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FIS G2 Efficient, Joyful Word Study - Session 2 (Phonics Workshop & TCRWP UoS)

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Make a copy for your class. Post to Padlet.

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Additional considerations for planning.

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Session 1 FIS G2 Efficient, Joyful Word Study

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3 Recommended Assessments

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3 Recommended Assessments

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Access multiple resources

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Login - Heinemann | Publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college

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Heinemann is a publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college.

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Lucy Calkins and Colleagues Units of Study

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Home / Our Series - Phonics

Grades K-2

To create these new phonics units, Lucy and her coauthors have drawn on all that they know from decades of teaching reading and writing in thousands of classrooms across the world, and they've relied on proven, research-based practices-especially on the work of Isabel Beck, Donna Scanlon, Pat and Jim Cunningham, Rollanda O'Connor, Marilyn Adams, Tim Rasinski, Donald Bear, Wiley Blevins, and the late Marie Clay.

The new Units of Study in Phonics, Grades K-2:

provide a lean and concise instructional pathway in phonics that is realistic and doable, and that taps into kids' skills and energy for tackling the fabulous challenge of learning to read and write,

introduce high-leverage phonics concepts and strategies in a way that keeps pace with students' reading and writing and helps them understand when, how, and why they can use phonics to read and write,

offer delightfully fun and engaging storylines, classroom mascots, songs, chants, rhymes, and games to help students fall head over heels in love with phonics and to create a joyous community of learners,

align with state-of-the-art reading and writing workshops for a coherent approach in which terminology, tools, rituals, and methods are shared in ways that benefit both teachers and kids.

In the hurly-burly of classroom life, every minute you spend on one subject is less time spent on another subject. Lucy and her coauthors aim to protect time for authentic reading and writing, while also helping you teach a rigorous, research-based phonics curriculum.

Principles Undergirding the Units of Study in Phonics

Teaching for Transfer

Phonics instruction supports children's reading and writing: to be useful, phonics must be transferred. Every message you send during phonics instruction needs to be angled to support transfer to reading and writing. Your goal is not for your kids to become linguistic scholars. Instead, phonics instruction only matters because it enables reading and writing.

Building on the Research of Experts

The Units of Study in Phonics series has grown out of the TCRWP's decades of research and practice in the teaching of reading and writing. Given that phonics is important only insofar as it transfers to reading and writing, it is essential that a phonics curriculum draw on broad, deep, applied knowledge of how students develop as writers, readers, speakers and listeners. In addition, the sequence of the Units of Study in Phonics follows a pathway that is widely supported by an enormous body of research including the work of Bear, Beck, Blevins, Cunningham, Fountas, Pinnell, Rasinski, and others.

A Lean and Efficient Curriculum

Phonics instruction benefits children when it supplements and does not replace reading and writing instruction. Phonics instruction needs to be lean and efficient. Every minute you spend teaching phonics (or preparing phonics materials to use in your lessons) is less time spent teaching other things. The Units of Study in Phonics recommends twenty minutes for explicit phonics instruction, with time outside of phonics for small-group instruction in phonics.

Going Beyond Item Knowledge

Children benefit from being taught not only item knowledge (such as blends and digraphs), but also the strategies and purposes that allow them to draw on that item knowledge as they read and write. In Units of Study in Phonics, children are taught the most high-utility phonics, and they are taught to use what they know to be problem solvers, word scientists, super-power readers, and writers.

Game-changing Engagement

Children benefit most from phonics work that is engaging: phonics need not be taught through worksheets but can instead involve singing, pretending, inventing, talking, writing, and spelling. Instead of channeling students to circle the number of syllables in pictures on ditto sheets, we're more apt to suggest that they plop their backpacks in front of them, and work with a partner to touch each part of each child's backpack, clapping the syllables to zipper, pocket, strap, and applesauce.

Supporting All Learners

All our teaching, and especially our teaching of something as foundational as phonics, must be flexible enough and have scope enough to support all the member of a learning community. Your bottom-line assumption needs to be that it is important to provide students with a variety of ways to express what they know. The most important way in which the Units of Study in Phonics supports all learners is by building in flexibility and choice.

Read More . . .

To read more about the principles undergirding the Units of Study in Phonics, download the sample chapter from A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study.

Grades K-2 include five units, which are each designed to be taught roughly at the same time as the corresponding reading and/or writing unit of study, keeping pace with those units.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study

Describes the essential principles, methods, and structures that undergird this phonics curriculum along with an overview of the developmental progression that the series supports.

