Chapter+11

**Chapter 11**
**#1 - Tone** //“‘Pull in. Look at this word. Don’t you love it?’ Because I want this message to be heard loud and clear, by every child, I want letters and words to be a cause for our celebration, exploration, invention, talk, and laughter…” (p. 201)// //Has this been the collective tone from your experiences with phonics/word work either in your own schooling, your classroom now, or your district?// //If so, how did it get to be so? What strategies would you offer a new teacher to get students to this level of love, wonder and celebration of words?// //If this has not been the case for you, how would you describe the collective tone from your experiences around phonics and word study? Why do you think it is as such and do you have any ideas about how to turn it around for students?//

//Yes!!! I come to all curricular areas with excitement. A new teacher is a clean slate. I would warn them to be prepared. Teaching the printed word needs practice on their part. Lesson plans can be beautiful, but what are the connections you want to create for your new charges. Read your favorite book, age appropriate, to start the day. Create minilessons that have a connection. Do you have a "delicious" word? Where did you read it, why is it so "delicious? As he/she prepares for this year the celebration starts with you. Soon the celebration, exploration, invention, laughter will be "ours".//

//Margaret Fox ﻿//

I don't think I've started the year as excited as it was described in the first few pages of the chapter. However, I know I should be! I would LOVE to be in a class like that!! (I think because of the way our curriculum is structured, we don't start the letters until October.) I want to do the whole "Star names" thing that was explained on pg. 197-200 at the beginning of this new year, however. I see to do a lot of talking and I will be sure to do more "exploring" and "celebrating" letters and words this year. :) Kari Bonnema

My experience at several different building the phonic/word work experiences havebeen very varied. I have seen the fun kindergarten example listed in the book on pg. 200. I have seen a lack of quality instruction. I have seen 5th grade roomfilling the hole with hands on word work that they where so excited about. The older we get the more interested we arein being guided through processes we did not understand the first time. These 5th grades loved this partof the day and it increased their reading score and comprehension. KDN

We do bring in some excitement with letter learning at the beginning of the year. We have students bring in things that begin with the letter sound and we eat foods that begin with it also. It is a very fun way to begin the year's review. The rest of our word work isn't quite as much fun. We do have a list of required vocabulary words and do some partner work with those....dry erase boards and make a word activities. Ronda

The tone about word work has gained more positive response over the years in my classroom. It’s largely due to my increased comfort and enthusiasm in teaching it. The staff in my school has been trained in and follows EBLI (Evidence Based Literacy Instruction). The content, structure and sequence have helped me build confidence in teaching phonics to children. We hold the expectation that kids have strategies for reading and writing multi-syllable words at a young age, as well as the necessary foundational skills of course. The kids love the challenge and enjoy collecting words that go along with our phonics lessons. I will introduce vocabulary words from an upcoming read-aloud and use poems and songs that have words that fit a spelling pattern we’re working on. I feel that the two tips I can offer is to 1) love, wonder, and celebrate words yourself and 2) connect the word work to authentic reading and writing. I love the opening paragraph of Renee’s classroom. Using children’s names is one of the most motivating tools I’ve learned to teach phonics! Sara Sabourin

I have some 1st grade experience. For me it was nice to have a 4 Block Phonics book to follow and guide my teaching. It seemed I had to invent all my other language arts lessons, so having something concrete in front of me saved me time and energy. Teachers can only do so much. I see the value of star names. I have a colleague who starts the word wall every year with names and then incorporates the phonics book lessons into her word study. A blend of the let them investigate and explore, and the teacher centered word study. I like that approach. With 5th graders this year I'm glad to hear that I can create some excitement for word study and look forward to seeing them"filling those holes" that I may have created for them previously. Mike

Chapter 11 from Bobbi Friend #1 – In my experience in our school district, word work has been emphasized to an extreme. We spend so much time trying to get our students to be fluent readers, that my fear is that we are sometimes forgetting that the most important goal of reading is to construct meaning. We use DIBELS to measure the number of words per minute that our students read and we use that as the main indicator for being an at-risk reader. I think that all teachers need to be very careful to use a balanced approach to literacy and be cautious about teaching too much toward one aspect of reading or another. Lucy talks about helping children become word solvers as readers by helping them become word solvers as writers. I think that it is so important that students know that letters give us power and that children need to be putting this knowledge to use as they write. If we are balancing reading with writing we will be more likely to teach students to understand that the purpose of words is to create meaning in everything we do.

