Organizing for Word Study: Principles and Practices
Chapter 3 Notes
Darianne Dolewski, Sara Critz and Molly McAlvanah
-The simple process of sorting words into categories is the heart of word study.
-Word sorts help students organize what they know about words and to form generalizations that they can then apply to new words they encounter in their reading.
-Emergent and beginning readers learn to pay attention to sounds at the beginning of words by sorting pictures.
-Transitional readers benefit from sorting written words by vowel patterns.
-In later grades, students enhance their spelling by sorting words by prefixes and suffixes.
-Word sorting offers the best of both constructivist learning and teacher-directed instruction.
-Rather than just memorizing 20 words each week for a spelling test, word sorts allow students the opportunity to construct their own word knowledge that they can apply to reading and writing.
-Word sorts are interesting and fun for students because they are hands-on and manipulative. “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”
-Sorting requires students to pay attention to words and to make logical decisions about their sound, pattern, and/or meaning as they place each one in a column.
-Because learning to spell involves making associations between the spelling of words and their pronunciations, it is important that children know and can already pronounce most of the words to be sorted.
-During sorting, students determine similarities and differences among targeted features as they utilize higher level critical thinking skills to make categorical judgments.
-One central goal of word study is to teach students how to spell and decode new words and to improve their word recognition speed in general.
-Picture sorts and word sorts are designed to help students learn how and where to look at words.
-There are three basic types of sorts that reflect the three layers of English orthography: sound, pattern, and meaning.
-Sound is the first layer of English orthography that students must negotiate to make sense of the alphabetic nature of English spelling.
Sound Sorts:
Picture sorts: Suited for students in the emergent, letter-name alphabetic, and early within word pattern stages of spelling development. They can be used to develop phonological awareness (the ability to identify and categorize various speech sounds such as rhyme and alliteration) as well as to teach phonics (the consistent relationship between letters and sounds.) They are first introduced to students who are learning initial consonants.
Blind sorts: A key word or picture for each sound is established; the teacher or a partner shuffles the word cards, and then calls the words aloud without showing them. The student indicates the correct category by pointing to or naming the key word that has the same sound. This sort is important for students who should attend less to the visual patterns and more to the sounds. It is also a good way to increase the time students practice as well as encourage cooperative learning. Blind writing sort (where the students must write each word under the correct key word before seeing the word) can help identify what words need more attention and can serve as a pretest for the final assessment.
Pattern sorts:
-Letter name- alphabetic spells sort their words into groups that share the same word families or rime. Students in the within word pattern stage sort their words into groups by vowel patterns.
-Syllables and affixes spellers sort words into groups by the pattern of consonants and vowels at the syllable juncture. Word sorts using printed word cards are the foundation of pattern sorts and are useful for all students who have a functional sight word vocabulary.
Meaning sorts:
Concept sorts: They are appropriate for all ages and stages of word knowledge and should be used regularly in the content areas. They can be used for assessing and building background knowledge before embarking on a new unit of study. They are especially useful for English language learners.
Spelling-meaning sorts: Homophones are words that sound alike but are spelled differently. (ex: bare/bear) Homographs are words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently depending on their part of speech. (ex: record)
-Most introductory word sort tasks are teacher-directed or closed sorts (teachers define the categories and model the sorting procedure).
-Student-centered or open sorts (students create their own categories with the set of words) are particularly useful after students are already accustomed to sorting and are skillful at finding commonalities among words.
-Guess My Category is an activity that is useful for exploring content-specific vocabulary and stimulates creative thinking. (In this sort the teacher does not label or describe the categories in advance. Rather, it will be the job of the students to decide how the things in each category are alike.)
-In word hunts, students hunt through their reading and writing for words that are additional examples of the sound, pattern or meaning unit they are studying.
-To become fluent readers, students must achieve fast, accurate recognition of words in context (automacity). Speed sorts would be useful in developing fluency and automacity.
-Drawing and labeling are good activities at a variety of levels to demonstrate the meaning of words (cut and paste activity).
Preparing Word Sorts
-The feature you study in word sorts should be based on what students are using but confusing.
-Compare contrasting sounds: b to s instead of b to p.
-Model the category you want your children to sort under.
-A Sound board allows you to use pictures that will benefit the needs of one child, mix them together and challenge that student to categorize the pictures under the respective pockets on the board.
-Use of word study games good for extension and practice.
-Separate areas in the room for word study and discussion.
-Demonstrate, Sort and Check- Individually or with a partner, Reflect- Have students verbalize what the words or pictures in each category have in common. Extend- Include options such as games and/or word hunts to further their understanding whether in class or at home.
To Make Sorts Harder or Easier…
-Increase the number of contrasts
-Choose more difficult/similar contrasts.
-Actual word choice, ie: add words with blends.
-Add Oddballs.-high frequency words that don’t fit into the given categories. Adding one or two is enough (so that they won’t get too confused.)
-Rotate from circle time to seat work to center times for variation. (circle, seat, center) Rotate about every 10-15 minutes.
-Develop a familiar weekly routine: schedule time for group work with the teacher, keep it short, plan time for students to work independently or with partners.
-Allow word study to occur as an extension of the reading group whenever possible.
Develop student contracts which “spell out” the work students will do to earn a certain grade. This can be helpful for English Language Learners.
-Example of a weekly schedule for students in the emergent to early letter name-alphabetic stage: Monday picture sorts (may be repeated several times in the circle as a group or with partners), Tuesday draw and label (use invented spelling to label drawing), Wednesday (pictures cut from magazines and categorized), Thursday word and picture hunts (can reread nursery rhymes and jingles and circle words that begin with same sounds they have been categorizing all week), Friday game day and assessment (informal assessment).
-Word study notebooks provide a built-in, orderly record of activities and progress, which can include writing word sorts, selecting words to draw and label, changing letters to make new words, using words in a sentence, recording words from word hunts in trade books and response journals.
-Example of a weekly schedule for students in elementary and middle grades include Monday introduction of the sort (teacher should demonstrate, sort, check, and reflect), Tuesday practice the sort and write it (individual or group), Wednesday blind sorts and writing sorts (in pairs), Thursday word hunts (in groups, partners, or individually), Friday assessment and games (can use traditional spelling test format).
-An offset weekly plan is commonly used for students in the secondary grades.
Sorting can be introduced to a class in the following manner. Week 1: introduce a concept sort, repeat sort from day 1, open concept sort in small groups, introduce a closed sort. Week 2: introduce closed sort, sound sort, introduce the word study folder or notebook, introduce buddy sorts, whole class picture or word hunt. Week 3: differentiate the sorts and introduce classroom management.
-Be cautious of having children rewrite words, list in alphabetical order, or copy definitions from the dictionary to learn spelling words.
-Children can use invented spelling in some situations, but should be held accountable for the information they have been taught. Encourage children to use word walls, word banks, personal dictionaries, and sound boards.
-Spelling grades should include more than just a Friday test-there should be a more holistic approach.
-Principles of word study instruction include: look for what students use but confuse (in their zone of proximal development), take a step backwards and build a firm foundation for students, use words students can read, compare words “that do” with words “that don’t”, sort by sound and sight, begin with obvious contrasts, don’t hide exceptions (have oddball category), avoid rules, work for automaticity, and return to meaningful texts.
