Monday, February 7, 2011
Letters, Sounds, and Words
After reading the letters, sounds, and words instructional principles and practices in CTW and TGFB, and by Feb. 13 at the latest, post (a) a few notes on the most important ideas you learned, and why they matter to you; and (b) 1-2 questions you have about effective and efficient letters, sounds, and words instruction.
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I thought these two chapters were very interesting and brought some really neat activities to our resource file. Not being in a classroom, I’m at a disadvantage at knowing what kids are learning, and how they are learning them first hand. One thing that I found very important is the fact that you do not have to actually teach hundreds upon hundreds of words to students. You can teach them a root word, and off of that, they will learn several more words. You can teach them one word that has a common ending, or letter combination in it, and after that, students can use rhyming words to build off of it. It’s amazing how many connections you can make with the spelling of words and how many ways the kids can learn them. I loved the word wall idea. I think that there are so many fun activities that the students will enjoy with this as opposed to having to write a list of spelling words ten times each (Yuck! Boring!!)
ReplyDeleteOne question I have about this topic is, how do you answer the question of “Why” when it comes to the rules of spelling? I mean, we have these rules, and the rules of course have exception upon exception, so how do you answer this without completely confusing the students?
Are these particular activities good to use with dyslexic children, or children with other learning disabilities?
What is the best way to teach students how to write the words that sound the same? (to/two/too, whale/well/wale/wail, etc)
It was interesting to think about helping kids learn new words by helping them relate to words they know through rhyming. By teaching them the spelling patterns and rhyming words they can build their vocabulary and spelling skills a lot better. Sometimes teaching kids what letters make what sounds; especially in the English language is confusing to them. It’s hard to always explain to a kid why some letters sound various ways depending on how you use them. When working with children with learning disabilities you see a variety of situations. The information they can retain for extended periods of time or at all varies.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as a society we teach the alphabet first and then start teaching for example c-a-t spells cat. Now with LetterLand, it seems kids are relating letters to a character. Would it be better to teach with more of a focus on sounds than on letters and a representing character?
The “Guess the Covered Word,” sounds like something kids would like playing. Any time you can make something seem like it is more of a game, kids learn more from it and enjoy it more. I also liked the idea of putting the most often-confused words in a variety of colors so they would stand out on the word wall.
I’ve worked with LD kids that would learn the alphabet, the sounds each letter in it makes, the sounds the blends and digraphs make and can relate a word with the sound, but when it would come to transferring that to reading it wouldn’t carry over. Is there a set protocol for teaching reading when one way may work better than others depending upon the students needs? When working with older student s with learning disabilities what is the best and easiest way to determine the route you need to take in order to help them the way they need to be helped? By the time you spend an entire year getting to know a student and their needs it may be too late to give them the help they need. What is the best way to accomplish this quickly?
After reading these two chapters I have found a few interesting facts about being able to read and write.
ReplyDeleteAll proficient readers have the ability to look at regular words they have never seen before and assign probable pronunciation.
Readers use their phonetic knowledge to read words they have never seen before.
To be a good reader you must be able to automatically recognize most words and you must be able to decode words you do not immediately recognize.
To be a good writer you must be able to spell most of the words and come up with resonable spellings of the words you don't know.
Knowing these facts will help me in my planning for these subjects in my future classroom. I have found them interesting because now I have more ideas to help my students learn to spell without having to do the tradtional making them write them over and over. I hated that in school and am glad my children have never had to use that method.
I liked the activities given in both chapters and hope to be able to put them to use in my future classroom.
One of the biggest questions I had for this reading selection was how do you explain "WHY" we use the rules we use in spelling?
The activity "Guess the covered word" is a good way to determine if some of your readers are having difficulty understanding how to use both context and sounds/letters at the same time while reading.
ReplyDeleteThe short mention of ELL on page 71 of CTW was interesting. More and more students students speak a language other than English for their first language. On the West side of Buncombe County in particular there are Russian, Ukrainian and others who have settled in the area. So, one of my questions would be "Are there any resources or information on teaching these particular language learners?"
How do we teach children to watch out for words that rhyme but are not of the same pattern? How do we teach them to tell the difference when they are sounding out rhyming words?
Knowing the 37 spelling pattterns would be very helpful to a learner while reading to use as a way to decode and figure out a similar word.
Model to students how to decode polysyllabic words. Using "The Nifty Thrifty Fifty" is an effective way to do this.
