Ashley Ball
ELD 307
Spelling Inventory
In the classroom, I was able to perform a spelling inventory on one student in
the class. The purpose of the spelling inventory is to see where the student stands in
spelling. It tells you the strengths and weaknesses of the student. The inventory tells
you what the student knows and does well and what the student still needs help
with. The inventory can tell the teacher what they need to be working on with the
student and what they should teach the student next. The spelling inventory can tell
the teacher what the student already knows, so the teacher does not have to spend
time teaching them something that they already know.
I did the spelling inventory on a second grader, Jordyn. Jordyn is seven years
old. She is in Mrs. Walling’s second grade class at Wicoff Elementary School in West
Windsor. I did the spelling inventory with her in the hallway, right outside of the
classroom. We went into the hall way because I did the inventory during snack time
and it was very loud in the classroom. I wanted her to be able to focus on what we
were doing and not be distracted by the other students. Jordyn is very outgoing and
loves to participate in class discussions. She was very excited to do the spelling
inventory with me because she said it was going to help me become a good teacher.
The spelling inventory I did was the Ganske. There are four different stages
to administer to students depending on their level. In order the stages are lettername, within-word pattern, syllable juncture, and derivational constancy. I gave
Jordyn the within-word pattern stage. When giving the test, you say the word and
then the sentence. You can repeat the word if the student asks you to. For example,
if the word is “patch”, you would say “patch, the pirate had a patch over his eye”.
That is all you have to say and the student would write the word down. There were
25 words for this stage. Within the stage, the different aspects it was testing were
long vowels: vowel-consonant-E, r-controlled vowel patterns, other common long
vowels, complex consonants units (scr, qu, ck), and ambiguous vowels:
diagraphs/diphthongs.
To score the test, you give 2 points for each word spelled correctly. You give
1 point if they got the underlined part of the word correct. For example, in the word
“patch” the “tch” is underlined. If they got that pattern they got 1 point. The
different underlined parts coincide with the different parts of the stage.
Jordyn got 13 out of 25 completely right and 1 underlined part correct. She
got 3 correct in the long vowels: vowel-consonant-e part, 3 correct in the rcontrolled vowel patterns, 3 correct in the other common long vowels, 2 correct in
complex consonants, and 2 correct and an underling part in ambiguous vowels:
diagraphs/diphthongs. She was able to spell half of the words. This was the first
time she did this stage of the inventory. She was able to spell half of the words the
first time doing it. You go through the stages in order. You cannot enter the next
stage until you pass the stage you are in.
The part she did the worst in was the complex consonants. I would use the
information from the inventory to develop a lesson to help Jordyn become a better
speller. I would do different activities with her that incorporates complex
consonants. I would also include words from the stage because she did not get all
the words right. I would make sure that the focus was mostly the complex
consonants. I would keep testing her on this stage until she got most of the words
correct.
When she started to get the majority of the words correct and did better on
the inventory, I would start to teach her the next stage. The next stage is the syllable
juncture. In this stage it has doubling and e-drop with “ed” and “ing”, other syllable
juncture doubling, long vowel patterns, r-control patterns, and unstressed syllable
vowel patterns. I would teach her this next after she gets better with the stage
before because it means that she is ready to move onto the next stage.
2nd grade: Spelling words with complex consonants
Rationale: It is important that she learns complex consonants because it is essential
for spelling. She is not going to be able to move up on the stages of the spelling
inventory if she cannot grasp the concept of complex consonants. It is important to
learn the correct spelling to be able to do things in life. You need to be able to spell
to be able to read and write for all classes.
Standards:
RF.2.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding
words
Objective:
Jordyn will be able to spell words with complex consonants.
Materials: Flash cards, tic-tac-toe board, paper, pencil
Procedures:
Engagement/Anticipatory Set: We are going to be working with spelling words
today! We are going to play a little game. We are going to be playing tic-tac-toe. Do
you like playing tic-tac-toe?
Mentor: We are going to be playing tic-tac-toe in a different way today. You are
going to have flash cards in front of you. One person will pick up a card and tell you the
word that is on the card. You will then write the word down. If you spell the word
correctly you can put an X or O on the board. Then it will be the other person’s turn.
You will continue to do this until someone wins the game. You will then start another
game and keep doing this until I tell you to stop. You will be writing the words down on
a piece of lined paper that will be numbered. You will be handing this paper in when
you are done with the game. I will show an example of what they are supposed to do
on the board.
Guided Practice: Do you have any questions on what you should be doing or are
you confused about anything?
Independent Application: Now you are going to play the game with another
student. If you need help with anything I will be around to help.
Closure: Did you like playing this game? Can you share with me the words that
you got correct? Now can you share with me the words that you got wrong? Why do
you think you got these words wrong? Do you now know the correct spelling of these
words? Now this week when you are writing, I want you to think about the game you
played to help you think of the correct spelling of words.
Assessment: The paper where she wrote the words down. I will check the spelling of
the words, and see what words she is still spelling wrong. I will look for patterns in
the words that she spelled wrong.
Differentiation: I will have to match this student with another student that is
working on the same level so the game can be fair. It will be beneficial for the two
students to work together and help each other.
If the student is not sure how to spell the word or is confused with the word, I can
read the word in a sentence.
Words for flash cards:
Quack
Quick
Dutch
Ditch
Scream
Click
Quiz
Question
Pitch
Scrub
Bridge
Luck
Quiet
Batch
Catch
Scrap
Judge
Stick
Quite
Witch
Itch
Screw
Fudge
Truck
Quilt
Patch
Switch
Scary
Nudge
Brick
Queen
Watch
Sketch
Scrip
Edge
Trick