Chapter 6 – WTW – Within Word Pattern Stage

smoore31175
Oct 16, 2015
5 min read

Chapter 6 – Words Their Way – Within Word Pattern Stage

Literacy Development of Students in WWPS
Transitional stage of literacy development
Between the beginning stage and intermediate stage
Wright brothers of reading
They have taken flight
Have limited elevation in their reading
Does not take much to bring them down to frustration level
Commonly found in second, third, and early fourth grade
Not uncommon to find struggling readers in middle and high school in this stage
Read most single syllable words accurately when reading at their instructional level
Can read 2 to 3 syllable words if there is enough contextual support
Move from full alphabetic phase to consolidated alphabetic phase which they begin to recognize patters and chunks to analyze unfamiliar words
Generally reading orally at the beginning of the transitional period but by the end they can manage longer periods of silent reading
Books in this stage cover a wide variety of levels from early second grade to early fourth grade
In early part of this stage, readers will read reread familiar texts from several sources
Basal readers
Picture books
Favorite poems
By the end, reading easy books
Magic Tree House
A lot of reading experience is crucial during this stage
Students should be reading for at least 30 minutes a day
Both instructional and independent material
Need the practice to prepare them for the next stage; otherwise they will stagnate as readers and writers
Writing in the Within Word Pattern Stage
Writing becomes more fluent because students know how to automatically spell more words
Actual action is performed with greater speed
Vocab learning
Children can on average add 10-15 new vocab words each week
Teachers need to take an active and deliberate role in vocab growth in all students
Vocab instruction should not be confused with spelling instruction
Good children’s literature continues to be the best thing for vocab learning
Picture books and chapter books
Read alouds help students develop the skill of using context clues to learn the meaning of new words
Students benefit from repeated exposure to words and from seeing the words in print as they hear them
Display words on charts
Refer back to them throughout the day
Vocab and Word Sorts
Teachers should take the time to read through words in a sort to be sure they know the meanings of the words
Students will be introduced to homophones
Homophone Pear/Pair Tree
When a homophone pair is discovered, write it on a pear shape and add it to branches of a tree on a bulletin board
English language is full of works that are spelt the same but have different meanings
Part the car or play in the park
Concepts Sorts and Simple Prefixes/Suffixes
New subjects will expose students to new vocab
Many teachers conduct concept sorts at the beginning of a unit of student as an informal assessment of background knowledge
Can be taught simple affixes as meaning vocabulary beginning in the second grade – when most students are developmentally within this stage of spelling
Orthographic Development
Students within this stage use (but confuse) vowel patters
Phonemic awareness is well developed
Short vowel blends, and digraphs are nearly mastered and should only require review
The Pattern Principle
Pattern layer of English
They must isolate the phonemes to determine the sounds they need to represent and choose from a variety of patters that represent the same phoneme, which usually involves silent letters as part of a vowel spelling
The Complexities of English words
Short vowels pose a problem for this stage spellers because they do not match the letter name
There are more vowel sounds than vowels, most sounds can be spelled a number of ways
Influence of Consonants of Vowels
Vowel patters often consist of two vowels, one of which signals or marks a particular sound for the other vowel.
When associating the CVC pattern with short vowels, it becomes confusing for words such as saw, Jaw, or cat
Relate sound to meaning rather than rules
Triple blends, Silent Initial Consonants, and Other complex consonants
Three letter blends and digraphs are studied towards the end of the stage
They can also be included in sorts throughout the stage when appropriate
Characteristics of consonants that are related to vowel sounds are called Complex Consonant Patterns
Homophones, Homographs, and other Features
It is recommended to have an intensive look at homophones and homographs and homographs
Closed and Open Sort
Closed: give them the words and categories and have them sort the words into the correct places
Open: just give the students the words and have them find the words
Blind: students will say a word to their partner and their partner will sort that words without seeing it
Picture Sorts to Contrast Long and Short Vowels
Develop phonemic awareness and focus attention on sound without the printed word
Students with difficulties benefit from picture sorts
Sequence and Pacing of Word Study
Early: students know blends and digraphs and spell most short vowels correctly. Final silent “e” is the most common patter. If students know fewer than two CVCe they are in the early part of this stage
Middle: students are spelling the vowels with CVCe patterns. Making errors still on uncommon long vowel patters such as r-controlled and ambiguous
Late: students have mastered long vowel patterns but will be making a few errors in other vowels. They also miss complex consonants
Study of High Frequency Words
Children learning small core of words they read ad use most
This causes rote memorization and reduced students relationship between reading and spelling
Many high frequency words are considered odd balls because they do not follow common spelling patters
Best way to study high frequency words is to have students use them in their own writing
Assess and monitor progress
Weekly spelling tests
Weekly blind sorts
Adjust to the scores of students and instruct on the level they are at
Do formative and cumulative spelling checks to assess word retention
ELL Word Study
Students who know their first language tend to use word letter sound spelling from their first language
Strategies for Teaching and Assessing English to ELLs
Some ELLs memorize many words however have no strategies to spell other words with the same spelling
There can be times when you should assess students’ first language spelling. This can be done by the Spanish, Chinese, and Korean inventories available in the Words Their Way.
Preparing ELLs for the Classroom
Reduce ELL word sort, so they do not become overwhelmed
Pair words and pictures ELLs are visuals
Discuss meaning of words in lesson in the intro to the lesson, not when needed
Have ELLs draw pictures with definitions of the words
Find your ELL student a partner in the classroom with patience who can aid this ELL
Influence of Dialects
Dialects become a problem during words
Some students will sort words by their sound of 1st language which will be a little different than classmates and the teacher
Word Study Routines and Management
Typical third grade class will have students in the middle to late word pattern stage
This can be taught in small groups, one students know the schedule and patterns of word study
Create a word study “Notebook”
Word study section
Vocab section: write words the students are unfamiliar with from their reading
Ongoing list of homophones
Activities
Word Hunts
Find words with same patterns within a reading
Homework
Send spelling words home to parents
Resources and Games
Spellingcity allows you to create your own list of words
Word-O
Students are given a word and then students are asked to make other words by changing one or two letters at a time