I started daily morphology lessons this week. We did work with compound words, adding suffixes, and finding suffixes. The kids were really receptive and seemed to understand how and why to use suffixes. I tape recorded two of the lessons to listen to later and reflect upon my teaching.
I also interviewed the other students who I have been collecting data on. I asked them questions related to words and how they learn and use them. I will be transcribing them and posting them this week.
I plan to teach lessons regarding prefixes next week and then create some center games for the kids to play with during their free time. This group loves to play learning games, so I thought this might be a great way to fit in some extra practice with root words, prefixes, and suffixes.
Monday, April 5, 2010
March 16, 2010
I am not pleased with how my students are doing regardind their word sorts. I decided to have them work in partners, but that didn't quite work as well as I wanted to. It seems one person tends to do all of the work. I had the kids do the word sorts individually this week and then share their findings with the group. This went much better and I feel it had the kids really focus and learn.
March 16, 2010
I am working at adding in more morphological lessons into the weekly work. We are using some center activities to help with practice of prefixes and suffixes.
I interviewed Kahea this week regarding her feelings on words.
Word Awareness Interview with Kahea
March 9, 2010
3:15 p.m.
KK: What do you do when you encounter words you don’t know?
KC: I sound it out, look at the pictures, and decode the word into words I know.
KK: Sorry, I am slow writing this.
KC: It’s ok.
KK: How do you go about learning new words?
KC: My dad gives me words to figure out what they mean. I go to Google to figure them out.
KK: Once you have done this, what do you do?
KC: I draw pictures or write what they mean.
KK: Does your dad check the words when you are done?
KC: Sometimes he does. If they are long words. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t. He doesn’t always check them.
KK: What do you like/dislike about learning new words?
KC: I don’t like learning new words because it is boring. Sometimes I do, so I can transfer them to sentences to look smart. It’s ok that I’m humorous with this right? (Smiles)
KK: Sure! How do you make words your own?
KC: I remember how to spell them and what they mean. I keep using the word.
KK: How many times do you keep using the word?
KC: I use it a lot so you remember. The new words you give me, well I keep using them to make them my own, like the word livid.
KK: You like that word don’t you?
KC: Yes, I’m glad you told me that one. I used it in my story last week.
KK: Even Heather used it in her story.
KC: I know. I told her about it.
KK: How do incorporate new words into your writing?
KC: I use them where they make sense. If I don’t people will go, “What?”. I like to make it interesting for the reader.
KK: You really focused on word choice for your last story, why?
KC: Well, you brought in the sports section and pointed out the word choice they used and you kept talking about using more descriptive words.
KK: What tools do you use to incorporate new words in your writing?
KC: I asked you, I used them where I thought they made sense. I should get better at using the dictionary for this.
KK: Focusing on my instruction for new words. What do I do well and what would you suggest I do better?
KC: Well, I will start with the things you do well. Things you do well are you teach what words mean, like the morpheme triangle. You break up the word, like transported. You find out what each part means and come up with more words. This helps make more sense. I have to think about what you would improve. Maybe more practice with the words. Your expectation should be to see the words in our writing.
KK: What makes spelling different this year?
KC: You give me challenging words. You make my brain think harder. I like that it is harder, but it is more work.
KK: Next year, what would you do if you have a teacher who does traditional spelling?
KC: Can I do like/dislike?
KK: Sure.
KC: I wouldn’t want to argue with the teacher. It might be disrespectful. I might make her mad. But it would challenge and help out lower spellers.
KK: How would you convince the teacher to teach the other way?
KC: Students like me are a little more developed than others. It would be better for my development for me to have harder, more convincing words.
KK: Research states spelling, reading, and writing are connected. What do you think?
KC: That’s true. When you read you learn a lot of words. In writing you use those words and in spelling, you use words that are connected to make your sentences more powerful.
KK: Out of the three, reading, spelling, and writing…
KC: Which one is my favorite?
KK: That wasn’t what I was going to ask, but go ahead and tell me. We can get back to my question later.
KC: Reading is my favorite because it develops more in a quicker, elapsed time. I learn more meanings of words quickly.
KK: How do you find meanings of unknown words while you are reading?
KC: ‘Cuz when you read a word you don’t know, you read over it and you will learn by the sentences and pictures. Sometimes this doesn’t work, like your college books. There aren’t any pictures in those. I also use the Internet if I can’t figure it out.
KK: Ok, back to my question. Out of reading, writing and spelling, which is hardest for you?
KC: Spelling is the hardest for me. It is more of a challenge. Mrs. Kingsley, you, give me words I need to know by fifth grade.
