Organizing Word Work

Words Their Way

Since it's almost time for the kids to go back to school. I wanted to update some of our popular post about teaching Words Their Way. Words Their Way is a developmental phonics, spelling and vocabulary program. It takes the place of traditional spelling approaches such as skill instruction and repeated practice. Now as most programs that come across our desk as teachers, we know that we need to tweak them to make them our own and make them work for our students. Well WTW is no different. I personally for my students know that repeated practice is not always a bad thing. That's why we created our word work bundles, because we love to sort and do all the hands on activities but we also wanted to give students paper and pencil practice with the words (insert gasp). During our Literacy stations or centers, students have a work on word station that includes a worksheet or activity that has their sort on it. These are fun activities that give students another way to practice their sounds and see and read their words in a different context. Students sort their words daily and during word work centers they will do a worksheet which includes an activity with their sort.

How to Organize WTW

Can you imagine 6 year old's trying to keep up with 8-10 little pieces of paper for a week or two? Yeah me either. For those of us that use words their way as our phonic/spelling instruction, the hardest part is how to organize and have students keep up with their sorts. After trying several different ways, I finally came up with a solution that works for me. This year I purchased pencil pouches that students use to store their sorts in each week. These are great and better than the baggies I've used before. The pencil pouches zip so no little pieces of paper find their way onto the floor. However, when dealing with 6 year old's ,we know all things are possible, so just in case, I also have my students turn their sorts over and write their initials on each one. If one makes it to the floor, we can return it to their rightful owner. I've included some pictures so your can see it in action.

This short vowel word work bundle will give much needed practice for short vowel patterns. We use these during our Literacy block for word work stations. This pack included a variety of activities and printable worksheets to making learning fun. I like using these because they are not the same sheets every day. It gives

the students a variety of ways to see their words.