| Working With Words Block Phonics/Spelling This block should last for 30 minutes. Our school uses Saxon Phonics which is a systematic phonics program. I have had to modify this block to allow for the teaching of the Saxon program. The working with words block some days will last up to 45 minutes in my classroom. Goals of Working With Words: Learn to read and spell high/frequency words. Learn patterns used to decode and spell lots of other words. Transfer word knowledge to their own reading and writing. Segment One: Word Wall - Click here for my wordwall schedule of activities Introduce 5 new words per week to add to the word wall. These will be high-frequency words. The word wall will grow as the year progresses. Practice the words by chanting them everyday. Also practice writing the words. Do a variety of review activities to provide enough practice so that the words are read and spelled instantly and automatically. The words on the word wall should be spelled correctly in any writing that the children do. On friday test the children on the 5 words. I have several word walls in my classroom. The high-frequency word wall is the one I use during the Working With Words block. Activities to use with the word wall: On-the-back word wall activities Endings: Have the children write 5 words that you choose from the word wall. They could be the five new words introduced that week, but they don't neccessarily need to be those 5 words. Say 5 sentences to the children using those words from the word wall, but add an ending to the words. ie: We were looking for some new clothes. After each sentence have the children identify the word wall word and the ending. Decide how to spell the word with the ending , and then write the word on-the-back of their papers. Use the same process with other endings such as ed, s, ly, er, and est. On-the-back Rhymes: Say 5 sentences which contains a word that rhymes with a word wall word. For each sentence the children decide which word rhymes with one of the word wall words written on the front and use the spelling pattern to spell it. The rhyming word is written on the back of the paper. Mind Reader on- the-back activity: The teacher thinks of a word on the wall and gives five clues about that word. 1. It's one of the words on the wall. 2. It has four letters. 3. It begins with ___. 4 The vowel is ___. 5. It begins the sentence. ____ will lunch be ready? As the teacher gives clues the students write the word they believe it is next to each number on their paper. Their words might change as each clue is given. The children love this game!! Segment 2: Decoding Making Words Making words is an active, hands-on, manipulative activity in which children learn how to look for patterns in words and how changing just one letter changes the whole word. The children are given six to eight letters which will form a final "mystery" word. The lesson begins with small words, builds to larger words, and finally ends with the "mystery" word. There are several making words books that you can purchase with pre-made making words lessons to use. I only do a making words lesson once a week with the children. Our Saxon Phonics program covers most of the phonics and decoding lessons I need to teach phonics. Guess the Covered Word - This activity can be used during the Working With Words block, but I use it during the Guided Reading Block. |