KK: The words I am giving you are words you need to know by seventh grade.
KC: WOW! My friend was telling me I could be in seventh grade. That is interesting.
KK: Well, Kahea, those are all of the questions I have for you. Do you have anything else you would like to say about words?
KC: Nope.
KK: Thank you for helping me out.
KC: You’re welcome.
3:40 p.m.
Kahea is a very bright young lady. She is a high ability learner with a great appetite for learning. She has great composure and a rich vocabulary. She gets adult humor and sarcasm.
I talk to Kahea daily and truly enjoy her wit and the way she can carry on a conversation with an adult. Throughout the interview I was really relishing in the word choice and thought she used in her answers. Her input on my teaching was very insightful and useful for improving my instruction.
I interviewed Kahea this week regarding her feelings on words.
Word Awareness Interview with Kahea
March 9, 2010
3:15 p.m.
KK: What do you do when you encounter words you don’t know?
KC: I sound it out, look at the pictures, and decode the word into words I know.
KK: Sorry, I am slow writing this.
KC: It’s ok.
KK: How do you go about learning new words?
KC: My dad gives me words to figure out what they mean. I go to Google to figure them out.
KK: Once you have done this, what do you do?
KC: I draw pictures or write what they mean.
KK: Does your dad check the words when you are done?
KC: Sometimes he does. If they are long words. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t. He doesn’t always check them.
KK: What do you like/dislike about learning new words?
KC: I don’t like learning new words because it is boring. Sometimes I do, so I can transfer them to sentences to look smart. It’s ok that I’m humorous with this right? (Smiles)
KK: Sure! How do you make words your own?
KC: I remember how to spell them and what they mean. I keep using the word.
KK: How many times do you keep using the word?
KC: I use it a lot so you remember. The new words you give me, well I keep using them to make them my own, like the word livid.
KK: You like that word don’t you?
KC: Yes, I’m glad you told me that one. I used it in my story last week.
KK: Even Heather used it in her story.
KC: I know. I told her about it.
KK: How do incorporate new words into your writing?
KC: I use them where they make sense. If I don’t people will go, “What?”. I like to make it interesting for the reader.
KK: You really focused on word choice for your last story, why?
KC: Well, you brought in the sports section and pointed out the word choice they used and you kept talking about using more descriptive words.
KK: What tools do you use to incorporate new words in your writing?
KC: I asked you, I used them where I thought they made sense. I should get better at using the dictionary for this.
KK: Focusing on my instruction for new words. What do I do well and what would you suggest I do better?
KC: Well, I will start with the things you do well. Things you do well are you teach what words mean, like the morpheme triangle. You break up the word, like transported. You find out what each part means and come up with more words. This helps make more sense. I have to think about what you would improve. Maybe more practice with the words. Your expectation should be to see the words in our writing.
KK: What makes spelling different this year?
KC: You give me challenging words. You make my brain think harder. I like that it is harder, but it is more work.
KK: Next year, what would you do if you have a teacher who does traditional spelling?
KC: Can I do like/dislike?
KK: Sure.
KC: I wouldn’t want to argue with the teacher. It might be disrespectful. I might make her mad. But it would challenge and help out lower spellers.
KK: How would you convince the teacher to teach the other way?
KC: Students like me are a little more developed than others. It would be better for my development for me to have harder, more convincing words.
KK: Research states spelling, reading, and writing are connected. What do you think?
KC: That’s true. When you read you learn a lot of words. In writing you use those words and in spelling, you use words that are connected to make your sentences more powerful.
KK: Out of the three, reading, spelling, and writing…
KC: Which one is my favorite?
KK: That wasn’t what I was going to ask, but go ahead and tell me. We can get back to my question later.
KC: Reading is my favorite because it develops more in a quicker, elapsed time. I learn more meanings of words quickly.
KK: How do you find meanings of unknown words while you are reading?
KC: ‘Cuz when you read a word you don’t know, you read over it and you will learn by the sentences and pictures. Sometimes this doesn’t work, like your college books. There aren’t any pictures in those. I also use the Internet if I can’t figure it out.
KK: Ok, back to my question. Out of reading, writing and spelling, which is hardest for you?
KC: Spelling is the hardest for me. It is more of a challenge. Mrs. Kingsley, you, give me words I need to know by fifth grade.
KK: The words I am giving you are words you need to know by seventh grade.
KC: WOW! My friend was telling me I could be in seventh grade. That is interesting.
KK: Well, Kahea, those are all of the questions I have for you. Do you have anything else you would like to say about words?
KC: Nope.
KK: Thank you for helping me out.
KC: You’re welcome.
