Making Words

Dr. Kristen Pennycuff Trent

Making Words Making Words is a manipulative,

multilevel activity that both teachers and students enjoy. As children make and sort words, they increase their word knowledge, discover patterns, and become better readers and writers. (Cunningham & Hall, 1997).

More about Making Words

A Making Words activity is one in which children use letters to make words, beginning with two-letter words and continuing with three-, four-, and five-letter words and even bigger words until the final word is made. The final word always includes all the letters. Once the final word is made, children sort the words into patterns. (Cunningham & Hall, 1997)

What do children learn? Children discover letter-sound relationships and

learn how to look for patterns in words as they make and sort words. They also learn that changing just one letter or the order of the letters changes the whole word. By beginning with short, easy words and ending with a big word, the lessons provide practice for the struggling learners and challenge for all. Children who lack phonemic awareness develop that awareness as they listen for the sounds in words and participate in sorting (Cunningham & Hall, 1997)

Brain Research Current theory in brain research suggests

that the brain is a pattern detector, not a rule applier, and that decoding a word occurs when the brain recognizes a familiar spelling pattern or, if the pattern itself is not familiar, searches through its store of words with similar patterns (Adams, 1990).

Steps in Making Words • Make step

– All involved at seats

– One child creates word for class

• Sort step – Sort by patterns

– Use patterns to create new words

• Transfer Step – Teacher presents new

word

– Students decode and sort

• Homework – Word cards and sheets

are sent home

– Create words from class and new words

Making Words Homework Children build and record new words

with letters used in a class lesson as homework. See the attached letter home and a sample Take-Home sheet.

Word Construction in Double Time

Give each student sticky notes and a Venn diagram. Have students use a black marker to write consonants and a red marker to write vowels. Have students use their letter cards to make as many real words as they can in 1 minute and record them on a piece of paper. Then, ask students to count their words and record the number. Have them read their list to a partner and then complete a Venn diagram using both students’ words (Allen, 2001).

Making and Writing Words

In Making and Writing Words Using Letter Patterns (Rasinski, 1999), students use rimes and other patterns as well as individual letters, to write words. Then the students transfer their knowledge to create new words. Finally, they cut up the organizer to create word cards, which they can use to practice the words in games and sorts.

Word Walls Dr. Kristen Pennycuff Trent

What is a Word Wall? • Think of a Word Wall as a working

bulletin board in which words are the focus.

• There is no right or wrong way to create a Word Wall.

• It is tool to use not just display.

Why Word Walls? • Serves as permanent record of student

learning. • Provides support for varied language

learners. • Enhances learning through practical use. • Uses real world strategy of referencing. • Integrates easily into daily literacy

activities. • (Wagstaff, 1999)

Why Word Walls? • “The best differentiator between

good and poor readers is repeatedly found to be their knowledge of spelling patterns and their proficiency with spelling-sound translations.” – (Adams, 1990)

Word Wall Development • Emerging

– Just started with word walls

– Commercially developed materials

• Developing – Utilize word wall some

throughout the week

– Some words developed with children

• Fluent – Adding and introducing

words gradually from authentic experiences

– Practicing the words by chanting and writing them

– Holding students accountable for words

Types of Word Walls • ABC Wall • Words We Know Wall • Chunking Wall • Other Types

– Help Wall – Name Wall – Combination Wall

ABC Wall • Built to learn letter forms, letter names,

and basic letter-sound coorespondences – One key word for each consonant

• Can add words for hard and soft sounds or digraphs

– Two key words for each vowel

Purposes of the ABC Wall

• Introduces students to alphabet • Increases students’ phonemic awareness • Helps students recognize and write letter

forms • Builds students’ automatic recognition of

letters and sounds • Builds students’ knowledge of letter-sound

correspondences • Promote students’ use of initial and

final letter cues in spelling and reading

Words We Know Wall • Contain high frequency words and

words that lack predictable spelling patterns

• Harvest from authentic context – Rhymes, chants, poems, stories

• Promote automaticity and accurate spelling

Chunking Wall • Contains key words using common spelling

patterns – Onsets and rimes, prefixes and suffixes, word

chunks – Long vowel patterns, r-controlled vowels, -ful, -

le, -tion, -ture

• Helps students decode/spell unknown words by analogies

• Teaches flexibility in word perception

Purposes of the Chunking Wall

• Promotes students’ phonemic awareness

• Teaches students to look at words flexibly

• Helps students decode and spell words by analogy

Other Types of Walls • Help Wall

– Reference for language conventions • Punctuation marks, capitalization, homonyms,

contractions, etc…

– Key words and phrases as well as picture clues organized by categories

– Increases basic skills and use of conventions in process writing

Other Types of Word Walls

• Name Wall – Helps students learn ABC’s

– Aids students in applying analogies to read and write new words

• Combination Wall – Any combination of walls

– Color coded and arranged alphabetically

Why should I use a Word Wall?