Small Groups to Support Phonics

Offers support in coaching into the work that students do during each session and in leading small groups to support students in transferring their phonics learning to their ongoing reading and writing.

Resource Pack & Mentor Texts

Each resource pack contains a variety of full-color, illustrated, posters; charts; picture, photo, word, and letter cards; copies of poems and songs; assessment materials; and much more. Each boxed set of the Units of Study in Phonics also comes with a trade book to be used as a demonstration text for teachers to model the skills and strategies students will try.

Each unit includes downloadable, printable pdfs of the materials included in the resource packs, links to videos, assessment tools, small group resources, and more.

Virtual Teaching Resources
(Available for Separate Purchase)

These resources offer teacher, student, and family/caregiver videos. In the student-facing videos, TCRWP staff developers teach each minilessons on camera as "co-teachers," freeing classroom teachers up for live conversations, small group work, and more.
Watch a sample student minilesson video
Purchasing Options

Ordering Guidance:

Each teacher will need one set of Units and one Resource Pack. (Note: The Resource Pack materials for each grade level are extensive and come packed in two boxes.)

In addition, schools will need to plan for some other resources including a stuffed elephant or lion (Mabel and Rasheed-our K and grade 1 mascots) for each classroom, plus some other classroom materials, such as white boards and magnetic letters, that many classrooms already have. For a complete list of resources, see inventory/shopping lists: Grade K, Grade 1, and Grade 2.

Scope and Sequence Document

Resource Pack Unboxing Video: Part 1

Resource Pack Unboxing Video: Part 2

Phonics Bundles for Grades K-2

School Supply Shopping List (not available from Heinemann)

Phonics Units for Grades K-2

Resource Packs for Each Grade Level

A Note About Resource Packs: The Resource Packs are composed of resources made from good-quality card stock, all beautifully illustrated and printed in 4-color. Resources include alphabet charts, many other types of other charts, letter cards, word cards, picture cards, printed copies of poems and songs, other cards such as onset rime cards and vowel picture cards, and much more-about 40 pounds of resources per grade level! (Note: Resources for each grade level come packed in two boxes.)

Related Resources

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Units of Study for Teaching Phonics Grades K-2

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Home / Our Series - Phonics To create these new phonics units, Lucy and her coauthors have drawn on all that they know from decades of teaching reading and writing in thousands of classrooms across the world, and they've relied on proven, research-based practices-especially on the work of Isabel Beck, Donna Scanlon, Pat and Jim Cunningham, Rollanda O'Connor, Marilyn Adams, Tim Rasinski, Donald Bear, Wiley Blevins, and the late Marie Clay.

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I love how it's not about the rules but more about sharing the patterns and having the students inquire into that. I also thought the idea of doing many small things vs. one huge lesson is more beneficial and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will mesh in with the rest of the RW and WW.

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I love the approach with the emphasis on joyful and inquiry-based learning. The idea of phonics learning NOT requiring dedicated periods, rather fitting in more organically (like a read aloud) as appropriate. Also love the idea for joke of the week.

Looking forward to learning ways to help the kids based on their current needs, differentiating, and using words that are relevant to their learning and level as a starting point. Thank you!

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This was a very helpful refresher about balanced literacy and the elements of word study. I needed this to refocus my literacy instruction and to introduce a "word curious stance" to my students. In our upcoming sessions, I would love more tools and resources to apply directly in the classroom. Thank you!

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This was a very helpful refresher about balanced literacy and the elements of word study. I needed this to refocus my literacy instruction and to introduce a "word curious stance" to my students. In our upcoming sessions, I would love more tools and resources to apply directly in the classroom. Thank you!

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- Natalie

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-Got excited about how to teach phonics in different ways, throughout the day.
-Want to see more graphic organizers like the Word Continuum and Read Aloud Books

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Jeff Anderson & Whitney La Rocca

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One PYP School's Vertical Unpacking of TC Units

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K-2 TC Phonics Units of Study K-2 Overview

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To adapt TC lessons and infuse with inquiry and agency.

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Inquiry-based Lesson Planning Sheet Phonics

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Chris Gadbury

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Guide to lessons for whole class and small group instruction based on phonics concept.

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It was helpful to have a break down of the structure of a short phonics lesson. It was also VERY helpful to have the lessons tweaked so they included inquiry.

Wants:
No specific wants at this time, but I'm looking forward to implementing the inquiry-based phonics lesson framework.

-Natalie

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Possible Lesson Sequence (adapt to YOUR kids!)

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Possible Lesson Sequence (adapt to YOUR kids!)

