Daily Routines with Word Sorts

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Welcome to This Reading Mama!  I’m on my second week of Teaching Spelling Through Word Study, a 10-day series with the bloggers of iHomeschool Network.  If you’ve missed any of the posts from this series, feel free to click HERE or on the image above to see all the topics covered thus far. Today, my goal is to post some of the routines that you can do each day with the words from your word sort of the week. The reason I like routine so much is that it helps to make the child work with more independence because he knows the “drill”.

These ideas are adapted from Words Their Way, but be sure to check out the link at the end to Spelling Mechanics Homeschool Word Study.  In it, Ann gives more daily routine ideas!

1. Open Sort

Yesterday’s word sort introduction to a sort involved a closed sort.  This means that the student knows from the beginning of the lesson what the categories are.  When a child has word sorting down pat, sometimes it’s fun to introduce the words as an open sort.  This means that all the words are placed in the space for the child to see, with the head patterns or words left out.  The child looks at the words and tries to notice patterns within the words, creating her own sorting rule(s).  Students may even think of a way to sort the words that wasn’t the intended pattern purpose for the sort and that works just fine.

2. Re-sort Words or Pictures

Simply resorting words again is an easy way to review the word sort.  Ask the child to tell you the generalization from the sort.

Sometimes ALuv (currently 7 years old) will circle or highlight the patterns in the words upon re-sorting.  He enjoys the coloring and it helps him focus on the visual patterns/chunks within the words.

3. Timed Sort

The child can re-sort the words, but is timed as she does.  Ask her to sort the words while you time her.  Then she is asked to read the words.  Time continues until all of the words are sorted AND read correctly.  This can be repeated and the child can attempt to beat her own time.  In a classroom setting, children can race against each other.

4. Blind Sort

Set up the head/key words only.  The teacher (mama or another student) reads the words to the child.  Without looking at the word, the child has to think about the pattern in the word and point to the category in which it belongs.  The teacher (mama or other student) then places the word under that category so the child can make sure his answer is correct.  If the student’s answer is not correct, he moves it to the correct column.

5. Written Sort

This is played very much like the Blind Sorting Game (see #3), but instead of simply pointing to the correct category, the child writes it down under the correct category.  To prep for this game, the head/key words are written across the top of a piece of paper.  After the child spells the word that has been read aloud, the person reading the word places it under the correct column, and the speller checks his spelling.  If it is incorrect, he erases and spells the word again under the correct column.

6. Word Hunts

I think out of all the routines, this one has got to be one of my favorites because it requires that students apply the pattern to reading and writing.

Before conducting a word hunt, students write the head patterns or words across the top of their piece of paper.  So, if we use the AI and AY example from yesterday, the student would write an AI and an AY across the top of his paper.  Using a text, the student searches for words that are “further examples of the sound, pattern, or meaning they are studying” (Words Their Way, 71). For example, if the child is studying the AY pattern, he may find words such as array or stray in his reading.  These words would be written down in the AY column.

With my Phonics by The Book curriculum {free}, I place the story readers into plastic sleeves.  ALuv (currently 7 years old) will hunt for the word patterns, circle the words that share the pattern, and write them under each category.

7. Word Study Notebook

As students word through their sorts for the week, they can keep a word study notebook of the word patterns they have learned.  A spiral bound notebook works great as a word study notebook.  As the child does various activities throughout the week with that sort (such as resorting/copying words, written sort, or word hunt),  he or she uses the word study notebook to record them. 

So far, ALuv and I have only used his word study notebook to get the sort down at the end of the week.  He uses it as a make-shift word pattern dictionary for spelling and decoding.  To give you an idea o the things we’ve done, here are a few examples from his notebook:

glue down pictures, write words

glue down words

write words as mom calls them aloud (see #5)

For more ideas on daily routines with word sorts, check out Spelling Mechanics! Ann has some FANTASTIC IDEAS HERE!

Keeping Track: One great way to keep track of the routines your child has used it to create some type of checklist, like the one you see below. (This is the one I used in tutoring, but the idea came from one of the co-authors of Words Their Way).  Within the week, ask the child to complete 4 or 5 of the tasks and check them off.

More Resources with Word Sorts:

• 10 Days of Teaching Spelling Through Word Study {you’ve just read day 6 of this series}
• Word Study/Phonics Pinterest Board