Effective Word Work Time

I re-posted this from another blog I host, but added a list of apps that can be used to teach word work.....

I've recently become interested in activities that take place during word work time. Pretty soon I found myself searching for activities that seem to be the most effective instructional practices to use in the classroom. 

Sorting 
Students sort words into according to certain criteria, which helps them learn patterns within words. According to the Words Their Way word study program, there are different types of sorts that can be used during word work time.

• Sound sort -- using the phonemes in the words or pictures
• Pattern sort -- grouping words following a certain pattern
• Meaning sort -- words with same meanings have similar spelling patterns
• Concept sort -- link vocabulary with student understanding
• Closed sort -- teacher gives students the categories/headers to use with this sort.
• Open sort -- student determine categories and sort own words
• Repeated sort -- allow student to work through the sort more than one time.
• Buddy sort -- sort, read, and discuss collaboratively throughout the sort with another student.
• Blind sort -- headers are used and student indicates where the word belongs.
• Writing sort -- writing words into categories, students are paying attention to sounds or patterns.
• Word sort -- student hunt through their reading and writing  words for additional examples
• Speed sort -- using a timer and comparing their own speeds with sorts

Resources to use with sorting:

• Speed Sort Documentation Template
• Instructional Sheets for the Different Sorts (scroll to the bottom of page for links)
• Word Sort Center Packet (Google Doc.)
• Powerpoint for WTW Sorts (check this out!)

Practicing Words

• Whiteboards (use with a buddy, one student says the word and the other student writes the word on whiteboard)
• Write with dry erase marker on desktop
• Spelling City website or app
• Bang Game...drawing cards out of container, read word, keep if right, put back if wrong, if bang card all your cards go back in container.

Apps for Word Work
Magnetic Board for teachers and students 
Magnetic ABC
Alphabetizing
ABC Ninja
Spelling Sight Words With Scaffolding
Sight Words
Sound Sorting Beginning Sounds

Additional Resources

Words Their Way Activities

Sound Board for Beginning Consonants (black/white)

Sound Board for Beginning Consonants (color)

Sound Board for Beginning Blends (black/white)

Sound Board for Beginning Blends (color)
Spelling Chunks & Chunk Strips

Word Families and Examples

Long Vowel Word Race & Long Vowel Dominoes (scroll down to links)

Spin a Word -- Prefix Word Building Game (scroll down to link)

SMART board Games (scroll for link)

Phonogram Connect Four Game

Consonant Digraph Board Game

WTW Board Variety Games -- Google Doc.

ABC Teach Word Family Slides

Creative Word Study Activities

Carl's Corner

Can anyone suggest further effective activities?

Book Trailers for Readers

(Video from www.booktrailersforreaders.com)

Book Trailers for Readers (www.booktrailersforreaders.com) is a great way to get students excited about their reading. This website displays book trailers created by students, which got me thinking. What apps on the iPad could help in the creation of a movie trailer? Here's what I came up with.....

If your students need to watch a sample movie trailer to learn how the pros do it...use the iTunes Movie Trailer app (FREE). I would be careful just letting students go free on this app, but instead, choose a few student-friendly movie trailers to watch. As you watch the trailers, have students fill out this organizer (Movie Trailer Analysis Organizer).

(Resource found at http://sblc.registereastconn.org/BookMovieTrailerAnalysizingWorksheet.pdf)

After you have analyzed a few movie trailers together as a group, they are ready to create on themselves. Here are some resources to help with the planning process:

Book Trailer Planning Document

Book Storyboard Template

Here is a movie that explains why storyboards are important in movie making. It talks about the different types of shots for each scene and that your pictures aren't elaborate, stick figures work just fine too.

List of apps to help create storyboards:
iBrainstorm
Strip Designer
Popplet
Story Me
iBrainstorm

Now that your students have their storyboards created, they are ready to make their movie trailer. Here is a list of apps that students can use to create a movie trailer:
iMovie App and Directions on how to use
Lego Movie Maker
Puppet Pals
Toontastic

And the last piece...assessing student work. 
Book Trailer Rubric

Wednesday Word Cloud

I'm sharing a word cloud that I created with Tagxedo. All I had to do was paste the URL to this blog into Tagxedo and adjust your settings and a word cloud appears. Unfortunately, a few of the more popular word cloud creating softwares do not work well with the iPad.


It would be fun for students to create a word cloud on a regular computer and then send a picture to the iPad. Students can create a document in Pages, put the picture in the document, pair up with a partner and discuss the word cloud, writing all the ideas in the Pages document. This would be a good activity for middle school students. Here are a few ideas for word clouds...

1. Fun way to introduce yourself
2. Use a biography of a famous person...analyze findings
3. Analyze survey data from parents of your students
4. Create a cloud from a passage in your reading and see if students can guess the main idea and learn about the vocabulary.
5. Use the lyrics of a song
6. Speeches...the presidential speeches of Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, compare and contrast

Recommendations from Reading Rockets

Thanks Laura for passing this along!


This is a wonderful website for teachers that would like some resources and information about reading. I even put one of their widgets on my blog site...it was super easy!


Here are a few Spelling Apps that the Reading Rockets group has shared: Click Here


I was told that I needed to also share the Electric Company Wordball app (Free)  from the Reading Rocket list. This is a newly released app and here are some of the features:

1. The use of videos with music relating to the phonics, example "silent e" "soft c".
2. Students get to see how fast they can be to when grabbing word balls during music videos.
3. Player uses the word balls to create words with that sound.
4. Videos are locked until they pass the previous lessons.
5. I can see teachers use this app for an introductory into the letter sounds.

Since we are on the topic of Reading, wanted to pass this fun video along of a great book!!! I could see students having the actual book in hand and turning the pages along with the video, this is the actual author and James Dean. Enjoy!