YEAR ONE- REAL SPELLING/STRUCTURED WORD INQUIRY TEACHER TRAINING

Word StudyAMERICAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF ABU DHABI

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Word Study at ACS KG2-5 ACS ELA Curriculum documents: “Word study skills and strategies are taught intentionally and based on student needs with a variety of resources that are systematically used throughout the school.” Word Study: The systematic study of words and how they work leads to students who have strong vocabularies, a spelling consciousness, and the ability to transfer and apply their knowledge to day-to-day reading and writing tasks.

2011-2012: Launch: Word Study will be taught using the Real Spelling resources across the school. For this year, a suggested curriculum and pace will be used by all teachers to provide a common framework for “teacher learning” around these new practices. Pete Bowers will be consulting across the year (ERD- Sept, On site- Nov, ERD- May) to help facilitate our launch and to train teachers. Other ERDs throughout the year will be dedicated to word study work. Word Study team members will continue to work as a group, leading their teams in this implementation and planning for parent communication. Update/Refine: The order in which the No Excuse words are distributed may be changed to better match our direct teaching of those words. Similarly, grades KG2-2 will move to using the “Fountas and Pinnell Phonics Kits” as resources to enhance Real Spelling themes taught. Cornerstone Assessments: The Words Their Way Spelling Inventory will be used to assess student progress twice a year. It will provide teachers data for differentiation. These assessments will be analyzed at our vertical Data Analysis meetings. As a school, we will not test students using lists of words or weekly spelling tests. “A good speller is not a person who has successfully memorized the most words, but rather someone who knows ways to figure out the logic of words and can construct them as needed. Spelling is problem-solving with letters, sounds, patterns, and meanings.” (Phenix and Scott-Dunne, 1991)

American Community School of Abu Dhabi Turning Dreams Into Reality

MISSION STATEMENT The American Community School of Abu Dhabi is a nonprofit, college preparatory institution driving by student learning. Our American-based curriculum promotes excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. In a challenging learning environment and in partnership with parents we empower

students to define and shape their futures. Our dynamic education approach prepares a culturally diverse student body for a lifelong commitment to learning, service and global citizenship.

ACS Profile of Graduates:

Mission: Thinkers: Critical, Creative, Reflective, Independent Responsible: Organized, Risk-takers, Open-minded, Respectful of Self, Others, and World Well-rounded: Balanced, Inquisitive, Adaptable, Knowledgeable, Effective Communicators Leaders: Diligent, Motivated, Confident, Principled, Collaborative

Word Study IDEAS to remember!

The english spelling system evolved to represent the meaning of the already existing oral language.

Spelling represents meaning.As early as possible, learners need to know the names of letters. They also need to know that a letter may represent several different sounds.

(/c/ can say <k> and <s>)

Early learners should at first only learn the lower case letters. Introduce early learners to the term initial since upper case letters are almost always only used as initial letters. Make a point of asking students not to use upper case letters unless they know there is a good reason to do so. (Informed intent rather than whim.)

Teach the REAL ‘building blocks’ of words- MORPHOLOGY:

Base element- The “kernel” of a wordPrefixes- may be found before the base elementSuffixes- may be found after a base element*The terms base element, prefix, suffix and compound word must constantly appear in your teaching and be thoroughly understood even by your youngest students.

prefix(es)

prefix(es base element base element

suffix(es)

suffix(es)

base element

Basic Word Structure

Compound Word Structure

There are two

models of word structure depending on whether the word

is basic or compound.

The English spelling system is not, nor can be primarily one of representing sounds. Phonemes are the sounds that mean something.

Etymology= Word Origin Words which share common origins have meanings in common too, and are likely to share similarities in their spelling.

Ideas from The Real Spelling The User’s Self-Training Manual Chapters A-H by Melvyn Ramsden ACS- 2011

Whole-class lessons on spelling are wholly appropriate! There is room

for the cautious and the ambitious, the tentative and the confident, the inexperienced and the expert.

Dictionaries are crucial. But in terms of spelling there is an important fact which you must understand.

You can only check spellings in a dictionary with any efficiency when you already know how to spell since every correct detail about a target word needs to be

known in order to locate it.

ONLY A RELATIVELY SMALL PROPORTION OF THE WORDS IN CURRENT USE IN ENGLISH HAVE SOME ESSENTIAL POINT OF NON-

CONFORMITY WITH REAL SPELLING CONVENTIONS.

MORE Word Study IDEAS to remember!

