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Make a Copy before planning.

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Planning a Spelling Investigation (2022)

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Example - Planning a Spelling Investigations

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More Detailed

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Simple

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from Vocabularians (2015)

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2-Week Vocabulary Study PLANNER - Course

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Inquiry Rich Planning Template for Grammar Study

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Inquiry Rich Planning Template for Grammar Study

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Whole Class Word Study: K-2 Planning for Transfer

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PAST Test for phonological Awareness Screening

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PAST Test for phonological Awareness Screening

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The PAST can be downloaded above. Please also download and carefully read the instructions before using. Information can also be found in the manual “Equipped for Reading Success” by David A. Kilpatrick, Ph.D in chapter 11 on how to effectively use the test. Make sure to also practice using the test before using it with […]

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These student assessments can be used to monitor student progress with phonological and phonemic awareness skills, and the results can be used to plan for instruction. The Heggerty Phonemic Awareness assessments are not required to teach the curriculum.
Please note: English assessments were updated August 2021 to align to the digital assessments now available on myHeggerty. For the previous version of the English assessments, please scroll to the bottom of the page and open the archive folder.
Pre-Kindergarten Assessments:

Progress Monitoring Assessments:
Progress monitoring assessments for individual phonemic awareness skills can be used to gather data about a students' progress. These assessments can be administered throughout the school year to students in Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd grade. Specific lessons from the Kindergarten and Primary curriculum are listed on each assessment, to assist teachers with planning for instruction.

↓ Initial Phoneme Isolation
↓ Final Phoneme Isolation
↓ Medial Phoneme Isolation
↓ Blending Syllables
↓ Blending Body Coda and Onset Rime
↓ Blending Phonemes
↓ Segmenting into Syllables
↓ Segmenting Onset-Rime
↓ Segmenting into Phonemes
↓ Adding Syllables
↓ Adding Initial or Final Phonemes
↓ Substituting Initial, Final, and Medial Phonemes
↓ Deleting Syllables
↓ Deleting Initial or Final Phonemes
↓ Deleting Initial Phonemes - Extra

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Phonemic Awareness Assessments & Lesson Plans | Heggerty

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Download free phonemic awareness assessments and lesson plans in English and Spanish for pre-k, kindergarten, and primary curriculums.

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Article by Wiley Blevins

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Phonics: Ten Important Research Findings

Countless research studies have been conducted on phonics instruction. Much of this research has focused on the usefulness of phonics instruction and the best ways to teach children about sound-spelling relationships. Below is a list of ten of the top research findings regarding phonics.
#1: Phonics Instruction Can Help All Children Learn to Read
All children can benefit from instruction in the most common sound-spelling relationships and syllable patterns in English. This instruction helps children decode words that follow these predictable sound-spelling relationships and syllable spelling patterns.

Phonics instruction is particularly beneficial for children at risk for learning difficulties - those children who come to school with limited exposures to books, have had few opportunities to develop their oral languages, are from low socio-economic families, have below-average intelligence, are learning English as a second language, or are suspected of having a learning disability. However, even children from language rich backgrounds benefit from phonics instruction (Chall, 1967). As Chall states "By learning phonics, students make faster progress in acquiring literary skills - reading and writing. By the age of six, most children already have about 6,000 words in their listening and speaking vocabularies. With phonics they learn to read and write these and more words at a faster rate than they would without phonics."

Phonics instruction is therefore an essential ingredient in reading instruction. The purpose of this instruction is to teach children how to read with accuracy, comprehension, fluency, and pleasure. The early ability to sound out words successfully is a strong predictor of future growth in decoding (Lundberg, 1984) and comprehension (Lesgold and Resnick, 1982). Weak decoding skills are characteristic of poor readers (Carnine, Carnine, and Gertsen, 1984; Lesgold and Curtis, 1981). Readers who are skilled at decoding usually comprehend text better than those who are poor decoders. Why this is so can be gleaned from the work of cognitive psychologists. They contend that we have a set amount of mental energy that we can devote to any task (Kahneman, 1973). Since decoding requires so much of this mental energy, little is left over for higher-level comprehension. As decoding skills improve and more and more words are recognized by sight, less mental energy is required to decode words and more mental energy can be devoted to making meaning from the text (Freedman and Calfee, 1984; LaBerge and Samuels, 1974).