3:40 p.m.
Kahea is a very bright young lady. She is a high ability learner with a great appetite for learning. She has great composure and a rich vocabulary. She gets adult humor and sarcasm.
I talk to Kahea daily and truly enjoy her wit and the way she can carry on a conversation with an adult. Throughout the interview I was really relishing in the word choice and thought she used in her answers. Her input on my teaching was very insightful and useful for improving my instruction.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Week of March 15, 2010
This was a short week and I don't feel as if I had ample time to work on the study of this week's words.
We again began with the pretest. Prior to the test, I had the students write their words in their planners instead of doing so after the test. I am not sure if this helped any of the students with the words during the pretest.
I put the kids into partner groups for the word sort this week and it made a huge difference. I will continue with this practice changing up the partners each week.
On Wednesday, I met with each group and we discussed the word pattern(s) they were looking at. I again had them sort their lists, but I put a twist on it. They had to look for certain sounds, patterns, spellings, word meanings, etc. Whatever seemed most important to the group.
I would have liked another day to work with the words, but since we didn't have school on Friday, I had to have our post test on Thursday. Only a couple of my students didn't fare well on the weekly test. Taylor is just not interested in doing school work, she would rather socialize, so I don't know how many of the words she can truly spell or if she just doesn't care. My other student, Brett, is in the wrong group, I think. He was in my long vowel group, but after the quarter assessment using Words Their Way, I found that he may be able to handle a more challenging list of words. I am going to see how he does next week and then I may need to make some adjustments.
We again began with the pretest. Prior to the test, I had the students write their words in their planners instead of doing so after the test. I am not sure if this helped any of the students with the words during the pretest.
I put the kids into partner groups for the word sort this week and it made a huge difference. I will continue with this practice changing up the partners each week.
On Wednesday, I met with each group and we discussed the word pattern(s) they were looking at. I again had them sort their lists, but I put a twist on it. They had to look for certain sounds, patterns, spellings, word meanings, etc. Whatever seemed most important to the group.
I would have liked another day to work with the words, but since we didn't have school on Friday, I had to have our post test on Thursday. Only a couple of my students didn't fare well on the weekly test. Taylor is just not interested in doing school work, she would rather socialize, so I don't know how many of the words she can truly spell or if she just doesn't care. My other student, Brett, is in the wrong group, I think. He was in my long vowel group, but after the quarter assessment using Words Their Way, I found that he may be able to handle a more challenging list of words. I am going to see how he does next week and then I may need to make some adjustments.
Week of March 8, 2010
The week started out as usual with our pretest on Monday and then the kids wrote their words in their planners for extra practice after they corrected their lists.
I had them do their word sorts in large groups, not such a good idea. There were quite a few behavior issues and some stronger personalities took over and didn't allow others to help. I will need to make some changes regarding how I have them work on word sorts next week.
On Wednesday, I had the kids work on learning about the words. They worked in small groups to divy up the words. Each student wrote the word, used it in a sentence and then drew a picture of the word. They then had to share their words with the group. My intent was for the students to learn from each other, but their listening skills were quite lacking. Not a lot of shared learning occured.
I had the students play word games on Thursday. I have used different game suggestions from Words Their Way to provide extra practice for each group. The kids truly love it when they get to play the word games.
Friday was the post test, I have noticed some students are really accelling and others are really struggling. I am going to give it another week before I make some group changes.
I had them do their word sorts in large groups, not such a good idea. There were quite a few behavior issues and some stronger personalities took over and didn't allow others to help. I will need to make some changes regarding how I have them work on word sorts next week.
On Wednesday, I had the kids work on learning about the words. They worked in small groups to divy up the words. Each student wrote the word, used it in a sentence and then drew a picture of the word. They then had to share their words with the group. My intent was for the students to learn from each other, but their listening skills were quite lacking. Not a lot of shared learning occured.
I had the students play word games on Thursday. I have used different game suggestions from Words Their Way to provide extra practice for each group. The kids truly love it when they get to play the word games.
Friday was the post test, I have noticed some students are really accelling and others are really struggling. I am going to give it another week before I make some group changes.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
February 4, 2010
Guy has given me a great list of journal articles to read and reflect on regarding morphology. I have enjoyed the first four and have found research support for including morphological instruction in reading and spelling. I am now looking to include this instruction into my classroom. I am going to try using inverted triangles as a graphic organizer to work on morphemic awareness. I will do a whole class lesson this week to introduce and model for my students. Next week is a short week for our district, so instead of a spelling unit, we are going to do some vocabulary lessons with a focus on root words and prefixes. I am axious to teach those lessons and help my students explore new and exciting words. My plan is to continue reading the articles Guy suggested and to explore ways to include morphological instruction into my daily lessons.
