Do-Able Differentiated Word Study for Intervention
Presented by Margo Southall
•Determines student
ability to transfer learning
to reading and spelling
new words
•Guides lesson planning
•Independent Practice
Tasks focus on reading &
spelling
•Linked to whole & small
group lessons
www.margosouthall.com
Ongoing
Assessment
Class
Demonstration
Independent
& Collaborative
Practice
Small-Group
Lessons &
Guided Practice
•Think-aloud strategy use
•Explore and analyze words
from context
•All-student responses
within interactive formats
•Groups formed by a
common, data-based need
•Incorporates multimodal
learning opportunities
Scheduling the Rotation of Word Study Groups:
•New concept/skill is
introduced to all groups on
the same day e.g. Monday
•Rest of class completes
high frequency word tasks
and vocabulary activities
•Requires 45-60 minutes on
Day 1 to meet with groups
•There are no Reading
Strategy Groups scheduled
on Day 1 to allow for this
time
Day 1: Group
Lessons
Days 2-4:
Independent Practice
+ Training for Transfer
Lessons
•All students complete the
same independent task
on the same day: e.g.
Tuesday - Sort and Write;
Wednesday - Show What
I Know; Thursday - NoPeeking Buddy Sort
•Training-for-transfer
lessons are taught
•Requires 20-30 minutes
daily
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© Margo Southall, 2015
•Teacher meets with
groups to assess if they
can use what they
learned to read and
spell new words
•May dictate words to
each group
simultaneously
•Requires 20-30 minutes
Day 5: Assessment
Putting It All Together
Tier 2 and 3 students sort a set of words at least twice within teacher-guided lessons, and
you will need to closely monitor the sorting tasks so that any confusions or errors are
identified and corrected before the remaining tasks are attempted.
The Sort and Write and No-Peeking Buddy Sort activities are often completed with teacher
scaffolding so that you can provide corrective feedback and immediately address any
confusions. Following the group lessons, students can engage in the Buddy Sort on their own.
More time is also devoted to training students to apply their knowledge during reading.
Instructional Cycle for On or Above Grade Students:
Teacher-Scaffolded Lessons
Independent Practice
*Guided Word Sort
Interactive or Shared Writing With Pattern Words
I Can Use What I Know
*Dictated Word Sort (Assessment)
Sort and Write
Show What I Know
No-Peeking Buddy Sort
Instructional Cycle for Low-Progress Students:
Teacher-Scaffolded Lessons and Practice
Independent Practice
*Guided Word Sort (with Sound and Spell Step)
Interactive or Shared Writing with Pattern Words
Sort & Write
*No-Peeking Buddy Sort
Speed Sort
*I Can Use What I Know
I Can Read and Write New Words
*1-2-3- Show the Key
*Dictated Word Sort
Show What I Know
Word Pictures
*Core tasks [Lessons in Differentiating Reading Instruction for Success with RtI by Margo
Southall, Scholastic]
Resources
Differentiating Reading Instruction for Success with RtI by Margo Southall, Scholastic
Differentiated Small Group Reading Lessons by Margo Southall, Scholastic
Ready-to-Go Differentiated Literacy Centers Kits by Margo Southall, Scholastic
(Word Study, Comprehension, Fluency & Writing Centers for grades 1 and 2)
Word Journeys: Assessment-Guided phonics, Spelling and Vocabulary Instruction; Word
Sorts and More: Sound, Pattern and Meaning Explorations Grades K-3 by Kathy Ganske
Word Sorts for Letter Name-Alphabetic Spellers; Word Sorts for Within Word Pattern Spellers
by M. Invernizzi, F. Johnston & D. Bear
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© Margo Southall, 2015
Guided Word Sort Lesson Sequence
Step 1: Word Walk (Survey and Sort)
Show and read each word card, and/or read them together.
Let’s read these words together.
Discuss the meaning of 2-3 words that generate synonyms, a gradient of meaning, or multiple
meanings.
How would you explain the word__ to__. Let’s use words that will help them understand.
Words like ‘thing’ or the word itself won’t give them enough information.
Does anyone have anything to add?
Introduce the Key Words
Our key words are ___.
Predict Possible Categories
Prompt students to identify possible categories for these words:
Let’s make a prediction about our sort today. What do you notice about our words this week?
Think about the way the word sounds and the way it looks.
What do you notice about the sound and spelling of the words ___ and ___.
Tell your partner what you think the patterns/categories will be.
