Amanda Love Whittaker
Title: Spelling Assessment and Connected Lesson
Purpose:
 After administering the Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) I found that the student
got both initial/final consonants correct and three of four of the short vowels correct, so
he understands. One out of the three affricates was correct so he is using but confusing. I
know that the student is absent in final blends and blends/diagraphs because he did not
either of the two final blends correct and only one of the five blend/diagraphs right.
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This lesson is important because it will help the student recognize different spelling
patterns. Spelling is an essential part of the language arts curriculum because spelling
helps you to communicate in written form, and reading and writing are interconnected.
 SOL 1.6
The student will apply phonetic principles to read and spell.
a) Use beginning and ending consonants to decode and spell single-syllable words.
b) Use two-letter consonant blends to decode and spell single-syllable words.
c) Use beginning consonant digraphs to decode and spell single-syllable words.
d) Use short vowel sounds to decode and spell single-syllable words.
e) Blend beginning, middle, and ending sounds to recognize and read words.
f) Use word patterns to decode unfamiliar words.
g) Read and spell simple two-syllable compound words.
h) Read and spell commonly used sight words.
Objectives:
 The student will be able to sort words and pictures that have initial affricates and place
them under the categories “dr”, “d”, and “j”, with 80% accuracy.
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Using the words and pictures from the sorting activity, the student will be able to identify
the initial affricates “dr”, “d”, and “j” while playing a board game.
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Looking at words that have initial affricates, the student will be able to sort and correctly
write them under the categories “dr”, “d”, and “j”, with 80% accuracy.
Procedure:
Introduction
I will explain to the student that when I did the assessment I noticed that they were using but
confusing the long I vowel so we are going to do a word sort, word write, and a game to help
them gain a better understanding of the long I vowel. I will model the word sort for the student to
introduce the sort to them. Tell the student that today they will be sorting words and pictures that
begin with the “dr”, “d”, and “j” sounds. Explain to the student how each of these sounds are
made up of two consonants in which their sounds are blended together.
Amanda Love Whittaker
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Model the sort for the student.
o Be sure to let the student know what each word and picture is.
o Say the word or what the picture is. Repeat the word enunciating the beginning
blended sound. Tell the student what the beginning blended sound is and then
place the word under the correct header. Do this for each word and picture in the
sort.
Development
The game was to push plastic magnet letters forward. The student is given a word laid out in
front of them and asked to sound out the word. I continue by giving an example that I know the
student understands already. I show words like st/ar, pl/an, and cl/ap to be able to clearly show
the example of grouping the letters together while sounding them out. I then show them an easy
example to reestablish the instructions: “/c/ /a/ /t/” representing each sound pushing it forward on
the table or desk.
Summary
To finish the lesson we had a spelling sort test. I told the student that I was going to give him the
same words to write in a sort so that I can see how much he learned. I told him that it was okay
to get things wrong because, this was for me to see how much he had learned and that was it.
Materials:
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Paper
Pencil
Eraser
Spelling Analysis Chart
DSA Stage Scores (Letter Name and Within Word)
DSA Words and Answer Key for Letter Name and Within Word
DSA Scoring Sheet
Word Sort
Paper with the headings dr__, d__, and j__ written at the top
Plastic letters
Evaluation Part A:
My student, Steven, met my objectives because he was able to sort 11 out of 11 words
correct in the sort. He met my objectives for the writing sort because he was able to sort all of the
words correctly under each category on his paper. My student met my objectives for the game
because he understood the sound difference between d, dr and j by sounding out the plastic
colorful letters, each in order to sound out a word.
Amanda Love Whittaker
Evaluation Part B:
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Game:
The instructions included an example of grouping to sound out the patterns: st/ar
and pl/an, which are two words that the student knows has two-letter blends
which are previously understood.
One strength of my teaching was that I was good at scaffolding if they student
made a mistake and helping to see the relationships. One weakness of my
teaching of this lesson was that I was not transitioning each part of my lesson
smoothly.
One way I would change the lesson would be to come prepared with an idea of
how I want to move on the next step to my agenda.