Every other week, students are given 2 sets of word lists: one to keep at school to study, and one to bring home to study each night.
At
the beginning of the school year, students are given an assessment to
find the group that they will be assigned for word study. The groups
are based on student need. Students will be reassessed throughout the
year to see if they need to move groups.
Also at the beginning
of the year, students are given a high frequency word assessment. Words
that students miss will go on their "words to learn" list, and they
will become their high frequency words for bi-weekly spelling lists.
Bi-weekly
spelling lists will be comprised of spelling patterns to help the
student grow as a speller and reader. Students will be given 10 words
that follow their pattern for the week, along with their 5 high
frequency words. Students will be tested on these 15 words, plus 5
surprise "new pattern words" that follow the assigned pattern, for a
total of 20 words per week.
During the week, students will do
activities that allow them to become familiar with their weekly
spelling pattern. A "typical" week will look like this:
Day 1: Sort 3 Times.
Students cut out their word cards, and sort them 3 times, having them checked after the first sort to look for accuracy.
Day 3: Draw and Label
Students choose 8 of their word cards to draw an illustration of, and then label the illustration.
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Day 2: Written Word Sort
Students
sort their word cards again, and then put them into their Word Study
folder in columns that are labeled with the spelling pattern.
Day 4: Word Hunt
Students hunt for words in their "just right" books that follow their spelling pattern for the week.
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Day 5: Test
Students are tested on their words.