What makes you think so? Let’s find out.
Step 2: Model the Sort
Sort the first few word cards. Read and compare each word to the key words as you move it
underneath them, comparing the sound and spelling to the key word:
Where does this word belong? I will compare it to both the key words to find out.
I will listen for the sound and look at the spelling.
Do not tell students the pattern or generalization, yet. Invite student observations.
What did you notice about the words? How are some alike? How are they different?
Step 3: Sort, Check and Correct
Pass out the rest of the word cards so that each student has one to three cards.
Prompt students to take turns reading and placing their word cards under the key words.
Let’s find out where the rest of the words will go.
Compare your words with our key words to see where they belong.
Think about what group they belong to and why.
Prompt and Coach:
How might you sort your words?
Which category do you think this belongs in?
Say the words. Listen for the sounds. Look across the words and into the words.
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© Margo Southall, 2015
Why did you choose to put this word here? [refer to one of the categories]
In what ways do you think __ differs from __?
Step 4: Think-Pair-Share (Analyze)
When all the cards have been sorted, read the words in each column together and invite
partners to share what they noticed about each category.
We’re going to analyze our sort to see what we can learn from the way we categorized the
words. When somebody analyzes something, they look very carefully at it, they study it to see
what they can discover [give real life example].
So, let’s analyze the columns of words to see if the words are all where we want them. We
will think about how they alike and different. It’s like being a detective.
We’ll start by looking carefully at the words in the first category. Let’s read them aloud to help
our reading brain.
Now let’s do the same thing with this category [point to second column].
To help you analyze the categories, talk with your partner and share what you are thinking.
How are the words in this category alike? What is the same about them?
How are they different from the words in this other category?
Does everyone understand what you need to do to analyze the words?
Turn and tell your partner what you discovered. Share your thinking.
Support partner discussions as needed.
Step 5: Compare and Declare (Interpret)
Students share their explanation of the sort and identify the feature each column of words
represents. They may make a generalization or reason for the sound or spelling, such as the
short vowel sound for CVC words and long vowel sound for CVCe words.
Tell us how all the words under __ are like? Let’s read through the list of words under __ one
more time and listen for the __ sound/look for the __ pattern. (Point to the words)
What might you call this group of words? [Students state the vowel sound or pattern).
Yes, [state generalization]. Great detective work!
Now let’s look at the key word __ and the words under it. Let’s read through the list again and
listen to the sound. How are these all alike?
What makes you think so? [or] So, what do we know about __? So the two columns of words
have different sounds/patterns. Can you tell me another way they are different?
That’s a wonderful way to interpret or explain our sort today.
Step 6: Read and Write New Words (Link)
Present a sentence containing a new word with the target [new] feature. Next, dictate a
sentence for students to write.
Knowing about [feature] can help us to read and write words.
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© Margo Southall, 2015
Let’s think about this sentence. The underlined word has the feature we studied today.
Now we will read the sentence together. When we get to the [underlined] word, think about
how it is like the words we sorted. This will help us to read it.
Now let’s write a sentence using what we know. How would you write this sentence?
[Distribute white boards, dictate sentence containing a word with the feature, and allow time
for writing.]
Okay, turn your boards around and show me what you wrote.
Who can tell us our takeaway for today?
What did you learn that will help with reading and writing words?
Steps in SAIL (Survey, Sort, Analyze, Interpret and Link shared by Kathy Ganske, 2015)
Additional Step for Struggling Readers: Sound and Spell
Before Step 6 and after students have identified the categories:

