Daily 5 Chapter 6!

Hello Kinder Friends,

You know what they say...better late than never! It's been super busy but I am back on track and ready to talk about Word Work!


Word Study is critical to developing readers, writers and communicators. During Word Work we focus on spelling and vocabulary work with children. Word Work offers children time to experiment with words for learning and practicing a spelling pattern, time to help memorize high frequency words, time to generalize spelling patterns and learn and add new and interesting words. Traditionally, in the beginning of Kindergarten, our Word Work is letter work and we begin by using our names as a starting point. With the demands of learning sight or high frequency words, we now have to begin focused lessons much sooner.

1. What are some ways for experimenting with words for learning and practicing a spelling pattern?
Words can be practiced by using:

Playdough
Wiki Sticks
Stamps
Magnetic Letters
Letter Tiles
Gel Pens and Black Paper
Chalk and Black Paper

Markers

2. How often do you introduce new words? Do your students have their own lists of words that they can work on? How will you keep track of words that they already know?

Where I teach Kindergarten children are responsible for learning more than 30 high frequency words before leaving Kindergarten. Those words do not include color words or other words like mom and dad and those other words children learn throughout the year in Kindergarten. So the pacing will be 1-2 words per week for the most part. Children will have their own list of words. I will use a checklist system to keep track of words that each child knows for reporting to parents and for reporting progress. What I do believe is that daily Word Work is critical. I also know that learning words for some children is very difficult. In every class there are children who struggle with learning words...it is not just the ELL students. One new thing I am going to incorporate this year is the combination of music, movement and words.

3. Adding to our knowledge and curiosity of unique and interesting words what is the best way to do this? I think one of the best ways to add to our knowledge and curiosity of unique and interesting words is to discover new words in the books we read. If you read enough books in Kindergarten, this just seems to naturally happen. I also enjoy games, poetry and books where children discover nonsense words.

Other things to think about:

Words Their Way is a wonderful resource that can be used for Word Work and can be incorporated into the Daily 5. Additionally, children love concept and word sorts and what I love about Words Their Way is that you can get started right away and early in the year.

What materials would I like to get?

One of my FAVORITE materials for word work is a giant bag of letters that you can buy at Lakeshore. I was able to go shopping with Crystal from Kreative in Kinder this summer and we split a bag because I already had some. I love these letters because it can be challenging to find what you are looking for and tons and tons of discussion takes place about uppercase and lowercase letters and letter formation. When we use these the children quickly learn that it is better to work together! These letters are perfect for letter sorts and there is no copying or cutting. This is a true teacher time saver...sometimes you just have to buy it and move on to more important things. These are worth the money.  

 I bought several of these write on and wipe off pockets at Target and I think they will be perfect for some Word Work activities. I love how it will save on paper.  The good thing about Word Work is that most of the materials to make words we have on hand or they can be easily and inexpensively purchased.

Making words can be a lot of fun even as a whole group activity. I have never had a class that did not like making words activities. I have had the same sets of letter making cards for years but a substitute did not take such good care of my letters. I made my own so I would have them on my computer in case a letter gets lost because you know it will eventually happen. I used the small letters with a small pocket chart I got from Target. The larger cards can be used in a big pocket chart. If you need some letters just click on the image above. I keep these letters stored in a small laundry clothespin bag and it hangs close to where I have my meeting area. I love having these ready to go when there is a quick minute of time to fill.         

How will I store them?

This year I am going to try something different. Before I used a shelf to store work work with multicolored bins to hold the materials. I also store some materials in manila envelopes. This year I am going to use a cart that I purchased from Michael's.

What I like about this cart is that there is enough room in each drawer to store most of the materials that we use for word work. I also like that the drawers can hold smaller containers for individual word sorts. Magnetic cookie trays can be stored on top of the cart for easy self serve. I felt like this was a good alternative to try and it frees my previously used shelf up for other things.

Where will students work?

I am comfortable with letting the children choose where to sit and work. In the beginning of the year we spend enough time talking about what a good working space is so they really can manage picking a good working space and this never has been a problem for me. My children do have assigned seats that they must sit in only at certain times of the day. During independent work sessions nobody has assigned seats and we work where it is most appropriate for the job that we are doing.

If you have followed this blog for a while you know I love dice and most Kinder kids do too! One of my favorite ways to use dice is for Roll a Word. Roll a Word is always an option and children love it. As a review I send dice and a Roll a Word page home for homework. You just can't go wrong with this one..

If you need a copy just click on the image above to get yours. Alright friends, have a great day and I will see you next time for Work on Writing! Head on over and see what other teachers are saying about Word Work!