In addition, successful early decoding ability is related to the number of words a reader encounters. That is, children who are good decoders read many more words than children who are poor decoders (Juel, 1988). This wide reading subsequently results in greater reading growth. Children not only learn more words, but they become more familiar with the common spelling patterns of English which, in turn, helps them decode longer words.

Phonics instruction also helps to get across the alphabetic principle (that the letters of the alphabet stand for sounds) by teaching the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. Beginning readers learn better when their teachers emphasize these relationships (Chall, 1996).
#2: Explicit Phonics Instruction Is More Beneficial Than Implicit Instruction
According to Chall (1996), "systematic and early instruction in phonics leads to better reading: better accuracy of word recognition, decoding, spelling, and oral and silent reading comprehension." The most effective type of instruction, especially for children at risk for reading difficulties, is explicit (direct) instruction (Adams, 1990; Chall, 1996; Honig, 1995; Evans and Carr, 1985; Stahl and Miller, 1989; Anderson et al, 1985.). Implicit instruction relies on readers "discovering" clues about sound-spelling relationships. Good readers can do this; poor readers aren't likely to. Good readers can generalize their knowledge of sound-spelling relationships and syllable patterns to read new words in which these and other sound-spellings and patterns occur. Poor readers must rely on explicit instruction.

Although explicit instruction has proved more effective than implicit instruction, the key element in the success of explicit phonics instruction is the provision of multiple opportunities to read decodable words (that is, words containing previously taught sound-spellings) in context (Stahl, Osborn, and Pearson, 1992; Juel and Roper-Schneider, 1985; Adams, 1990) and ample modeling of the application of these skills to real reading. In fact, students who receive phonics instruction achieve best in both decoding and comprehension if the text they read contains high percentages of decodable words. In addition, by around second or third grade, children who've been taught with explicit phonics instruction generally surpass the reading abilities of their peers who've been taught with implicit phonics instruction (Chall, 1996).
#3: Most Poor Readers Have Weak Phonics Skills and a Strategy Imbalance
Most poor readers have a strategy imbalance. They tend to overrely on one reading strategy, such as the use of context clues, to the exclusion of other strategies that might be more appropriate (Sulzby, 1985). To become skilled fluent readers, children need to have a repertoire of strategies to figure out unfamiliar words (Cunningham, 1990). These strategies include using a knowledge of sound-spelling relationships, using context clues, and using structural clues and syllabication strategies. Younger and less skilled readers rely more on context than other, often more effective, strategies (Stanovich, 1980). This is partly due to their inability to use sound-spelling relationships to decode words. Stronger readers don't need to rely on context clues because they can quickly and accurately decode words by sounding them out.

Unfortunately, children who get off to a slow start in reading rarely catch up to their peers and seldom develop into strong readers (Stanovich, 1986; Juel, 1988). Those who experience difficulties decoding early on tend to read less and thereby grow less in terms of word recognition skills and vocabulary.

A longitudinal study conducted by Juel (1988), revealed an 88% probability that a child who is a poor reader at the end of first grade would still be a poor reader at the end of fourth grade. Stanovich (1986) refers to this as the "Matthew Effect" in which the "rich get richer" (children who are successful decoders early on read more and therefore improve in reading), and the "poor get poorer" (children who have difficulties decoding become increasingly distanced from the good decoders in terms of reading ability).
#4: Phonics Knowledge Has a Powerful Effect on Decoding Ability
Phonics knowledge affects decoding ability positively (Stanovich and West, 1989). Early attainment of decoding skill is important because this accurately predicts later skill in reading comprehension (Beck and Juel, 1995).