The lesson ideas in TGFB are very helpful. They are either lessons that are fun or can be made into a game so that learning is not so tedious for young learners. My favorite is "Be a Mind Reader". You could probably turn this into a game of team hangman.
Important points:
ReplyDelete• Readers look for the patterns of letters rather than individual letters to define their sounds.
• Rhymes are key to spelling words, thus all the songs, chants, and poetry like Dr. Suess and Shel Silverstein used in early elementary classrooms have a very important purpose in learning to read and write.
• Phonemic awareness is an oral skill.
• All of these strategies are used to decode unfamiliar words when reading.
• With Spanish ELLs it's best to start with letters that have the same sounds in both languages
• In order to truly learn and retain strategies, kids need to discover them on their own.
• Manipulating letters to make new words shows them how small changes can result in completely new words--which gives them independence and power over decoding strange new words.
• It is key that children recognize that words having the same spelling pattern from the vowel to the end usually rhyme.
• Our brains are wired to automatically separate unknown words into their component parts (onsets and rimes).
• Don’t just display a Word Wall in your classroom; "do the Word Wall".
Questions:
1. In the Four Blocks teaching method must you do the same thing every day? I realize that it's comforting for children to have a schedule but won't they get bored doing the same thing all the time?
2. Should the Word Wall and its activities be used with upper elementary grades?
I thought that both chapters gave some very important ideas about how to teach children words. I found it interesting that the authors suggested that children learn patterns of a word. I had always thought that children learn new words by seeing similar words with the same patterns. Both of my oldest sons have been taught to sound out words and at home I try to focus more on getting them to see the patterns in words. I enjoyed reading about the activities. I really wished my son's teacher would do more meaningful activities like the ones described in chapter 5 instead of having him write the speeling words 5 times each. I was thinking that all the activities in chapter 5 could be used to introduce the spelling words.
ReplyDeleteWhat are some activities that can help a child differiate between words that sound the same but are spell differently?
Can children be instructed to sound out words and also learn words through word patterns?
Key Points I picked up on through the read passages.
ReplyDeleteRhyming is a good way to spell words, as well as incorporating fun all at the same time.
Patterns, Patterns, Patterns: Students tend to learn more when they are following one, Young readers look for these while reading, spelling and identifying sounds. This also allows the reader to see how a set words pan out from one given sounding or spelling.
Start with easy words and then build your way up, this helps the developed students and undeveloped. A win win for all. Then build upon them.
Automatically decode words once you reach them.
Use more activities. Students love to learn in unique ways. Instead of 5x each or book work find creative ways to encourage students.
Don't just talk the talk, but walk the walk as well. If you have a word wall use it, instead of just talking about it.
Questions:
Resources for ESL classes?
Explain different spellings for multi use words to students?
"Why" When using the spelling rule?
The most important ideas concerning the readings are as follows:
ReplyDelete•Once children know the common sounds for most letters, they need to start paying attention to the patterns in words so that they can use these patterns to decode and spell words.
•As students look at all the letters, they are not thinking of a sound for each letter, because good readers know that sounds are determined not by individual letters but by letter patterns.
•Teachers that do Word Walls rather than just have Word Walls report that all their students can learn these critical frequency words.
•It is important that students learn we spell by pattern not one letter for one sound.
•Each day the teacher calls out five words for which the children clap and cheer (in a rhythmic fashion) written, and then check their work for accuracy.
•High-frequency words are added to the Word Wall at five per week.
•Because Word Wall words are high-frequency words they will occur in the selections children are reading. (Use your curriculum as a guide when selecting words for your students)
•In second grade, word selection is based more on what the teacher observes in children’s writing than on what words they have read during Guided Reading. The emphasis is still on high frequency words, but the teacher selects those that are irregularly spelled, particularly those misspelled in students first-draft writing.
•Teachers need a Word Wall in third grade if you find that many of your students misspell common, non-pattern words such as: they, were, could, where, does, said, people, because, from, and again.
•Phonics is the relationship between letter and sounds but students need to look for patterns of letters rather than individual letters.
•Psychologists tell us our brains separate unknown words into their onsets (all the letters up to the vowel) and the rimes (the vowel and letters following).
•Rounding up Rhymes (1st Read), (2nd Rhyme), and (3rd Rhythm Transfer)
•Making Words is an active hands-on manipulative activity in which students learn how to look for patterns in words and how changing just one letter changes the whole word.
•“Abracadabra” words that can be made with the same letters in different places (side/dies) so children are reminded that, when words are spelled, the order of the letters is crucial.