I totally agree with Bobbi. Our district has done the same thing. We have relied heavily on DIBELS testing but I see that changing and for the better. I love the idea of being a Word Solver. It lends itself to keep the focus on the main goal and that is reading and writing with comprehension. Understanding words helps us understand the message that we are trying to get from our reading or convey through our writing. In the past I would teach phonics and word study separately from our reading time, but now I see the benefit to just incorporating it into the Reading and Writing Workshops as the needs arise. Individually, small group, differentiating the phonics skills for the learners that need it. Whew! I thought I did a pretty good job last year and yet the list of things I need to add to my program this coming year keeps growing and growing! Keri Cooper


 * As I probably mentioned in the past, my students are 18-26 and mostly non-readers. A large number of my students are not hearing the first and last letter of a word in our unit for each month. We are using Words Thier Way, Four Block strategies, Starfall.com, Scholastic word families, books on tape, phonics, and picture supported text. With that said, I am excited at the prospect of using the same strategy as demonstrated on pages 198-205. The author follows up with continuing strategies of Alphabet Exploration and "putting on the page the things we do and love and wonder about." Finally, last year, some of my students really became excited because they realized that they could make new words with simple endings of -an, en, ot, etc...and that excitement spread throughout the room. It just does something to a teacher when she/he hears; "I'm learning to read." I guess we just have to be good at recognizing what each students needs to be successful. **
 * M.J. **
 * One of the things I love about being a teacher is that I get to start over every year. I love to be a catalist for the excitement that comes with teaching readers. I make some very lofty promises to my students about how much fun and work reading will be to us. I show them books that they will be able to read if they put in all the practice every day. I tell them all of the reasons I love to read and they share ideas of why they think it will be great to be able to read. While doing this I sit on the edge of my seat and whisper as if I am sharing the world's biggest secret with them. Their eyes are usually glued right to mine and I know we have connected and then I begin the first read aloud of the year reminding them that in time they will be able to do the same reading that I just did. I have gotten a lot of my phonics ideas from Pat Cunningham's 4-Block program. I do a lot of work with student names at the beginning of the year. I was once told that the sweetest sound to a child's ears is the sound of his name so I make a point to use their name often. I loved all of the ideas Lucy shared from Renee's classroom. I haven't been doing as much with environmental print, now that I teach first grade I focus much more of my student's time on what Lucy refers to on page 217 as power words. We do a lot with onset and rimes, which I refer to as word families. We work on them as they come up in our reading or writing and the students love to come up witht words to add to our word family posters that aren't on them. These are not posted on my word wall- they have a separate wall due to the fact that I have to put 225 words on my word wall and this doesn't leave room for extras. --Jodee Tuttle **

**#2 Ways to increase word power** //Take a second look at the bullets on pages 215-216 to “increase word power and gain more control over sight words”. Did you notice that these suggestions occurred at different times throughout the day? This seems like an example of true blending and application of learning for transferring and retention. What are some ways you weave word work throughout your day with students?//

//Kari, I start my day with a positive quote that is a "connection" to what our day will be about. This year I will use the high frequency words and vocabulary for the week. I often refer back to the quote during the day. They might read, fluency. As we meet, whole, partners, alone I can make these connections. This can be used during writing as a reminder that these words need to be spelled correctly. I also have a chart where I print words that come up in their writing that are misspelled. I think we assume our children have transferred and are retaining the basics.//

//Margaret Fox﻿//

I definitely use the first bullet on page 215 in my classroom. In the past I have not built my word wall up throughout the year since many second graders can read nearly all of the words in September. This year I plan to introduce a few words that the students already know as suggested in the lesson description on page 213 and add onto the list each week. Students also have personal dictionaries in their writing folder. This year I am going to have students highlight the high frequency words as they are introduced so they know these are the words that must be spelled correctly without exception. I like the idea of having students write these words in the sky or spell them to a friend while waiting to go somewhere. I typically have students solve math facts during times like these, but plan to add this to my sponge toolkit. Another way I weave word work in is through word activities such as stamps, letter tiles, and games. These were a part of our word work centers last year, but were also available for students to use when they completed their work. Stephanie Cooper Each morning I write a "morning message" on the white board. It always has a few sight words in it. We look for "words we know" and then the helper comes up and circles them on the board. We also look for them in big books we read together, too. By the end of the year, we have 12 sight words we know. In May, I have my students cut the sight words from a page into little flashcards. Then then play "memory" with a friend, trying to find matches. They love it!

In Kindergarten we write the "letter of the week" in the sky, with our "magic pencils" (our pointer fingers) but we could also add in sight words, too. I like how they are already familiar with writing in the sky and could do that for a few words, as well. Kari Bonnema

I Ioved the idea of transferring. When the skill is taught different times of dayand with a different twist. My students have the worst time withtransferring. My students learn askill—but the direction this size and the change in wording can make the skill seem brand new and unknown. Startingearly with some simple concepts could make all the difference in the learning process. KDN

We use word walls to help them with their writing. I love the suggestion of having them check through their writing to make sure certain word wall words are spelled correctly. We also practice these words in many ways, spelling them in the sky, clapping them, jumping jacks and sitting and standing with every letter. Movement also helps them to stay focused at the task at hand. The last bullet can be practiced in the one-on-one conferences that I hold with each student. We are just linking the word wall words to their reading. Ronda