Ability to spell is not just a question of raw memory of isolated symbols--it’s the ability to think in an orthographical way.

Mobilize HAND and VOICE memory

You must firmly establish a positive attitude to spelling mistakes.

Writers have the right not just to be told what a correct spelling is but also why it is so. Teachers have a duty not just to mark and correct, but also to give reasons and justifications for correct spellings.

NOBODY MAKES MISTAKES ON PURPOSE!

Detailed analysis of correct and incorrect spellings affirm the notion of the proper behavior of words.

Teachers don’t/can’t/won’t know everything. It is more important that you are willing to learn, explore and try...in front of

your students.Teach how words work and the function of the orthographic system using “structured” inquiry. Model posing a question.

Then make a hypothesis and test it out.

Lead by example. Learn as you go.

Ideas from The Real Spelling The User’s Self-Training Manual Chapters I-M by Melvyn Ramsden ACS- 2011

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1 Week 1- Set Up Words Their Way Assessment- Q1 No Excuse Words- Getting Structured Word Inquiry Notebooks Ready

2 Week 2- Kit K/Theme!" Early Etymology The Families of <hear> and <two> The way words are written is fundamentally a way of representing what they mean. To spell a word we have to be able to answer the following questions: 1. Mean? 2. Structure? 3. Relatives? (Spelling Steps chart introduced.)

3 Week 3- Kit K/A Writing and Recognizing the Vowel Letters There are six letters that are more important than all the other letters of the alphabet because there is at least one of them in every word we write. (Vowel hand introduced.)

4 Week 4- Kit Pre-K/ Theme A Early Word Building Words belong to ‘families’ that are related by structure. (Vocabulary introduced: base element, prefixes, suffixes) Entirely an oral activity in preparation for later themes.) Kit K/Theme K Early Etymology 2: the family of <one> Connected spelling can indicate connected meanings, even if there are variations in the pronunciation. The real reason for its spelling is because the spelling retains the links with the other words in its family. (Simple word webbing/new use of the term word family.)

5 Week 5- Kit Pre-K/Theme C Homophones- same sound, different meaning, different spelling The first purpose of an orthographic system (English) is to represent a language in writing to those who already know and speak that language. (You can’t begin to write a word until you know what it means!) *Deeper Homophone lesson in Week 18

6 Week 6- Kit K/Theme E Counting Syllables Counting syllables the right way- tap not clap- helps us to check that there are enough vowel letters in a word. Counting syllables can help us decide whether or not <y> is a vowel letter (Terms: monosyllable and polysyllable introduced.) Kit 2/Theme L (DISK) Naming the Days of the week While it is important for children to know what the spellings of the days of the week are, it is part of our duty as teachers that they should know why they are spelled as they are.

7 Week 7- Kit K-Theme L Early phonetics: ‘tasting for consonants’ When we are building a base word we need to be able to work out what important speech sounds it has in it. We are going to learn about phonetics by concentrating on what we are doing with our mouths while we speak. *Teacher Ref: The User’s Self-Training Manual, Chapter F

8 Week 8- Kit 1/Theme J Phonological matrices -2- When we want to spell a word the first thing we must do it build its base word. There are several ways we can do this. We re going to do some building of base words by using a special sort of matrix *KG2-G2 will work through Kit K/Theme G Phonological matrices -1-

9 Week 9- Kit 1/Theme G Long and Short Vowels and the Single Silent <e> Vowels can be ‘long’ or ‘short’ or a ‘shewa’ or ‘silent’. In English a change between a ‘long’ and a ‘short’ vowel can change meaning. The spelling system needs ways of representing the change because they can affect what a word means.

10 Week 10- Kit K/Theme D The Phonology of <c> The letter <c> can represent the phonemes /k/ or /s/; the letter which follows <c> governs which of those phonemes it is representing; <c> is never written at the end of a base word…

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11 Week 11- Kit 1/Theme A The <i /y> conventions: the basic pattern The letters <i> and <y> are a ‘team’—they can swap places with one another. However sometimes they don’t swap places. There are simple patterns, which govern these modalities. (No complete English word can end with the letter <i>.)

12 Week 12- Kit 1/Theme B Plurals -1- whether to use <-es> or just <-s> English uses a suffix to make words into the plural. This plural suffix has a short form <-s> and a long form <-es>. There are patters for deciding whether to use the short or the long form of the plural suffix. *Teacher Ref: The User’s Self-Training Manual, Chapter K, “Notes for teachers” for Kit K/Theme E.