One way to help children achieve the ultimate goal of reading instruction, to make meaning of text, is to help them achieve automaticity in decoding words (Gaskins et al, 1988). Skilled readers recognize the majority of words they encounter in text quickly and accurately, independent of context (Cunningham, 1975-76; Stanovich, 1984). The use of graphophonic cues (knowledge of sound-spelling relationships) facilitates word recognition abilities. In fact, a child's word recognition speed in first grade was found to be a strong predictor of reading comprehension ability in second grade (Lesgold and Resnick, 1982; Beck and Juel, 1992).

However, the inability to automatically recognize frequently encountered words affects reading in the following ways (Royer and Sinatra, 1994):

1. Since words can be stored in working memory for only a limited amount of time (approximately 10-15 seconds), slow decoding can result in some words "decaying" before a meaningful chunk of text can be processed.

2. Devoting large amounts of mental energy to decoding words leaves less mental energy available for higher-level comprehension. This can result in comprehension breakdowns.

#5: Good Decoders Rely Less on Context Clues Than Poor Decoders
Good readers rely less on context clues than poor readers do because their decoding skills are so strong (Gough and Juel, 1991). It's only when good readers can't use their knowledge of sound-spelling relationships to figure out an unfamiliar word that they rely on context clues. In contrast, poor readers, who often have weak decoding skills, overrely on context clues to try to make meaning of text (Nicholson, 1992; Stanovich, 1986). Any reader, strong or weak, can use context clues only up to a certain point. It has been estimated that only one out of every four words (25%) can be predicted using context (Gough, Alford, and Holley-Wilcox, 1981). The words that are the easiest to predict are function words such as the and an. Content words - the words that carry the bulk of the meaning in a text - are the most difficult to predict. Researchers estimate that content words can be predicted only about 10% of the time (Gough, 1983). A reader needs to use his or her knowledge of phonics (sound-spelling relationships) to decode these words.

"The whole word method (meaning emphasis) may serve a student adequately up to about second grade. But failure to acquire and use efficient decoding skills will begin to take a toll on reading comprehension by grade 3." Jeanne Chall, 1996

#6: The Reading Process Relies on a Reader's Attention to Each Letter in a Word
Eye-movement studies have revealed that skilled readers attend to almost every word in a sentence and process the letters that compose each word (McConkie and Zola, 1987). Therefore, reading is a "letter-mediated" rather than a "whole-word-mediated" process (Just and Carpenter, 1987). Prior to these findings, it was assumed that readers did not process each letter in a word, rather recognized the word based on shape, a few letters, and context.

Research has also revealed that poor readers do not fully analyze words; for example, some poor readers tend to rely on initial consonant cues only (Stanovich, 1992, Vellutino and Scanlon, 1987). Therefore, phonics instruction should help to focus children's attention on all the letters or spellings that make up words and the sounds each represents by emphasizing the full analysis of words. In addition, phonics instruction must teach children strategies to use this information to decode words. This attention to the spelling patterns in words is necessary for the reader to store the word in his or her memory. It also helps the reader to become a better speller because the common spelling patterns of English are attended to to a greater degree and thereby more fully learned (Ehri, 1987).
#7: Phonemic Awareness Is Necessary for Phonics Instruction to Be Effective
Before children can use a knowledge of sound-spelling relationships to decode words, they must understand that words are made up of sounds (Adams, 1990). Many children come to school thinking of words as whole units - cat, dog, run. Before they can learn to read, children must realize that these words can be broken into smaller units - and sounded out. Phonemic awareness is the understanding, or insight, that a word is made up of a series of discrete sounds. Without this insight, phonics instruction will not make sense to children. Some students with weak phonemic awareness skills are able to make it through the first couple years of reading instruction by memorizing words. This strategy breaks down when the number of unique words in text increases in grades three and up. Therefore, if weak phonemic awareness skills are not detected and corrected, these students may enter the intermediate grades with a very serious reading deficit.
#8: Phonics Instruction Improves Spelling Ability
Reading and writing are interrelated and complementary processes (Pinnell, 1994). Whereas phonics is characterized by putting together sounds to form words that are printed, spelling involves breaking down spoken words into sounds in order to write them. To spell, or encode, a word a child must map a spelling onto each sound heard in the word.