Students segment and blend the key words in order to store the pattern in their
phonological and visual memory.

For multisyllabic words, the sound and spelling of each syllable is examined and recorded
in sequence.
Sound



Say the word; have students repeat it. (game)
Stretch out the word; have students do the same.
(g-aaa-mmm)
Count the sounds in the word; students hold up a finger for
each sound they hear. (3)
Spell


Ask students what letter they think represents each sound.
Stretch the word and record the related letter(s) for each sound on the whiteboard. (g, a,
m, e)
 Count the letters and determine if they match the number of sounds; discuss.
 Write the word’s conventional spelling on the whiteboard.
 Identify the vowel pattern and underline it. (underline –ame)
 Have students state the vowel pattern: The vowel pattern is –ame.
 Review the sound and spelling of the pattern.
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© Margo Southall, 2015
What We Have Learned from Research and Practice
1. Check that students can read at least half of the words they will be sorting (Morris, 2014).
2. Include 1-3 words that invite a vocabulary discussion, lend themselves to synonyms,
multiple meanings, gradient of meaning, and the study of common roots. These need to
represent developmentally appropriate concepts. Create a web of synonyms to support
word retrieval in a following lesson (M. Wolf). (See Word Retrieval Prompts in Revising
and Rethinking Intervention session)
3. Where there are highly visual contrasts (tap vs. tape), include a few picture cards to
increase student thinking. This is evident at the Letter Name to early Within Word Pattern
stage where the focus is on sound-spelling relationships (e.g. blends, digraphs, vowels).
4. Add one to three exception words (e.g. said, they) to the sort in sessions following the
introductory lesson. An increased level of challenge gains student attention. This also
helps to ensure students are attending to the sound, not just the spellings of words (e.g.
show vs. now). Many of the exceptions are irregularly spelled high frequency words.
5. Remove any ‘labels’, such as ‘short vowel’, ‘long vowel’ or V/CV on reproducible sorts for
the introductory lesson where it will undermine an inquiry approach to learning.
6. Use different colored copying paper for each group. Teach effective ‘cutting’ of the cards.
Have students underline the key words if they are not already marked.
7. Schedule a balance of time for discussion and direct teaching.
8. Incorporate multiple open-ended questions. The traditional ‘question-respond-evaluate’
format can result in ‘mini-interrogations’ that shut down student higher-level thinking and
interaction. Pre-plan open-ended questions to ensure they are at your fingertips during the
lesson (e.g. What do you notice about the words in our sort today?).
9. Adjust the amount of teacher modeling according to the level of student need and
interaction. Too little explicit explanation can cause frustration, while too much will cause
students to disengage from boredom.
10. Incorporate academic language in prompts and questions, such as: examine, identify,
compare and contrast, predict, identify, clarify, interpret, analyze, and evaluate.
11. Give students wait time after open-ended, inquiry questions e.g. 3-5 seconds. Use
prompting and probing language (e.g. What makes you think __?).
12. Encourage students to exchange observations and support their thinking with evidence.
Incorporate time for the Think-Pair-Share step in the lesson.
13. Provide specific, corrective feedback either during or after student input. Point out the
location of the misplaced word card e.g. I see a word that is not like the others. It is in
column 2, word 3. Where does it belong? Let’s check (analyze sound and spelling).
(Ganske and Jocious, Language Arts, Vo. 91, Number 1, September 20)
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© Margo Southall, 2015
Purposeful Independent Practice That Makes Small Group
Instruction a Reality
Rotation of Core Tasks and Choices:

Plan must-do’s and choices in a weekly menu. All students
complete the same tasks on the same day, using their
differentiated set of words
(Reproducible icons and task cards for activities from
Differentiating Reading Instruction for Success with RtI;
Menu and task cards from Ready-to-Go Differentiated
Literacy Centers Kit by Margo Southall, Scholastic )
Choice Menu:

Rather than rotate students through a set of practice tasks,
you may prefer to allow students to self-select a required
number of tasks from the menu. If you want to designate a
‘must-do’ task that every student must complete, then simply
put a star next to it (sticky note) or place the icon for it in the
center of the array. Menu icons are displayed on a bulletin
board or attached to poster board using Velcro.
 Students may search for further words with the feature and
add these to the columns. These can be shared with the
group in a following lesson (‘Word Detective’ or Word Hunt).
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© Margo Southall, 2015