Words Their Way

Have you ever found yourself looking at a resource you have been using and wondering if there is something better out there? This year I found myself asking that question when it came to the spelling program I was using. Don't get me wrong, the program I had been using might work great for someone else but I found it didn't quite work for my teaching style. I had heard a lot about the Words Their Way program and knew a couple of other teachers in my school had been using it so I decided to give it a whirl. Like anything else it is still a work in progress to get the hang of everything involved but I am slowly getting the hang of it.

If you haven't heard of the program before take a look at it here. What I love most about it is that it works with kids at their level. It starts off with a diagnostic spelling test that identifies students strengths and needs. Using this information students are placed in groups based on where they are at and then off they go. The other great thing is that students practice their spelling words independently with only a little guidance from the teacher which means I can help out the students that need a little extra guidance. One thing I have learned about this program is that it requires a level of organization in order to make it flow smoothly so I figured I would show you how I organize it in my classroom.

 First of all to keep the word lists organized I colour code my groups and then copy their weekly lists onto corresponding coloured paper. This way I can simply grab the next week's spelling packet and know exactly what list goes where. In my district we send our printing to a central printing office and it takes a few days to get there and back so I always make sure to have more than one week at a time. When I get my lists back I take a few minutes to organize them into weeks and then store them in my handy green drawers (I love Ikea!).

  

Now for the teaching portion:

On Monday I hand out the sorts to the students and they get busy cutting it out. I give each student two copies of the sort - one for at school, and one to bring home for practice. For the classroom activities each child has a plastic envelope to keep their supplies organized. These envelopes have their name and a coloured square in the corner so I know whose envelope it is and what group they belong in. In each plastic envelope are the following materials:

- an envelope to hold the cut apart sort

- a journal for students to write down their sorts and record their word work activities

- a dry erase bingo sheet (more about this in a later post)

- a laminated keyboard

As the groups are cutting out their words I begin calling groups over one at a time to the learning carpet. Here we quickly go over the sort for the week, read through the words, and go over any teaching points needed for students to understand the patterns.

 Once students have finished with me they take their words and complete the sort on their own. They then begin working on two other "must-do" activities: a written sort where they record their sort in their journals, and three sentences which each use at least one of the spelling words. We only work on spelling for about 15-20 minutes a day so completing the "must-do" activities usually takes our Monday/Tuesday.

As students complete the required activities they bring me their journals so I can check their work. If their written sort and sentences are done correctly they can begin working on earning a spelling bingo by completing different word work activities with their words for the week.

When students complete a bingo activity they show me and I sign off on their bingo sheet. For every bingo they earn the students earn a ticket in a weekly draw for a prize.  If they complete the entire bingo sheet they can earn five draw tickets. We usually keep the bingo sheets for a month or so before erasing them and starting over again. Check out my Word Work and Spelling Bingo post for more info on the activities and draw prizes. 

Finally at the end of the week students are given a spelling test of randomly selected words from the week's sort. I give the students an independent writing or reading task based on lessons from the week to complete while I am giving the spelling tests to each group. Most of the time students are able to work quietly and independently without help and I can quickly call each group over to the learning carpet and give them the spelling test. 

The first couple of weeks were a little chaotic and required some teaching and reteaching and reminding of the expectations during our spelling times. By now the students have gotten the hang of it and it is working like a well-oiled machine. As always there may be some squeaks and kinks to work out with certain students but as long as you are consistent they will eventually get the hang of it. 

Wow! Another long post - I seem to have a hard time keeping things short but hopefully this will give you some insight into how to potentially run Words Their Way in your own classroom.