Developmental Spelling Analysis and Word Study: Day 1

After cutting their word study, the ‘staches sort.   On Monday it’s a cold sort.  Meaning they’re trying to figure it out on their own.  I am offering support in identifying pictures they might not know, but I am mainly observing to see if they can determine how to sort the words and if they are reading the words on day 1.   This gives me some valuable insight into what we might need to work on the rest of the week.   (TIP:  If it’s a particularly tricky feature I will give them a little help.  I might say:  “Blue group, you’re sorting my the middle sound…”).  

Once they finish their sort and I check it, I will pull out words or pictures that are sorted into the wrong categories and ask them to try again.  Or if someone is really struggling I might work with them one on one for a few words and get them going.

After they sort and it’s all good, they put their sort away.  We use the same sort for the entire week.  The sorts go into ZipLoc bags that are the same color as their sort.  They put their name on the bag and put their sort in the drawer for their group.  Of course, the drawer is the same color as the sort!  

And that’s day 1 of word study.  Takes about 15-20 minutes on Day 1.

Here is what Day 1 looks like from cutting to sorting:

Make sure to come back the rest of the week and check out all 5 posts to see who we work on our words all week.

We use Words Their Way for our word sorts:

And Word Journeys for the assessment tool and differentiation: