Using Words Their Way to Teach Spelling

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I was given the newest versions of these books by Words Their Way, but have used their products for over ten years to teach spelling. All opinions expressed are my own.

I am often asked by readers which level of the Words Their Way supplement word sorting book they should buy to teach spelling. So today, I’m diving into each of the Words Their Way supplement books to help you make an educated guess for your own spellers at home or in your classroom.

A Developmentally Appropriate Way to Teach Spelling

First, let me start by explaining that Words Their Way takes a developmental approach to spelling. In other words, the books are not labeled primarily by grade level, but by the characteristics of your child’s spellings and misspellings. In each stage, I will list a few characteristics of spellers and the kinds of word sorts you can find inside the each book.

A Hands-On Way to Teach Spelling

Secondly, the activities inside these books are mainly picture and word sorts, providing kids hands-on opportunities to learn and interact with sounds and words. The picture sorts focus on the sounds kids hear in words, such as beginning sounds in words. The word sorts focus on the patterns different words share within them, like comparing words with the short a pattern to words with the long a pattern.

Emergent Spellers

Emergent spellers are anywhere between birth and age 6. Most children that fit in this age have not had any formal lessons on spelling or phonics. They may have observed parents or older siblings as writers and mimic what they see. Children in this age may do some pretend writing.

Some researchers call this the pre-alphabetic or pre-phonetic stage because most emergent spellers do not understand how letters and their sounds help them spell words, especially in the beginning of the stage (from Words Their Way).

In the Letter and Picture Sorts for Emergent Spellers book, you will find lots of pre-reader activities, such as:

• rhyming and syllable sorts based on nursery rhymes and songs
• letter sorts based on literature, such as the gingerbread man
• beginning consonant letter sounds pages with pictures
• assessment guides to help you zero in on the skills your child needs to focus on most
• “Notes for the Teacher”, which provides the background as well as lightly-scripted ideas for implementing the activities

Letter Name-Alphabetic Spellers

Letter Name-Alphabetic Spellers range from the time they begin formal instruction in phonics until about the second grade (between 5 and 8 years old). Early in this stage, as kids are taught their letter names, they begin to use the names of the letters to help them spell words. For example, they may associate W with the /d/ sound because the name double u starts with /d/.

Spellers in this stage typically begin spelling with only consonant sounds because they are more prominent or easier to “feel” in the mouth as the child says the word aloud (from Words Their Way Pre-K/K). As they progress through the stage, they begin to hear more letter sounds (phonemes) in words, including vowel sounds. Spellers in this stage might also be called semi-phonetic or partial alphabetic because they only represent some of the sounds in words as they write (from Words Their Way Pre-K and Words Their Way).

Within the Word Sorts for Letter Name-Alphabetic Spellers book, you will find:

• review picture sorts for beginning sounds, word family sorts (with pictures)
• blends and digraph picture sorts, mixed word family sorts (for example, comparing -an, -in and -un words)
• short vowel word sorts, and an introduction to r-influenced words (such as bird or jar)
• “Notes for the Teacher”, which provides the background as well as lightly-scripted ideas for implementing the activities

Within Word Pattern Spellers

Spellers in the Within Word Pattern stage begin to “move away from the linear, sound-by-sound approach of the letter name-alphabetic spellers and being to include patterns or chunks of letter sequences” (Bear, et al. 2012).

The typical age of a child in this stage is 7 to 10 years old, starting approximately at the end of first grade and ending towards the end of third grade or beginning of fourth grade. In some cases, especially for struggling readers, spellers remain in this stage through middle school. Within Word Pattern Spellers begin to correctly spell vowel patterns within one-syllable words, first starting with short vowels and then moving onto long vowels and even some ambiguous vowels.

The Within Word Pattern Spellers supplement book contains:

• picture sorts for short and long vowel sounds
• word sorts comparing the patterns of short vowel words and long vowel words with silent e
• common long vowel patterns, less common long vowel patterns (such as the long i in find)
• r-influenced vowel patterns
• diphthongs (such as oi) and other ambiguous vowel sounds (like comparing the sound of the oo‘s in good vs. food)
• instructions for how to demonstrate the sort, help the child sort the words, reflect on the sort, and extend the sort to real writing

Syllables and Affixes Spellers

Syllables and Affixes Spellers are typically ages 9 to 14 years and range from the upper elementary grades to middle school. This is the stage where spellers move from spelling patterns in one-syllable words to spelling patterns in multisyllabic words. This is also the stage where students begin to study word meanings, as they study prefixes and suffixes such as un– or pre-.

These spellers can spell most one-syllable short, long, and ambiguous words correctly, but confuse spellings where the syllables meet (such as when to double a letter before adding –ing or –ed) and some prefixes and suffixes (such as PER- for pre– or –SION for –tion). Info from Words Their Way.

In the Syllables and Affixes Spellers book, are:

• inflected ending sorts (such as adding -ed, -ing, -s, and -es onto words)
• syllable juncture patterns (understanding the reasoning behind the spellings of diner vs. dinner)
• vowel patterns in accented syllables
• vowel patterns in unaccented syllables
• less common consonant patterns (such as gh=f sound)
• affixes (beginning work on common prefixes and suffixes)
• instructions for how to demonstrate the sort, help the child sort the words, reflect on the sort, and extend the sort to real writing

Derivational Relations Spellers

Derivational Relations Spellers begin to connect spelling to meaning, as they focus on taking base words and deriving other words from that base word (for example, define to definition). Spellers can enter this stage as early as late elementary school, but most spellers in this stage are in middle school, high school, or adults. “The logic inherent in this lifelong stage can be summed up as follows: Words that are related in meaning are often related in spelling as well, despite changes in sound.” (from Words Their Way)

In Word Sorts for Derivational Relations Spellers are sorts for:

• prefixes
• suffixes
• the suffix -ion
• vowel and consonant alterations (understanding how preside and president are related in both meaning AND spelling)
• Greek and Latin Elements (digging in deeper to vocabulary instruction, focusing on the meaning of word parts)
• advanced spelling-meaning patterns (such as when to end words with -ance or -ence)

 

The book, Words Their Way, is more of a textbook that lays a strong foundation for using word study to teach spelling. Hands-on game ideas for each level of spelling are included as well as spelling lists for TONS fo phonics skills, picture cards, and spelling inventories, which can help you pinpoint your child’s level of spelling development.

 

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~Becky