Spelling development lags behind reading development. A word can generally be read before it can be spelled. The visual attention a child needs to recognize words is stored in his or her memory. This information - the knowledge of the spelling patterns of English, also known as orthographic knowledge - is used to spell. Spelling, however, requires greater visual recall than reading and places higher demands on memory.

Good spellers are generally good readers because spelling and reading share an underlying knowledge base. Poor readers, however, are rarely good spellers. Phonics is a particularly powerful tool in improving spelling because it emphasizes spelling patterns, which become familiar from reading. Studies show that half of all English words can be spelled with phonics rules that relate one letter to one sound. Thirty-seven percent of words can be spelled with phonics rules that relate groups of letters to one sound. The other thirteen percent must be learned by memorization. Good spellers have not memorized the dictionary; they apply the phonics rules they know and have a large store of sight words.

Writing, in turn, supports a child's reading development because it slows the process by focusing the child's attention on how print works. Poor spellers experience difficulties in both writing and reading. Poorly developed spelling ability also hinders vocabulary development (Adams, Treiman, and Pressley, 1996; Read, 1986).
#9: A Teacher's Knowledge of Phonics Affects His or Her Ability to Teach Phonics
A teacher's knowledge of phonics has a strong effect on his or her ability to teach phonics (Carroll, 1990; Moats, 1995). This knowledge of the English language enables the teacher to choose the best examples for instruction, to provide focused instruction, and to better understand students' reading and writing errors in relationship to their developing language skills. I highly recommend that all teachers take a basic course in phonics or linguistics to gain further insights into our language that can be used in the classroom in productive and purposeful ways.
#10: Knowledge of common syllable patterns and structural analysis (affixes, roots) improves students' ability to read, spell, and learn the meanings of multisyllablic words.
For many children, reading long words is an arduous task. Explicit instruction in the six common spelling patterns, the most common syllable types (e.g., VCe, VCCV,), prefixes, suffixes, roots, and word origins helps students recognize larger word chunks that makes decoding easier and aids in figuring out a word's meaning. For example, it may be efficient for a student to decode text containing simple CVC words such as cat and ran sound by sound, it is not efficient to decode text containing words such as transportation and unhappy sound by sound. Rather, it is more efficient to recognize common word parts such as trans, port, tion, un, and happy and blend these larger chunks to sound out the word.
Here are some helpful articles and videos about phonics . . .
http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/phonics/questionstranscripts.htm
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/teaching-phonics-wiley-blevins
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/frequently-asked-questions-about-phonics
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/resfound.htm
Here are some of my favorite web sites . . .
Scholastic (for Parents): www.scholastic.com/parents/
Scholastic (for Teachers): http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/
Reading Rockets (for Parents and Teachers): http://www.readingrockets.org/
The Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI): http://www.scbwi.org/
Disney's Family Fun: http://familyfun.go.com/
Q & A
Do you have a question for me about teaching your child to read? If so, email me and I will post your question and answer.

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teaching phonics and word study in the intermediate grades

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phonemic awareness activities for early reading success

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Wiley Blevins Author " Page Not Found " Phonics: Ten Important Research Findings

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Countless research studies have been conducted on phonics instruction. Much of this research has focused on the usefulness of phonics instruction and the best ways to teach children about sound-spelling relationships. Below is a list of ten of the top research findings regarding phonics.

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Many, many articles and resources

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Timothy Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. He has written over 150 articles and has authored, co-authored or edited over 15 books or curriculum programs on reading education.

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From the Dyslexic Association
Article

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Morphological Awareness: One Piece of the Literacy Pie - International Dyslexia Association

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During a keynote address at an event for teachers, my colleague Kathy Collins played a game with the audience called "Oh-no-you-didn't." To play the game, you had to share one thing you did as a new (or not so new) teacher that you would never consider doing now. She told the story of a teacher she knew. He took his kids on a field trip and had them sit on the floor of the subway while waiting for the train. Ewwwww. At least, that's how I remember the story. (Sorry subway teacher, if I've mixed it up).