•Guess the covered word allows students to use all the letters up to the vowel and then look at the spelling pattern that follows.
Questions:
Should teachers show a chart of tense relations with words? An example is: Past (Yesterday), Present (Today), and Future (Later). I would think this would help students realize what tense spelling is needed.
In grades K-3rd, students are learning the foundations for reading and phonic awareness. When students advance in upper grades should teachers do a review of reading foundations with phonics and vowels or just concentrate on modeling how to decode big words?
Both of the readings were very interesting and full of useful resources to use in a future classroom. I really like the Making Words activity in the book. Not only do they get to have fun making words, but they also learn important information about phonics and spelling. I think this is important because making learning fun like this will help them to remember how to spell a word and how to sound it out. I also like how this activity guides you in steps in order to teach it effectively. I also find “The Wheel” activity very useful. It is not only a fun game, but it challenges the students to use higher thinking skills and questions to arrive at the correct answer. This game will help students with their vowel and consonants as well. This kind of activity will help them remember their vowel and consonants and also help them with spelling and letter placement. I find it important to teach children how to read and spell high frequency words and providing a lot of different reading practice to help them develop fluency with their words. I find this important because it will not only help them with word recognition and spelling, but it will help them with vocabulary and help them to use their minds. Reading and writing is very important and helping children to understand this and teaching them early on will be vital to them for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteA question I have would be how to effectively teach these activities to a ELL student when it is hard for some English speaking students to learn?
I really enjoyed the readings because it helped me gain educational knowledge on what it takes to help a student learn to read. I enjoyed reading Classrooms That Work but The Teacher's Guide to the Four Blocks gives very good examples of activities that helps produce success for classrooms. I am excited to learn about the new activities and look forward to using them in my future classroom!
ReplyDeleteThe readings were very interesting. I found these key points to be very helpful:
ReplyDelete-Good readers and writers are able to come up with a pronunciation and spelling for words they have never read or written before.
-Sounds are determined not by individual letters, but by letter patterns.
-If the word in question is a large word, readers can "chunk" it (put letters together to make familiar chunks).
-Activities such as "Guess the Covered Word" are great ways to help readers figure out what words make sense.
-Reading activities can and should be used for other subjects as well.
-We must take into account our English Language Learners and understand that they have greater difficulty because the English language is much more complex than Spanish. It is a good idea to begin with the letters that share the same sounds in both languages.
-Children can learn and retain strategies if they discover them, so "guided discovery" is a great type of instruction to use.
-The "Making Words" activity would be a lot of fun for children and offers a great opportunity to use guided discovery instruction.
-Children should learn to read and spell high frequency words and the patterns that allow them to decode and spell a lot of other words.
-Word Walls are wonderful tools to help children learn these high frequency words.
-Rhyming is a really fun way to help children learn more words, plus it can be a lot of fun.
Reading and writing are skills that every child needs to master. These readings showed some wonderful activities that I will be able to use in my own classroom.
Some questions I have are:
-Would older children still appreciate the Word Wall?
-How can I help those students who are having a difficult time with remembering the high frequency words?
-Where can I find good resources for my English Language Learners?
I loved the readings and found several key points....
ReplyDelete-I love the "Guess the Covered Word" activity and I think that would be very helpful to children. It will help children make sense with the words and which words fit and do not fit.
-I love Word Walls and I actually have them in my classroom. I only have the words under the correct letter, but do not have activities for them on the back of the words. I love that idea because it brings the Word Wall to life!
-I love the rhyming ideas because I think they are very useful to our children. I actually did a rhyming book with my children today and they picked up on it very well!
-I also like the "Making Words" activity because not only is it fun, but I think it would help them boost confidence that they can do it!
Questions
-What are some resources that I could use for my ELL learners?
-I want to teach older grades and are these activites too "young" for them?
These readings were very helpful to me with my own 7 year old. I also found these to be helpful with my Title 1 kids that I work with daily.
ReplyDeleteThe first activity that I found to be the most interesting was the Guess the Covered Word. I did this myself and found myself wanting to do more and was proud when I had gotten them ALL right. After doing this I could see where this not only helps the students learn but motivates them to do more. I also seen where I was using length to determine what word I was guessing.
Next, I liked the Using the Words You Know. I did this with my 7 year old and he was loving it by the time we stopped. He said, "I can use this tommorrow and make a 100 on my sentences." I then saw where doing this builds the children's understanding of making new words out of ones already learned. You don't always have to study to learn.