February 9, 2010
We only have 3 days of school this week, so instead of doing a formal week of spelling, I decided to have a morphology awareness week. Yesterday I modeled and had the kids create Morpheme Triangles. You use an inverted triangle and break a word into its word parts. You use the inner corners to write the definitions and then create word lists on the outside of the triangle with those word parts. It was a difficult task for some groups, but they were clever and creative and used their dictionaries to help them. Some word parts were hard to define and that will be an area we will continue to work on. They really enjoyed this activity and it led to great discussion.
Today we played a game called Prefix Change. It is like playing UNO, but you match words with the same prefix. Instead of WILD cards, you use CHANGE cards. The kids loved this game. They helped each other work on pronouncing the words and were discussing what the words meant in their groups. We had enough time to rotate the groups of cards, so each group was exposed to 12 different prefixes. This game took some time for me to prep, creating the cards, finding the words and prefixes that would work, but it was so worth it!
Tomorrow we are going to play Find A Word. Students will be given a word part and they will have to find the person in the room who has the other part of their word. They will get together, figure out how to pronounce their word, figure out what it means, and use it in a sentence. They will then teach the class their word and how to use it.
Thursday is an inservice day and I am presenting literacy activities to the 3rd-6th grade teachers in my building. This is part of my responsibilities as a Literacy Facilitator in my district. I will be presenting the Morpheme Triangles and Prefix Change game along with other strategies on making inferences, summarizing, and activities to use during guided reading. I hope they will find the two morphological activities as worthwhile as I have.
As far as my reading, I am truly enjoying William Nagy's work and findings on morphology.
Today we played a game called Prefix Change. It is like playing UNO, but you match words with the same prefix. Instead of WILD cards, you use CHANGE cards. The kids loved this game. They helped each other work on pronouncing the words and were discussing what the words meant in their groups. We had enough time to rotate the groups of cards, so each group was exposed to 12 different prefixes. This game took some time for me to prep, creating the cards, finding the words and prefixes that would work, but it was so worth it!
Tomorrow we are going to play Find A Word. Students will be given a word part and they will have to find the person in the room who has the other part of their word. They will get together, figure out how to pronounce their word, figure out what it means, and use it in a sentence. They will then teach the class their word and how to use it.
Thursday is an inservice day and I am presenting literacy activities to the 3rd-6th grade teachers in my building. This is part of my responsibilities as a Literacy Facilitator in my district. I will be presenting the Morpheme Triangles and Prefix Change game along with other strategies on making inferences, summarizing, and activities to use during guided reading. I hope they will find the two morphological activities as worthwhile as I have.
As far as my reading, I am truly enjoying William Nagy's work and findings on morphology.
February 28, 2010
The more I read, the more I think I know, the more I question, and the more I want to know. Ah, an endless cycle. I am really starting to get an idea of how my project on morphology is going to take shape. I had the opportunity to speak with Emily regarding morphology and interviews she is doing. I am going to use her format with my third graders to find out about their word knowledge. I am reading Marcia Henry's Unlocking Literacy to help me with my instruction.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
March 4, 2009
I just finished 3rd quarter assessments using the Words Their Way spelling assessments. I started with the primary assessment with the whole class. I had 15 pass this assessment by missing 5 or fewer words. I then administered the Elementary assessment to the 15 students. I had 6 pass this assessment by missing 5 or fewer words. So I administered the Upper assessment to them. I have now determined each students spelling level and I will be working with 5 different groups of spellers for 4th quarter.
I spent quite a bit of time mapping out the words and patterns I would work on for each group. I have groups ranging from vowel sounds to Greek and Latin roots. That is quite a range.
I started reading Unlocking Literacy by Marcia Henry this week. She discusses decoding and spelling. Her philosophy and theory support the instruction of morphology. I will be using some of her lists when I work on my project of word knowledge this semester with my students. I need to touch base with Guy regarding exactly what the project will look like. I know it will involve some interviewing of students and a word pre-test/post-test format.
I spent quite a bit of time mapping out the words and patterns I would work on for each group. I have groups ranging from vowel sounds to Greek and Latin roots. That is quite a range.
I started reading Unlocking Literacy by Marcia Henry this week. She discusses decoding and spelling. Her philosophy and theory support the instruction of morphology. I will be using some of her lists when I work on my project of word knowledge this semester with my students. I need to touch base with Guy regarding exactly what the project will look like. I know it will involve some interviewing of students and a word pre-test/post-test format.
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