The point is, we've all made mistakes. Mistakes are how we grow and learn and get better. We tell our students this all the time, but it's hard to accept it for ourselves. Personally, I've made probably every mistake there is and I'm not ashamed to share. I am happy to help others learn from my many, many, many mistakes. Why repeat them?
Here are some things I used to think... but now I don't.
I used to.... encourage kids to "think about spelling" in general while writing.

And now I... help students break down spelling into bite-sized pieces. I try to remind students of specific spelling patterns they've recently studied, and focus just on those. I might say, "Today during word study many of you studied words that double the consonant when you add certain endings-don't forget to keep that in mind as you work on your writing today during writing workshop(and every day)!"

I used to... wait until students had chosen a writing workshop piece for publishing before focusing too much on spelling, and then coach the whole class to edit everything: spelling, handwriting, punctuation, sentence structure, you name it.

But now I... leave aside one minute at the end of each writing workshop for editing, and editing alone. Then, during that time, I can coach each student to edit for just one thing each day. Instead of saying "Everybody edits for everything! Spelling, punctuation, and handwriting! Go!" I now say, "Today, pick just one thing from your editing checklist and just check for that one thing."

I used to... teach editing for spelling primarily by handing out an editing checklist near the end of the writing process in writing workshop, and saying, "Be sure to check each word for spelling."

But now I... Model what it looks like to encounter difficulty and work through it. In minilessons, during shared writing, or during small group work-any time I am writing in front of kids- I try to model what I do when I encounter a tricky word. Even during science or social studies, I'll stop. Think aloud. Say out loud, "I don't know exactly how to spell this word, but I'm going to use what I know to give it my best try." Then I continue thinking aloud as I spell the word as best I can and move on.

I set aside a separate time every day for explicit phonics and spelling instruction so that writing workshop is the place where kids can practice and apply what they've learned in context.

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I used to... skip writing workshop from time to time in order to finish up other projects that I deemed more important - a science lesson, or a math assessment, for example. Writing seemed to be the first thing to go. I constantly wondered why I struggled with kids not being able to spell words during writing workshop. I'll just tuck in extra writing during science/social studies/math, I'd tell myself. But it never really happened. Plus, content area writing is not the same as learning how to write. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say sometimes we only wrote two or three days in a given week. Even if we still had explicit phonics and spelling lessons every day, skipping writing workshop left limited time for kids to practice using what they were learning in context.

But now I... strongly protect independent writing workshop time.If students have the opportunity for extended time for writing each day, then they will have much more of a chance of encountering words where they can apply their new spelling skills as they write new words, or edit for new spelling patterns they've been learning during phonics and spelling lessons. The more time students have for writing and the more pages or lines they write, the more opportunity they have to use what they know about spelling.

I used to... model spending a long time figuring out how to spell a word (over a full minute even on very short words), giving kids the impression that they should stop in their tracks if they encounter an unfamiliar or challenging word to spell.

But now I... coach students not to spend forever figuring out a word. In conferring and small group work, interactive writing, or other guided writing situations, you can use short, transferable phrases to help kids give the word their best attempt without spending too much time on it. A perfectionist student is going to try to replicate whatever you do together in a conference-so if you spend five minutes solving a word together, watch out, that is literally what the student will attempt to do every time! Say things like, "You gave it a try. Now move on." or "That's it! You wrote the word. Now keep going." or "You can always come back to it later, during our editing minute."

One of my favorite strategies is to write the word three times on a scrap of paper or in the margin, choose the best one, and move on. An even simpler version is to teach kids to write the word as best they can and circle it if they know it still might not be perfect. Grown-ups do this all the time - we write sp? next to words, put asterisks next to them, or underline them, just to show that we know it's not spelled perfectly but we're not wasting valuable time to worry about it too much.

I used to... spend a lot of time teaching young students to use picture dictionaries or word lists to look up words.