13 Week 13- Kit K/Theme B The Suffixes <-ly> and <-ful> Using the common English suffixes <-ly> and <-ful> to establish the basic patterns of real word structure. We should think in groups of letters (letter stings and graphemes) not single letters when spelling. (Introduction of the word sum.)

14 Week 14- Kit K/Theme C The Suffix <-ing> The suffix <–ing> is extremely useful for establishing several basic patterns of spelling. It is an interesting suffix because it can make things happen to the last letter of the word that you are fixing it to. (Single silent <e> flow chart) *Teacher ref: The User’s Self-Training Manual- Chapter L

15 Week 15- Kit K/Theme H The Suffix <-ed> The special interest of <-ed> is that it is always spelled the same however we pronounce it. It is an excelled illustration of the axiom of real spelling that words or parts of words, that mean the same are spelled the same—even if they are pronounced differently. (Double the consonant flow chart.)

16 Week 16- More practice with word building (Return to previous Kits) Cornerstone Assessment(s)?

17 Week 17- Kit 2/Theme F Two families- ‘wh- words’ and <them>, <they>, <their> The digraph <wh-> can be used for /w/ at the beginning of a base word as an alternative to just <w>. The spelling of <they> (rather than <*thay>) follows from its connection with <them>, which can only be spelled with <e>. *Teacher ref: The User’s Self-Training Manual-Chapter G

18 Week 18- Structured Word Inquiry Kit K/Theme F Diagraphs (Graphemes) for long <e> Whether a vowel is ‘long’ or ‘short’ can make a difference to the meaning of the word. (The letter <e> itself, the digraph <ee>, the digraph <ea>, the digraph <ie>, the digraph <ei>, digraph <ey>, “liquid” consonants: /r/ and /l/, and BEWARE: “I before E isn’t a rule!”)

19 Week 19- Kit K/Theme J Diagraphs (Graphemes) for long <a> Whether a vowel is ‘long’ or ‘short’ can make a difference to the meaning of the word. (The letter <a> itself, the digraph <ai>, “liquid consonants /r/ and /l/, digraph <ay>, the digraph <ey>)

20 Week 20- Kit 1/Theme E Introducing the grapheme <igh> The three-letter grapheme <igh> is an important and common element of the spelling system.

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21 Week 21- Kit 1/Theme I Homophones The homophone principle—words which have the same pronunciation but different meanings will, if possible, have different spellings too—is fundamental to the spelling system.

22 Week 22- Kit 1/ThemeK Learning from Love The word <love. Is one that many youngsters arrive at school already knowing how to spell. It is also one of the many short and common words, which are not ‘phonic’. It is an excellent springboard for meeting, revisiting or discovering patterns of real spelling.

23 Week 23- Kit 4/Theme C The <o> / <u> partnership The vowel letters <o> and <u> are a ‘team’. There are times when <o> is used when you might expect <u>, when you can’t use <u> you use <o> instead, they combine to form a single grapheme <ou>… (<i> and <y> flow chart, huge word web for out)

24 Week 24- Kit 1/Theme H Compound Words A real compound word will have a meaning, which is related to the meanings of the words from which it is compounded. (double base words, making compound word webs)

25 Week 25- Kit 1/Theme C When suffixes force doubling -1- monosyllables Adding a suffix that begins with a vowel letter can force the consonant letter before it to double. (The suffix patter about doubling, adding suffixes flow chart.) *Other Themes Which May Come Up- Consider teaching after spring break. Kit 4/Theme A: When suffixes force doubling -2- polysyllables, The digraph <qu> Kit 2/Theme H: When the last letter before the suffix is <w> or <x>

26 Week 26- Kit 1/Theme D Suffixes and the single silent <e> A single silent <e> at the end of base word can indicate that the previous vowel is ‘long’, a vowel suffix will replace a single silent <e>, spelling needs to be able to indicate a ‘long’ or a ‘short’ vowel since meaning can be changed by the length of the vowel.

27 Week 27- Kit 1/Theme L Digraphs (Graphemes) for the ‘long’ <o> The letter <o> alone can be ‘long’ and there are also graphemes of more than one letter for ‘long’ <o>: the digraph <oa>, the digraph <ow>, the digraph <oe>

28 Week 28- Kit 1/Theme F Early word webs Building word webs reinforces our understanding of the way spelling links words that belong together in word families.

29 Week 29-

30 Week 30-

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