Wild About Words

We spend so much time focusing on "Word Work" in our room.  Although spelling and orthographic development varies from student to student, isn't it nice that all those researchers have mapped out developmental milestones for us to use as guidelines?  Our school uses a lot of resources from Words Their Way, and it really helps us monitor students as they progress through the spelling continuum.  A couple years ago many of us thought, If WE are using this stuff to monitor kids, why don't we teach them how to monitor their OWN progress?  The results were better than we expected.  First, we noticed that many kids were making much smarter "Word Work" choices during Daily Five.  Also, kids were applying their new found knowledge across all content areas.  That is, we weren't just seeing them get better at word work worksheets; we were seeing evidence of new learning during their daily writing, in their math journals, and in their science and social studies writing (Oh, look at the quote at the end of this post!  It totally brings this point home).  It's easier than you think!

First, I set the stage for understanding spelling development.  You've really got to spend time building comfort here.  Chances are, your class is made up of several different types of "thinkers", and you need to make a big deal out of how great and special this is!  I remind them that we are all different.  Just like we all didn't walk, get potty trained (they love this example), ride a bike without training wheels, and lose our first teeth on the same day, we won't all spell the exact same way on the exact same day.  It's not about where you need to be at the end of the road, or even getting to the end first; it's about knowing what part of the road you are on right now, and knowing what to do to get just a tiny bit farther.  It takes me a while to convince a few skeptics in my room, but eventually I have a classroom full of students who feel the sense of relief that comes with understanding their teacher doesn't expect them to move mountains.  Tiny jumps is more like it!

Next, I test the kids using the Words Their Way spelling inventory, but a similar benchmarking system will do just fine.  Most of my first grade students range from the Emergent and Letter Name stage (beginning and ending sounds) to the Within Word Pattern stage (basic understanding of long vowel patterns).  This, along with what the Common Core expects out of first graders, determines the "path" we want first graders to travel throughout the year.  After a quick conference with each student to provide them feedback on their assessment, and to give them one last pep talk, I'm on my way to handing the responsibility over to them!

If you want to try this, the next thing you need to do is decide on a way to give them a visual of their path.  One of my colleagues created a long paper tree branch that stretched across several cupboards in her room.  She divided the branch up into the spelling stages mentioned above.  She simply wrote all of her students' names on cute little owl cutouts, and the kids moved along the branch as they progressed through the continuum.  Some used rocket ships blasting off to different planets.  Others used hot air balloons traveling through clouds.  I used monkeys climbing up a tree.  One thing we ALL had in common, however, was that we had kids who knew where they stood and were comfortable with it, knew what was ahead for them, and knew how to make plans to get to the next stage (smarter Daily Five choices, working with friends with similar goals, etc.).  Above all else, we had kids who knew why spelling development was important, so they worked so hard to improve bit by bit!

This year I wanted to create a display where the students moved horizontally.  I loved their monkey climbin' last year, but moving "up" can sometimes be mistaken for "that person is smarter than me", and that is a feeling I want to avoid at all cost!  I decided on a display that would be more conducive to horizontal movement.

Here's what I came up with...

 First, I bought some of these for 97 cents at WalMart.  They aren't the highest quality item I've ever played with, but they'll do for 97 cents!

Next, I bought some of this in bright green from Dollar Tree.

For around $3 and ZERO hot glue burns (I always burn myself with that darn stuff), I made this display on a few cupboards.

All that's left to do is to name the lily pads.  I just ran out of time!.  Before the first day of school (gulp, next week), mine will be labeled "Letter Sounds and Short Vowels", "Blends and Digraphs", and "Long Vowels".  The students' frogs will hop along this year as they move through the spelling continuum.  Thanks to the large Diet Coke I splurged on before I got to school that day, I came up with a last minute idea that I'm super excited about.  Do you remember my color-coded Word Work area mentioned in this post?  I decided to put a flower on each lily pad that matches the corresponding Word Work activity basket.   For example, the blue baskets contain long vowel activities, and the lily pad with the blue flower represents the "Long Vowels" stage... blue basket+blue flower=kids who know how to pick a smart Word Work choice

Winning!

There's a little bit more to this, but it will be easier when I have actual kids in class!  More to come...

“Never confuse movement with action.” 

― Ernest Hemingway