But now I... am more careful about making sure the resources match the students' independent reading levels (or easier). I model using the resources quickly and efficiently, rather than allowing the tools to take students away from their writing for minutes at a time. For many students, dictionaries might best be saved for final edits on a published piece, rather than during the generating ideas or drafting phases.

I used to... expect students to erase and correct their spelling so that their work looked "perfect" after making changes and edits.

But now I... provide lots of encouragement and positive feedback about making multiple attempts. I provide pens instead of pencils and teach students to cross out instead of erasing. I say things like, "Wow! I am noticing that you've crossed out a lot of words! That's so great! I can literally see your hard work! That's exactly what I do when I'm writing, too. I make a lot of changes as I go." I make it a point to highlight and display work with cross-outs, celebrating the process and the hard work, instead of only displaying perfect-looking writing.

I used to... teach students that spelling and mechanics were primarily connected to certain "rules" that writers have to follow.

But now I... just don't do that anymore. It was problematic for several reasons. First, it simply wasn't true. Writers don't truly follow the same set of rules from situation to situation, or from writer to writer. The English language is highly variable and is changing all the time. Second, even if some rules do hold true some of the time, this doesn't provide very meaningful or compelling feedback for students to improve their spelling. Saying, "You should fix the spelling on this because that is simply a thing that writers do," just isn't very motivating for most children.
What is your "I used to... But now I..." when it comes to spelling?
Students need to know that they have a real, authentic audience, and a real, authentic purpose for writing. Without these two things, kids see right through all the reminders, rules, cajoling, and coaching. There isn't a true reason to use everything you know about spelling unless it matters to you that real people will be reading your writing. And all the minilessons regarding editing and spelling in the world will fall short of improving student spelling during writing workshop unless kids have a real purpose for working on it.

Do your students have strong identities as writers? Can they describe themselves as, "I'm the kind of writer who..."

Do your students know who will be reading whatever it is they are writing?

Do they know the publishing date? Do they have a plan for how their work will be shared with a wider audience? Do they know the plans for the publishing party? (Celebrations and reflections support meaning and purpose for their writing-and spelling of the words in it).

Do students know why they are writing this particular thing? Do they genuinely have a clear purpose that matters to them?

Do students have the skills to give each other feedback and ask each other helpful questions?

The feedback we give students regarding spelling can be much more meaningful if we tie our work to those two things that matter to students - audience and purpose:

Who will be reading my writing? Will they be able to read it very easily?

Do I have a meaningful reason for spelling as best I can, rechecking my spelling, and editing to make changes?

Over time, you might grow a repertoire of phrases that help you to give feedback more effectively. Some phrases and language you might find helpful, starting out:

"Is your writing as easy to read as it could be? What could make it easier to read?"

"Checking for ____ spelling pattern will make your writing easier for ____ (name an actual person) to read."

"Your story will really make people laugh! (Or think, learn, cry, etc) But when it's hard to read, it's harder for people to see how funny/interesting/beautiful it is."

"When people read, sometimes they can get distracted by a spelling mistake-then they aren't thinking about what you wrote anymore. Let's check for _____ spelling pattern so that doesn't happen to you."

Giveaway Information:

This giveaway is for a copy of Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing by Melanie Meehan. Many thanks to Corwin Literacy for donating a copy for one reader.

For a chance to win this copy of Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing, please leave a comment about this post by Thursday, 8/11 at 11:59 a.m. EDT. You must have a U.S. mailing address to enter the giveaway. Amy Ellerman will use a random number generator to pick the winners, whose names she will announce in an in case you missed it post about this blog series Friday, August 12th.

Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment so Amy can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.

If you are the winner of the book, Amy will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - AUGUST BLOG SERIES. Please respond to Amy's e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. Unfortunately, a new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

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Spelling Words for Kids: Resetting Our Workshop Practices

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During a keynote address at an event for teachers, my colleague Kathy Collins played a game with the audience called "Oh-no-you-didn't." To play the game, you had to share one thing you did as a new (or not so new) teacher that you would never consider doing now.