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Free resource from Stenhouse

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Great resource to understandings and planning for phonics

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If you're not sure how phonics fits within your daily instruction, or crave a more effective process for teaching phonics, Heidi Anne Mesmer is here to help. In Letter Lessons and First Words, Heidi Anne provides a research-based vision of what lively, engaging phonics instruction can look like, along with practical, classroom-tested tools to make it happen in your classroom.

Heidi Anne provides a one-stop shop for phonics instruction, including a clear scope and sequence of what to teach, a quick assessment to differentiate instruction, a simple lesson framework, and three activity-filled units matching key developmental milestones.

More than twenty classroom videos bring the content to life, showing children working with letters, words, and books at various stages of learning. Additional resources include:

A "know the code" chapter explaining English spelling (and online glossary)

Answers to common questions

Guidance about choosing books for readers at different stages

new info about how children cognitively store words and why inductive tension is important.

Isn't it time to re-imagine how you teach phonics? Letter Lessons and First Words will show you the way toward joyful instruction for today's classrooms.

Read Heidi Anne's Blog post Developmentally Responsive Phonics Instruction: A Research-Based Approach

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Research-based strategies for lively, engaging phonics instruction with young children. - Heinemann

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Got - An idea of how to get the students to really notice the WHY and HOW of what authors are doing.

Want- I'm enjoying the ride so keep it coming!

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The information about how to do the grammar and how quick it can be is great. I love that it could be done during a morning meeting if I'm all prepared for it. For the want I would like to know what your thoughts are on what might be the better lessons from the first grade phonics to do with our students.

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I like the structure shared from Jeff Anderson's book, as well as the approach that again centers on short mini-lessons that can be "plugged into" writing lessons. I tended to think of grammar as something needing to be dictated from a program, so it's empowering to have an efficient procedure for connecting it not only to inquiry but also to the current needs of the class and even current texts we are using.  Thanks again for all these "gots!" For wants, I can't think of anything specific just now. I guess I want this PD to continue beyond just one more session! It's been great!

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Got: a great idea of how the Patterns of Power grammar lesson is structured and how to plan it
Want: more examples of slides / lessons like the one we did with Pete the Cat modeled lesson

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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FIS G2 Efficient, Joyful Word Study - Session 3 (Grammar)

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3 things I learned
2 things I want to try
1 wondering I still have

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Morphology Lessons in TCRWP Phonics Kits

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Morphology Lessons in TCRWP Phonics Kits

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Small Groups - p.107
Unit 2 - Session 17 (p.126)
Unit 4 - Bends 2 & 3

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Borrow and entire unit or a bend...

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3 thinkgs I learned:
1. I learned to teach the phonics in smaller time chunks.
2. I learned that the grammar can be done within morning meetings to make things easier and more succinct.
3. I learned that planning the lessons out together helped keep me on track.
2 things I want to try:
1. I want to try planning more as a team (release time) to get as many lessons prepared as possible for us.
2. I want to continue trying to get small groups going for the needs I see.
1 thing I'm wondering:
I am wondering if we can have more time with Amber after this session as a check-in on our status.

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3. Things I learned: how to use Patterns of Power, cutting phonics and grammar lessons into shorter segments but doing them more frequently, how to use the phonics resources more meaningfully.
2 Things I want to try: rearrange my schedule to balance out grammar, phonics, RW, and WW. Create meaningful lessons and connections between grammar and phonics with reading/writing lessons. (Using a phonics or grammar lesson as mini lesson that leads into reading or writing)
1. I have been listening to the APM Reports Documentaries podcast on phonics and reading instruction and it's blowing my mind! This has made me much more passionate about the importance of teaching phonics and I wonder how I can make it as meaningful as possible for my students.

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3 Things I Learned:
A) I learned that I can keep my lessons shorter and more frequent, in order to have the most value
B) I learned that I can help students by blending phonics with reading or writing workshop lessons.
C) I learned that I can use inquiry to build word curious students.

2 things I want to try
A) I want to try to use more exemplars of authors using these phonics patterns in books that they actually read
B) I want to try to use phonics partner activities in a more useful way

1 Wondering I still Have
A) I wonder how I can collaborate with other grades or "buddies" with something like this.

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3 things I learned:
A) phonological awareness relates only to the sounds, whereas phonics refers to the connection the sounds have to the letters
B) research says: more often doing SMALL chunks of word work is more effective than fewer giant (lesson-long) deep dives
C) To teach more of a word continuum – like on a number line, “crawl/walk/skip/run/race” instead of just opposites

2 things I want to try
A) The grammar, tucking it into writing mini-lessons (since I haven't started yet!)
B) Making more small group work  or one-on-one conference tasks to follow on from whole class lessons for kids that need it, so getting phonics lessons away from the one-size-fits-all whole-class lesson formula.
1 wondering I still have
As we worked on a bit today, what would the team agree an "ideal" week of LA looks like: how much time on what, how many phonics lessons embedded in RW/WW, etc.

