What is Word Study.pdf

Getting Started: Assessment

To get started, you will first need to give your students a spelling inventory. This inventory assess their ability to write letters to represent the sounds they hear. There are three spelling inventories that Words Their Way recommends (Primary, Elementary, and Upper Elementary Spelling Inventories.)

Each of these inventories has a list of words that increase in complexity of spelling skills. Once the spelling inventory is given, then you can use the Feature Guide to score and identify the student's developmental level.

General Directions for Spelling Inventories

Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI)

The Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI) is used in kindergarten through third grade. The 26 words are ordered by difficulty to sample features of the letter name–alphabetic to within word pattern stages. Call out enough words so that you have at least five or six misspelled words to analyze. For kindergarten or other emergent readers, you may only need to call out the first five words. In late kindergarten and early first grade classrooms, call out at least 15 words so that you sample digraphs and blends; use the entire list for late first, second, and third grades. If any students spell more than 20 words correctly, you may want to use the Elementary Spelling Inventory.

Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI)

The Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI) covers more stages than the PSI. It can be used as early as first grade, particularly if a school system wants to use the same inventory across the elementary grades. The 25 words are ordered by difficulty to sample features of the letter name–alphabetic to derivational relations stages. Call out enough words so that you have at least five or six misspelled words to analyze. If any students spell more than 20 words correctly, use the Upper Level Spelling Inventory.

Upper Elementary Spelling Inventory (USI)

The Upper-Level Spelling Inventory (USI) can be used in upper elementary, middle, high school, and postsecondary classrooms. The 31 words are ordered by difficulty to sample features of the within word pattern to derivational relations spelling stages. With normally achieving students, you can administer the entire list, but you may stop when students misspell more than eight words and are experiencing noticeable frustration. If any students misspell five of the first eight words, use the ESI to more accurately identify within word pattern features that need instruction.

Instruction: Sorts According to Spelling Stage

Word Sort Instructions

For students of all ages and language backgrounds, knowing the ways in which their written language represents the language they speak is the key to literacy. In this resource, we describe how teachers can most effectively guide and support students’ learning about the sounds, structure, and meanings of words—crafting our instruction so that our students learn about words their way. In addition to demonstrating how a developmental approach to word study best supports students’ deep and long-term word learning, this new edition further explores how educators may apply this developmental model as they implement effective and engaging phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction from preschool through the middle grades and beyond, and apply best practices for ongoing progress monitoring, response to intervention and scaffolding instruction for multilingual learners. Whether you are a long-standing companion on this adventure or joining us for the first time, we welcome you on this continuing journey to learn and teach about words their way.