 5 words in a 10-day cycle 4 words weekly 4 per week individual and class word walls word wall 7 per 2 weeks
test assessment informal test Friday on sorts and word wall words -testing for patterns weekly spelling tests on ten of the words and 4 sight words, two bonus words from prior word wall words testing on day 6, test on 10 sort words word wall assessed informally
homework lists go home but no homework homework packet from sorts homework tic-tac-toe word wall words
NP
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Common WTW Language

• Affix- A suffix or prefix attached to a base
  work, stem, or root to alter meaning.
• Alphabetic- A writing system containing
  characters or symbols representing individual
  speech sounds.
• Base word- A Word to which prefixes and/or
  suffixes are added. For example, the base word of
  unwholesome is whole.
• Blind sort- A picture or word sort done with a
  partner in which students who are responsible for
  sorting cannot see the word. They must instead
  attend to the sounds and sometimes visualize the
  spelling pattern to determine the category.
• Choral reading- Oral reading done in unison with
  another person or persons.
• Oddballs- Words that do not fit the targeted
  feature in a sort.
• Pattern sort- A word sort in which students
  categorize words according to similar spelling
  patterns.

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Common WTW Language (Continued)

• Picture Sort- A categorization task in which
  pictures are sorted into categories of similarity
  and difference. Pictures may be sorted by sound
  or by meaning. Pictures cannot be sorted by
  pattern.
• Sight Words- Words recognized and pronounced
  immediately at first sight. A sight word is
  simply any known word, regardless of its
  frequency or phonetic regularity.
• Sound Sort- Sorts that ask students to categorize
  pictures or words by sound as opposed to visual
  patterns.
• Word Families- Phonograms or words that share the
  same rime. (ex fast, past, last, blast, all
  share the ast rime.)
• Word Sort- A basic word study routine in which
  students group words into categories. Word
  sorting involves comparing and contrasting within
  and across categories.

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Some ADDITIONAL TERMS

• Closed syllable- A closed syllable ends with or
  is closed by a consonant sound. Example net,
  lip, run, pot, fan
• Open syllable- An open syllable ends with a
  long-vowel sound. Example me, go, by
• Digraph- two letters that represent one sound.
  For example, sh, ch, th, and wh.
• Long Vowels- Every vowel (a, e, i, o, u) has two
  sounds, commonly referred to as long and
  short. The long-vowel sound says its letter
  name. Long-vowel sounds can be heard at the
  beginning of these words ape, emu, island, open
  and unicorn.
• Short Vowels- The vocal cords are more relaxed
  when producing the short-vowel sound, as opposed
  to the long-vowel sound. The five short vowels
  can be heard at the beginning of these words
  apple, egg, igloo, octopus and umbrella.

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Common WTW activities

• Read, Make, Write- Students read the spelling
  word from column one. In column two, students
  make the word using letter tiles or other
  manipulatives provided by the teacher. In the
  third column, the student writes the word.
• Make it, Break It- Students work with a partner
  to make spelling words using letter tiles. The
  first student will make the word and break it
  apart three times. Then write the word.
• If I know, Then I know Students start with a
  known words and make new words using the known
  pattern. If I know the word hopping, then I can
  make the word stopping.
• Speed Sorts Sort your words and time yourself
  (use a stopwatch or the second hand on a clock.)
  Resort and time again to see if you can beat your
  best time. Write the sort, date and your times in
  your WTW Notebook.
• Word-O Take a word from your sorting list and
  make a new word by changing one letter. Ex. tub
  ? cub take ? cake why ? who
  spit ? spot
• Blind Sort (see Common WTW Language above)