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FIS G2 Efficient, Joyful Word Study - Session 4 (Vocab & Morphology)

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The version of the browser you are using is no longer supported. Please upgrade to a supported browser. Dismiss

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Large snap shot, helpful for decision making and vertical alignment.

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Simple

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Make a Copy before planning.

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More Detailed

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from Vocabularians (2015)

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Potential small group, partner, or individual inquiry

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A great resource where you can (or you can teach the kids to) make matrices.

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Morphology Home / Matrix Home

Welcome

Welcome to the main information page for Mini Matrix-Maker.

We aim to provide a simple low-cost web-based tool for creating word matrices, similar to the one below. For the moment, the current version is free.

Visit our Morphology Home page for other useful tools, which can help you improve your matrices.

Run Mini Matrix-Maker (free version)

Click the link below to run the program.

www.neilramsden.co.uk/spelling/matrix/run.html?version=temp

You may wish to add a bookmark to this link.

Please read the current terms and conditions before running it. They may be updated periodically.

Free Usage

We may charge for using the Mini Matrix-Maker in future, but for the moment usage is free. The most likely next step will be to include a voluntary donation box to help keep this web-site active.

Using Mini Matrix-Maker now doesn't commit you to any future involvement.

Example Matrix

View a sample Matrix Results Page, built from word sums around the base element <mode>.

What is Mini Matrix-Maker?

Mini Matrix-Maker will automatically build a word matrix for you from the set of word sums in your word family.

Normally, deciding how to organise your word matrix can be hard to get right and even one small change to your word sums can make a big difference in how the matrix looks.

Mini Matrix-Maker makes life easy for you, because all you have to do is concentrate on the word sums. From there, building an accurate, attractive matrix is all done for you.

How do you use a Word Matrix?

Word matrices are powerful tools for exploring and testing knowledge of word structure. They provide a graphical shorthand for illustrating families of interrelated words.

Word matrices read from left to right.

From them, you make single, complete words.

You may use one element from a column at a time.

You don't have to take an element from every column of a matrix - but you must not "leapfrog" over a column.

How does Mini Matrix-Maker compare with Word Microscope?

The Word Microscope program can more actively guide you in creating word sums and matrices. It recognises prefixes, bases, connecting vowels and suffixes, and includes checks and reference tools. You can also easily save and retrieve your work, or print a customised findings log.

Learn more by reading the quick comparison between Word Microscope and the Mini Matrix-Maker.

There is a Word Microscope download for Microsoft Windows, which can be used for free for a limited period.

Word matrices originated within Real Spelling. Visit the Real Spellers web-site to discover more about Real Spelling concepts and the role of matrices in understanding English orthography.

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Welcome to the main information page for Mini Matrix-Maker.

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Filled with ideas to explore...

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Good guide to using morphology to help with spelling and vocabulary

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This reference manual includes several useful features:

takes teachers through how English spelling uses morphology to represent the meaning of words

teaches word sums and word matrices as tools for examining word structure and constructing and deconstructing words morphologically

contains a series of ready-to-use lessons, helping teachers and students act as word detectives who problem-solve the links between structure and meaning

targets vocabulary, reading, and spelling skills!

By: Peter Bowers

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teaching how the written word works [wvc216] books and workbooks grammar and writing workshops | trainings classroom sets games gift certificates multisensory learning beginning reading morphology and vocabulary free downloads multisensory bundles high-frequency words multisensory instruction kit books and workbooks grammar and writing workshops | trainings classroom sets games gift certificates proceeds to charity multisensory learning beginning reading morphology and vocabulary free downloads o-g multisensory bundles sight words multisensory instruction kit ecommerce

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Kendore Learning Store Teaching How the Written Word Works [WVC216] - This reference manual includes several useful features: takes teachers through how English spelling uses morphology to represent the meaning of words teaches word sums and word matrices as tools for examining word structure and constructing and deconstructing words morphologically contains a series of ready-to-use lessons, helping teachers and students act as word detectives

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Article

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Bright, motivated, hard-working students often struggle to spell simple words like <been & says>.And early in my training, one of my young students got my attention when he wrote *<hoam> for <home> and I realized that I had no way to help him understand why it wasn't spelled with <oa>. (The asterisk indicates that the written form inside the angle brackets is not standard-here, it's noting a spelling error.) We were systematically working our way through all of the ways to spell "long o" and my student could isolate phonemes and spell words accurately as long as I specifically told him whether we were working with an <o-e> pattern as in <home, mole, rode> or an <oa> grapheme as in <foam, goal, road>. But that wasn't going to help him when he was sitting at his desk trying to remember how to spell <home> and thousands of other words that seem like they could be spelled more than one way.

