![]() 2) Have the students cut the sorts out during another part of the school day. Instead of using up instructional time, I suggest exploring a few options: 1) Use a timer to limit the amount of time they have to complete the job. HINT: I have found that some students are incredibly efficient at cutting the words out while others need more time. You can also involve your students by having them cut the words out of the card stock. But once you have the materials created, you will have them as a resource for years to come. It can take some time to prepare the materials, especially if you have students on many different levels. The color of the crayon is specific to that student, so for example when I find a card with green on the back, I know it is from Jomar's envelope. In order to help keep track of hundreds of words in my room, each student colors the back of their words with a crayon. It instead offers opportunities for hands-on, developmentally appropriate word work which leads to a greater understanding of our spelling system. WTW does not teach spelling “rules” which will all know have so many exceptions in English. Like scientists or detectives, they are looking for patterns in spelling and sound in order to categorize words. I believe one of the keys to the WTW program is the fact that students are given the task of making sense of words on their own terms. Second, and perhaps most impo rtantly, after using WTW for only about 2 months, my students’ motivation, interest level and ability in studying words increased noticeably. There is a core text for the program, pictured to the left and below, another core text for WTW with English Language Learners, an edition focused on struggling readers and a number of additional workbooks with materials for each developmental stage. First, the WTW texts are incredibly helpful and offer a great variety of materials (CD-ROM and DVD too). ![]() I will admit that learning a new system was a bit daunting at first, but two things have made the challenge easier and extremely worthwhile. ![]() So, over that summer, I did some reading and research, ultimately deciding to implement it the following September. ![]() I discovered and became interested in the Words Their Way program (WTW: my own abbreviation) near the end of the 2010 school year, at which point there was not sufficient time to begin it. Word sorts are simply a set of words which fall into certain spelling, sound, or semantic categories. If you’re not familiar with Words Their Way, it is a developmental spelling program which has students work with level-appropriate word sorts in order to improve their understanding of the written language. ![]()
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