Word Study:
understanding and making
the most of word study at
home
What is Word Study?
Word study is an approach that is different from the
traditional spelling instruction.
Traditional
Word Study
• Given a list to memorize
• Students are “Friday
Spellers,” they forget
the words after Friday’s
quiz
• All students study the
same words
• Analyze words to
discover similarities and
differences
• Investigation, hands on,
& oral activities to help
students retain new
spelling patterns
• Students are grouped
according to their
spelling skills and what
they need to practice
What does it look like?

Students sort words or pictures based on sound or spelling
pattern.

Students apply skills taught through their everyday writing.

Students sort words or pictures based on sound or spelling
pattern.

Students sharing with parents what sort they learned in school
and explaining the reasoning behind the sort.

Students notice words that follow their studied pattern in their
reading at night.
(Taken from Words Their Way, Bear et al, 2012)
EMERGENT SPELLERS
bed
•
house
T
mitten
D
duck
Instruction includes: phonological
awareness & alphabet knowledge (letter
names, letter sounds & letter
production)
LETTER-NAME SPELLERS
LP
lump
BAD

Instruction includes: word families,
short vowels, blends/digraphs,
preconsonantal nasals

Developing phonemic awareness and
a sight vocabulary
bed
FLOT
float
STEK
stick
WITHIN-WORD PATTERN
SPELLERS
TRANE
train
FRITE
fright
MARCHT
marched
SPOYLE
spoil

Attend to the pattern features of
spelling in single syllable words

Instruction includes: common long
vowel patterns, r-influenced vowels,
complex consonants
SYLLABLES & AFFIXES
SPELLERS
BOTEL
bottle
SHOPING
shopping
DAMIGE
damage
PERTEND
pretend

Attend to spelling changes within and
across syllables

Instruction includes: inflected
endings, e-drop/doubling/nothing,
syllable stress, simple prefixes &
suffixes
DERIVATIONAL RELATIONS
SPELLERS
CONFUDENSE
confidence
OPISISION

Attend to meaning-based changes
in spelling

Instruction includes: affixes,
assimilated or absorbed prefixes,
Greek/Latin roots
opposition
EMFASIZE
emphasize
COMOTION
commotion
How are Spelling Stages
decided?

Administer a spelling inventory

Weekly Assessments

Writing Samples

Reading Observations
In the Classroom

Introduction of sort and explanation
of week’s features

Time throughout the week to sort
and work with words at a literacy
station independently and with a
partner
Word Study at Home

Provides additional extended practice of weekly
features

Follow the set activities by your child’s teacher

Sort each and every day before completing the
assigned activity!
Sorting
Types of Sorts
 Picture/Word Sorts
 Buddy Sorts
 Writing Sorts
 Blind Sorts
 Speed Sorts
Picture / Word Sorts
Categorizing pictures, words or a combination
by their sound, pattern, or meaning feature.
Picture Sort
Picture/Word Sort
Word Sort
Buddy Sorts
Working collaboratively, students sort the picture and/ or
word cards, “check” each column in the sort and then
discuss the generalizations covered by the sort.
Writing Sorts
Like a picture and/or word sort, except students
categorize and write the words into columns according to
phonics features.
Speed Sorts
Students time themselves completing a sort in order to support
automatic recognition of the words and features.
Blind Sorts
The student hears the words read by someone else and
categorizes them without seeing the spelling. Blind sorts
encourage students to focus on sorting by “sounds.”
Letter Hunts & Word
Hunts
Concentration
Match 2 cards with the same feature (i.e., tug-hug)
Your Pile, My Pile





Put the cards in a pile.
Pull one card from the pile and say it out loud.
Your child will have to spell it correctly and
use it in a sentence.
If your child does both correctly, he/she gets
to keep the card. If not, it goes back into the
pile.
When it is their turn, they can do the same to
you!
Developing Automaticity
Oh, No! Cards
•Students take turns drawing a card and reading it.
•If a student reads the word automatically, h/she keeps it.
•If a student draws an OH, NO! card h/she must return all
his/her accumulated cards to the table.
Variations of Oh, no!
Crash!
DUMP ‘EM
Tic-Tac-Toe
• Split the features up between two players.
• Each player has all of the words for their assigned feature.
• A player’s goal is to get three of their words in a row.
Accountability
Show what you know.
Once a feature has been studied,
it is expected that the student
will apply that feature in every
day writing and reading.
Questions