BOX 6-3
Word Wall and Making Words
Researchers have documented one first-grade teacher's
method to meet the diverse literacy needs of her students through
whole-class reading instruction (Cunningham and Cunningham, 1992;
Cunningham et al., 1991). The daily two-hour language arts period was
organized into four distinct half-hour instructional blocks devoted to
(1) process writing instruction, (2) basal reading instruction, (3)
independent free-choice reading of trade books, and (4) word study
instruction.
The word study block is the central focus
of this discussion. It consists of two primary activities,
word wall and
making words. The word wall
serves as a foundation for spelling instruction and practice, using five
words selected each week from a basal reading lesson or the children's
writing. These words are posted and, as a whole group, the children
practice reading and spelling them, with a daily chanting-clapping-writing
routine. New words are added weekly, and a subset is practiced daily.
Making words is part of the instruction in phonemic
awareness, letter-sound relationships, and spelling patterns. For this
activity, each child has a set of 26 letter cards, with corresponding
uppercase and lowercase letters printed on either side (vowels in red,
consonants in black). The teacher displays one or two vowels and three
or more consonants to the whole class. After the children locate the
same letters from their own collections, the teacher calls out a word
for the children to make. A two-letter word is presented first, with
succeeding words using more letters; 12 to 15 additional words are
spelled daily in this manner and added to the display.
The highlight of this daily routine is the mystery
word--one that requires use of all the selected letters. The teacher
does not identify this word; the children are encouraged to discover
it on their own. Subsequently, the teacher and the children together
explore the new words, sorting by various spelling or phonetic
features, such as word families, rhymes, and common vowel and consonant
combinations.
The making words activity is an engaging medium for
explicit instruction about specific spelling-sound correspondences and
the alphabetic principle in general. It also provides opportunities for
self-assessment and correction, as each new word is displayed and the
children compare their spelling construction with that of the teacher.
It supports children who are struggling to recognize letters automatically
by limiting the number of letters encountered at once. Meanwhile, the
physical manipulation of the letter cards accommodates children who might
otherwise have difficulty sustaining their attention in whole-group
instruction. Finally, the activity is inherently motivational, since
children at all levels of achievement can experience both success and
instructional challenge as the lessons proceed from simple to more
complex.
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