The next idea that I liked was that of having the cards for the kids to use when spelling the words out. I found this to be a great way to meet the needs of students that like to have hands on activities. Also, with this type of activity it gives students the opportunity to move the letters around to see if it "looks right to them." With out committing to the speeling.
A point that I underlined in the reading is to remind students that in English, many big words are just smaller words put to together and by stating this it can lessen the pressure of the students to feel like they have to memorize every word to be good spellers.
Last, the fact of adding the names of the students to the word wall I think is awesome. Not only can they link letters to names they can learn everyone's name and so can the teacher. I feel that it lessens the intensity of ALL the words on the wall when you can see your own name up there with the rest of the words.
A few questions I had during the readings were:
-Do you think that it is okay to do the spelling words along with the wrod wall so that you can incorperate two things at once or leave that as something totally seperate?
-What is a good way to get children to learn the definitions of the Homophones, other than repetative writing?
-Do you think that word searches can help with the information on page 76 in the CTW book?
I have learned so much from both of these readings. I have been tutoring in a 1st grade classroom during reading centers so I have been able to work with some of the suggestions. I love the idea of making reading fun and the students learn better when they engage.
ReplyDeleteI have tried to think back to the process in which I learned to read and I just cannot seem to make that connection. Chapter 5 describes the activities that occur when “your brain is busy constructing meaning and simultaneously identifying or spelling words”. It is unbelievable how much is happening.
The book does a wonderful job of breaking down the leaning process. According to Chapter 5 “good readers look for patterns of letters that they have seen together before and search their mental banks looking for similar patterns”. Good readers should also be able to automatically recognize most words and must be able to decode the words they do not recognize. Demonstrating or modeling the process of figuring out unfamiliar words helps the students develop confidence in reading.
The Making Words activity is fast paced and hands on which allows all students to benefit from the group instruction. I really like these ideas instead of dividing students into the low, medium and high groups.
Questions
With all of the practice that occurs with the Word Wall, are spelling tests on Friday really necessary?
Could these same techniques be developed in order to teach adults how to read also? What about ELL learners? Would it also be the same process?
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ReplyDeleteWow, I learned a lot of interesting information! From the Classrooms That Work text I learned:
ReplyDelete-All good readers and writers develop an ability to come up with pronunciations and spellings for words they have read or written before.
-To be a good teacher, you must be able to automatically recognize most words and be able to quickly decode words you do not immediately recognize.
-To be a good writer, you must be able to automatically spell most of the words and come up with reasonable spellings for words you can’t automatically spell.
-Sometimes struggling readers get the idea that the only time you use reading strategies is during reading! As a teacher, show how cross-checking can help them figure out words when they are reading all kinds of things.
-When teaching phonics to ELL students, start with letters that have the same sound.
-Reading is a complex process in which you have to identify words from which you construct meaning.
-Both reading and writing require the most common words to be read and spelled automatically so that the brain’s attention can focus on meaning.
-Newer approaches to teaching phonics often use guided and independent spelling activities to teach letter-sound relationship and their applications.
In the Teacher’s Guide to the Four Blocks text I learned:
-The goals of working with word blocks include learning to read/spell high-frequency words, learn patterns used to decode and spells lots of other words, and transfer word knowledge to their own reading and writing.
-The key to a word wall is “doing”. Children can learn things critical words by “doing” not just observing and viewing the word wall.
-Doing a word wall means adding words gradually, making words very accessible, being selective and “stingy” about what words go on the wall, practicing the words by chanting and writing them, doing a variety of review activities, and making sure that the word wall words are spelled correctly in any writing students do.
-Word walls grow as the year progresses
-Words with which children need much practice should be called out almost everyday.
In working with words, there are five activities that help children learn the onset and rime patterns and how to use them to decode and spell new words. They include Making Words (children manipulate letters of the alphabet to construct words, sort words into patterns, and use the sorted rhyming words to spell new words. The lessons are multilevel.), Guess the Covered Word (helps students learn to cross check meaning and letter-sound relationships), Using Words You Know (children learn how the words they already know can help them read and spell lots of other words), Rounding Up the Rhymes (emphasizes spelling and rhyming patterns), and Reading/Writing Rhymes (students use rhyming words to write and read some silly sentences). There are other activities too that help children learn and use patterns to decode and spell words.
-In order to truly learn and retain strategies, children must learn to discover them.
Questions that I have from readings:
1. How do students react to repeating an activity on a weekly basis?
2. Once all activities are complete, does a teacher stop or start activities over?
3. If it were the first week of school, how would the teacher prepare a word wall without knowing the instructional level of her students?
