I am very excited to start our spelling program, Words Their Way.  Your child may already be familiar with the program.  Words Their Way is a research-based program that teaches students to look for sound and letter patterns in words, rather than memorizing words.  There are too many words in the English Language to memorize but students can learn to generalize patterns to help them make logical guesses when they come across unfamiliar words.  Even better, this program teaches students to recognize that there are times when the English Language has exceptions, where these patterns do not hold up.

Your child should have brought home a collection of spelling words that have been introduced in class.  You will take one look at them and complain that they are:

“Too easy for my child.”  

PERFECT! – That’s exactly what we want for the next two weeks.  Right now, we are focusing on having students learn HOW to do the different daily activities to ensure that these words and the spelling principles they represent are mastered. These activities have been modeled and practiced in school, and it’s your child’s job to be the teacher and teach you how we do these activiites. It is important that they follow the procedure in order to learn the routine for when words become more challenging.

 

When students receive their words, they will need to cut them out.  Each week they will be given “key words” to sort words into categories like we did in school.  Once students have completed the activity for the day, it’s important that these words are kept in a safe place as we will be using them all week.

On Thursdays, students will be asked to into categories like the ones we did in school. Remind them to:

  • See it
  • Say it
  • Touch it (Sort)
  • Match it

In the beginning, your child may want to put the words directly into a category.   I know they can do this with the easy words but they need to practice the procedure so they know how to use these strategies when they receive harder words in two weeks.

Ask your child to sort them a second time as fast as possible. (Speed Sort), this second time, they can place it directly into the correct column if desired. If s/he is feeling confident, they may wish to race against you.

Thank you for your support. Together we can help your child make valuable progress.