• supports the teaching of important general principles about words and how they work

• fosters reading and writing • provides reference support for children • promotes independence on the part of students as

they write and read • provides a visual map to help children remember

connections between words and the characteristics that will help them form categories

• develops a growing core of words that become part of a reading and writing vocabulary (Sitton, 1996)

What words do I put on the Word Wall?

• K-1 teachers generally choose words from reading selections to add to the wall. Teachers consult a high frequency list and then add the most frequent ones from anything read.

• 2-3 teachers choose words based more on what the teacher observes in children’s writing. The emphasis is still on high-frequency words, but the teacher selects those that are irregularly spelled.

(Cunningham, Hall & Sigmon, 1999)

Using the Word Wall means…

• Adding and introducing words gradually • Making words accessible and visual • Practicing the words by chanting and writing

them • Doing a variety of review activities • Making sure that Word Wall words are

spelled correctly in any writing. (Cunningham, Hall & Sigmon, 1999)

What Makes the Word Wall Work?

• Built over time with shared ownership.

• Words harvested from rich language contexts.

• Should be as simple and uncluttered as possible.

• Should be visible to everyone.

• Use as reference tool explicitly modeled.

Word Wall Activities and Centers

• Cheers and Chants

• Be a Mind Reader

• Ruler Tap

• OOPS!

• Word Wall Riddles

• X-Ray Eyes

• Sound Boxes

• Making Words

• Read Some/Write Some

• Word Sorts

• Songs

Cheers and Chants • In the Seat

– Movie Star Kisses

– Chicken

– Cheer It

– Cowboy

– Motorcycle

• Standing Up – Hand Jive

– Disco

– Back Tracer

– Hula

– Be the Letter

– Swim

– Surfin’ and Spellin’

Be a Mind Reader • You need at least 20 words up on the wall

before you do this activity. Ask students to number paper from 1-5. The first clue is always that the word is on the word wall. Other clues can be it has ____ beats or syllables. It begins like____. It ends like_____. It is a noun, verb, etc. It has a ____ for a vowel. The last clue is usually a sentence with the word missing in it so everyone can get it.

Ruler Tap • The teacher says a word then taps it out

with a ruler while saying a few letters. Then she taps out several other letters in that word without saying those letters. When the tapping stops, the teacher calls on a child to finish spelling the word out loud. If the child correctly spells the word, the child gets to call out a word and tap some of the letters.

Oops! • Gather students in small groups to take turns

drawing a card. If the student can read the word and use it in a meaningful sentence, he keeps the card. If the student can not read the word or use it in a meaningful sentence, the student gets help from his group and puts the card back in the bag. If an Oops! Card is drawn, the student must place all his word cards back in the bag and pass the bag to the next student.

X-Ray Eyes • Print 5-10 words from the word wall on the

whiteboard. Ask a volunteer to choose a letter they would like deleted from all words and erase it wherever it occurs. Students use their x-ray eyes to choral read the list of words with the letters, saying the word, spelling the word, and saying the word. Repeat until all letters are progressively removed. Use x-ray eyes to chant all the letters and state the word each time.

X-Ray Eyes • Before

• Almost

• Usually

• Very

• Whole

• B_for_

• Almost

• Usually

• V_ry

• Whol_

X-Ray Eyes • B_for_

• A_most

• Usua_ _ y

• Very

• Who _ _

• B_f_r_

• A_m_st

• Usua_ _y

• V_ry

• Wh_ _ _

Read Some/Write Some • Chunking Wall: Challenge students to

read or write multisyllabic words containing key chunks. Give a five finger count before asking for answers. – Crackerjack, aristocrat, calculate

Word Wall Songs • Two Letter Words

– Row, Row, Row Your Boat

• Three Letter Words – Frere Jacques, Wheels on the Bus, Muffin Man, Skip to

My Lou

• Four Letter Words – Are You Sleeping

• Five Letter Words – Bingo, You Are My Sunshine

• Six Letter Words – Happy Birthday

• Seven Letter Words – Twinkle, Twinkle or London Bridge