4. Is word wall what struggling readers need to motivate them to read and experience new things?
5. Do teachers experiment with all activities or just the ones that students can master?
6. How many classroom teachers today use the word wall along with the activities discussed?
I feel that these chapters offered tons of “real” activities that classroom teachers can use. I love that these books actually offer teachers activities instead of just telling them that students should learn this and that.
ReplyDeleteIn the chapters I learned about how good readers look for patterns in the words they are reading and relate them to similar words they have read before. I have never looked at reading that way before, but after reading the statement a light bulb went off when I thought, “Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense.” I also liked the list of strategies that good readers use. I feel that teachers can use this list to teach their students the strategies.
I also learned that you don’t have to teach children 7 million words, for instance just 37 spelling patterns can help children read and spell over 500 words. That really cuts down on what children actually have to learn and gives them tools to decode many words.
I thought the Nifty-Thrifty-Fifty Words were interesting, but didn’t understand why some of the words were placed on the list (antifreeze, prehistoric, governor, invasion) . I don’t think those words are used that often and didn’t understand the importance of them being on the list, although I did see a connection with the prefixes and suffixes.
I also learned new literacy vocabulary, onsets and rimes. I had never heard those terms before and learning the terms, and how our brains look at them, helped me understand the teaching of blends and special sounds before the vowel.
I loved the word wall concept, but saw that it was recommended up to third grade. Would you recommend using a word wall with fourth and fifth graders?
Spelling tests, Do you like them or dislike them?
How do you feel about spelling tests that carry over any words that are missed the week before?
The book provides some lists for the word walls, are there any lists that are highly recommended and why?
How would you recommend setting up a word wall?
Elise Hembree
The readings were a good source for ideas and some great learning tools. I didn't realize how much ryhming could help with the process of learning to read. I also like the idea of the vocabulary ideas and how they help.
ReplyDeleteI know that I could read before I went to school but only because my parents said I could. I don't remember for myself if I did or not. I do remember second grade well and I would have thought that I was a good reader.
We do reading stations in the classroom I work in and the children seem to enjoy them. What are you thoughts on these?
Also, I have to do fluency and vocab. reviews weekly with the class. Sometimes I think they are pointless. Would you do these weekly in your class?
-I thought it was very interesting that most of the things we read are too easy for our reading level.
ReplyDelete-Small informational books are great for struggling readers because they don't make them feel belittled.
-I like the idea of choral reading. I think it it will with a struggling reader's confidence to read along with other children in the classroom. Also, it could really develop their own reading abilities.
-Children need to know how to read, pronounce, and spell a set number of "common words" in order to be effective readers and writers.
-2 words... WORD WALL! Doing a word wall is awesome for teaching children the key words they need to know!
-I LOVE the face that the Making Words activity lets children uses discovery learning. I am a full supporter of guided discovery. Children need to think that they figured out something on their own. It helps them remember the information much better.
-Children need to know the relationships between words that can be added to with prefixes and suffixes. They will not understand why the word sounds the way it does unless they know the relationships between the words.
-The Wheel idea is awesome! It brings a popular television show into the classroom. I would have loved this game when I was in elementary school because my parents used to watch Wheel of Fortune every night, and I grew to love it just as much as they did. Children need games like this to make learning fun!
-Word Walls should be done gradually by adding five to six words each week. An activity to go along with them is always a good idea.
-I love the mind reader game for Word Wall! It would be so much fun for kids, and would also get their minds turning.
-Rhymes are important and fun for kids to learn in school.
--What are some good strategies to use with ELL learners?
--What is the best way to assess students' knowledge of spelling words besides spelling tests?
I chapter 5 of CTW, I like how the book broke down how your mind reads words hat you don't know.
ReplyDelete1. Recognize the unfamiliar word
2. Search your mental word bank.
3. Sound it out
4. Reread the sentence
Also that English is the most morphologically complex language. For every word, Linguists estimate you can figure out how to decode, spell and build meanings for 6 or 7 other words.
As you read you are automatically spelling the words.
Also word walls are an important part of any classroom. It helps scaffold what the student know.
Rhyming words are are important to learning to read properly
The question I had was about using the Making words lesson. Will we see this method in our class. It is easier to understand and pick up if seen rather than just reading about it. I am not understanding all the aspects of it.
When I read TGFB, they explained it a little better but not to the full understanding.
I had the question od