I’m reminded by Stephanie’s post that I have also had kids highlight words on their personal word wall once the word has been introduced. I like the idea of updating it every week and sending home a cumulative copy (page 215). They keep these word wall cards on their desk during writing workshop. As I mentioned in a previous post, I use songs and poems (that I’ve copied for kids to put into a 3-ring binder) for word work, fluency, and FUN! The kids love to highlight words on those sheets. Like Kari, I will write a message on the board and have students look for and circle high frequency words. We then all write some words on the carpet or in the sky so everyone has a chance to participate. I like the idea of using more word work during transition times, such as having kids spell some words with a friend before recess. I often will point to words on the wall when there is a lull and students quickly recite them. When students are done early with an activity they can also take out their whiteboard and marker to practice spelling words. Sara Sabourin Chapter 11 from Bobbi Friend #2 – Increasing word power and gaining more control over sight words is a skill that never ends. Even in sixth grade, students will be coming into contact with new words due to the complexity of the texts that they will be reading. It will be a challenge to constantly integrate word power and sight word knowledge into my teaching every day. Integrating it into the other academic areas, such as science and social studies, will make that job much easier. When we can teach new words through other content areas, it is more likely that students will internalize and recognize those new words when they encounter them in text. It will be important for me to connect with the other teachers when I am planning for my reading workshop units so that I can coordinate and integrate in order for students to come into contact with new words at various times in the day.

The only thing listed in the bullets that I currently do is the second bullet....the one that talks about using the word wall and making sure that if you use a word that's on the word wall that it's spelled correctly (pg. 215). I like the ideas of having kids share a word or write a word at different times during the day. Also, like Sara stated, my favorite part was having personal word walls that are updated and highlighted each week and sent home (pg. 215). There is definitely a huge value to imbedding the word work more into the studies of reading and writing and so it goes on that list I have that is growing and growing! :) Keri Cooper

I love all of the bulleted ideas and am happy to say that they are all ideas I currently use in my classroom. They need to get into the habit of referring to the word wall from the first day of school. I try to encourage this by having all of my student's names up when they walk in the door for orientation night. I refer to the names whenever I write someone's name by asking the class to find the name on the word wall and spell it for me. I model this for the class and we continue this process of finding and spelling words as they are added to the word wall. Later in the year I do another activity as a filler, I dictate a sentence to the class trying to use only words from the word wall. The kids goal is to write the entire sentence spelling each word correctly on the first try. This forces them to use the word wall as a tool which is my ultimate goal! --Jodee Tuttle

**#3 Authentic Evidence** //It was energizing to hear the essential connections between reading and writing in this chapter, wasn’t it? Writing workshop is a valuable element in connecting word study to authentic purposes. What have you personally noticed regarding retention and application of phonics and word study learning as evidenced in authentic writing and reading?//

I have noticed that writing workshop and the Reading 1st model (focus on word study)—assists in the development of better writers. The idea that are floating in a students head now more easily float onto the paper. There is a procedure for writing. There are more workds to access in a student’s brain plus there is the safety net of the word wall and the high expectations that words are spelled correctly. I think quality literacy classrooms encourage the use of “big money” words like glorious instead of good or nice. KDN //﻿//

I see every chance to engage students with new words or to cement their knowlede of words they need help with is a great strategy. Writing workshop, reading workshop, cross curriculum areas, are all opportunities to help my students grow. In the past I focused my word study and phonics learning in isolation. I "saved" it for writing workshop time. When I started using a portable word wall for my most challenged students a light bulb went on. This helped my struggling writers in their reading also! I saw them using the list when they found a word that looked like words on their list, but they didn't have the automaticity to transfer it to their reading. It was a great tool for them, helped them with confidence and independence. So, I made portable word walls for all my students. I allowed them to use them whenever they needed to, and each student found ways to incorporate the word wall for their own needs. That extra engagement seemed to help my students at each level. Mike

Like Mike I too see evey chance to engage students with news across all disciplines of instruction. As referenced on page 210, **"How ironic (and sad) it is when schools are so frantic to support early reading that they bypass the writing workshop altogether!"** In the writers workshop, students stretch words out, isolate chunks of sounds, relate the sounds in one word to the sounds in another word, and search their memories, the alphabet chart, and the word wall to match sounds with letters. Sounds alot like PHONICS. Because I have worked with students who have Autism, we are all about labeling things in the classroom. It is a fun activity and the students are involved in typing the words, printing, lamenating, cutting, and taping to the object/item. I like the idea of using a portable wall it really takes the frustration out of learning and relieves much anxiety. Even in college, our Algebra teacher let us use our notes on our tests. What a stress reliever. On that note, my very **intelligent nephew** age 8 is taking zanax because he is so stressed at what he is expected to learn in second grade. So, we have the ability to teach at higher levels, but maybe we should be asking ourselves if we should?? Being a Psych Major I am of the belief that some students are not Developmentally ready???? Hmmm... M.J.


 * // In addition to the questions and thoughts above, here is a place to post other ideas and burning questions from chapter eleven, if any.. //**