Nonsense Word Activities

Mog. Fim. Phum. Sote. Pagbo.

These are just a few examples of the types of words students are asked to read on a Nonsense Word assessment. Some assessments are timed (how many nonsense words can you read in one minute?. Nonsense word measures are one part of DIBELS, a widely-used assessment for young children. They are one part of most diagnostic work done with struggling readers. Nonsense word fluency measures a student's ability to decode individual phonemes and then blend them together to read. They are an indicator of a student's progress in acquiring early alphabetic principle skills. By using nonsense words, we can find out whether a child knows the most common sound for letters (letter–sound correspondence), and whether a child can blend the sounds to read words he has never seen before. Nonsense word reading works really well as a quick, reliable, and valid way of assessing part of the alphabetic principle. Reading nonsense words force students to use their phonic knowledge to decode accurately. These nonsense words are paired with similarly constructed real words so students understand better how to apply these skills when they read.

• Using the page titled Nonsense Word Fluency, ask your child to read the nonsense word strips. Begin with the top row. He/she will read each row and then move on to the next row. When finished, ask your child to read the entire page row by row.
• Cut out the Nonsense Word cards from any of the below attachments. Begin with the first letter of each nonsense word and ask your child to read each of the three sounds. Then have him.her read the word.
• Spread out the Nonsense Word cards face down. Each play chooses one words to read. If they read it correctly they get to keep the word card.
• Separate the vowels from the consonants alphabet letters or cards. Together, take turns making nonsense words to read to each other. For example, choose "b", "o", "v" -> your child reads "bov". Your child chooses "j", "e", "p" -> you will read "jep".
• Using your computer keyboard, ask your child to type nonsense words. Ask him/her to read the words back to you when they are finished.