Note that angle brackets < > are used to refer to written letters or graphemes. Graphemes are the letters or combinations of letters that combine to form written words. So < cat > refers to a written form-the graphemes C A T, not the meaning or pronunciation of that word.

Slash brackets / / are used to refer to phonemes which are the flexible units of pronunciation in spoken words that distinguish one word from another. So / k /refers to the phoneme that is the first segment of the spoken word cat, and/ kæt / refers to the pronunciation of the word cat, using IPA symbols.

I didn't know it then, but to understand why one specific grapheme represents a phoneme in a word, we need to look at the phoneme-grapheme relationships in that word within the context of morphological (structural) families and etymological relationships. This context for understanding the writing system is critical, especially for students who can't easily memorize spellings by rote.

Unfortunately, though, you will hear people suggest that including morphology and etymology in literacy instruction might be helpful for older students but would probably be too much for younger students and would divert time from what are considered to be the essential, foundational concepts and skills that beginning students need most. To test that premise, let's look at two confusing categories of words that students will encounter from their first day of school: words that are called "irregular"and words that can be spelled in more than one way, based on their pronunciation.To understand the spelling of these words, everyone-even a very young student-needs to understand how structures and relationships influence our writing system.
Words called "irregular"
Many very common words are categorized in traditional instruction as "irregular," including words like <says & been>.In their first years of school, students are typically asked to memorize many of these words by rote.

But so-called irregular words are not actually irregular; they are simply misunderstood. One of the reasons for that is that short words like <says, been, does, any, exit & real> are often assumed to be simple (built from only one written morpheme, called an element) and their structures are ignored. But many short words are not simple. All of the words I've just listed are complex, meaning that they consist of more than one written element. When we stop to think about the spelling of <says>, that's obvious.

says ➞ say + s

The word <says> is a third person, singular, present tense verb form, constructed by adding suffix <s> to the base element <say>. Many third person verbs are constructed this way.

In all of the verbs listed above, the structural pattern is exactly the same. So why is the spelling <says>called "irregular" or "rule-breaking?" It's called irregular because of an unexpected pronunciation of the spoken word. Says doesn't rhyme with plays. But in fact, the construction<say + s ➞ says> is perfectly coherent. And an unexpected pronunciation does not make a spelling irregular. When we look at the structure of <says>, we can easily understand its spelling.

We see the same thing in the written verbal form <been>, which contains the base element <be> with the suffix <en> added to form the past participle.

be + en ➞ been

This past participle suffix is found in a number of English verbs.

Notice that in <given, taken & driven>, the final unpronounced orthographic marker <e> in the base is replaced by the suffix <en> which begins with a vowel. (That replacement is signaled by the slash mark in the word sums above.) This is a consistent suffixing pattern in English.

But also notice that the <e> in <be> is not replaced. That's because we pronounce that <e>. It's not a marker which can be replaced by a vowel suffix but is a grapheme representing the final phoneme in the spoken word be. We don't replace a final <e> that's part of a grapheme, so <been> is spelled by just adding the suffix <en> to the base <be>. Again, the pronunciation of been may be unexpected, but the spelling <be + en ➞been> is perfectly coherent.

By analyzing the structure of <says & been> we can see that their spellings are not flawed; it turns out that the flaw is in the assumption that spelling is supposed to represent the pronunciation of words as directly as possible.

The English writing system is morphophonemic, so the spelling of an English word signals both phonology (the phonemes or flexible, distinctive segments of pronunciation in spoken words) and morphology (the structural units that construct the meaning of words). These two aspects of the orthography work together and allow us to comprehend text more quickly and easily than if words were spelled to represent only their pronunciation.

And think about the fact that English words are spelled the same regardless of regional variations in pronunciation. If words were spelled primarily to represent pronunciation, Americans speakers might think that the spoken word been would make more sense if it were spelled *<bin> or *<ben> depending on which part of the country they lived in, but the spelling <been> might seem quite appropriate to a British speaker.Which spelling would the writing system use?

Our writing system facilitates written communication between every speaker of English, no matter where they live. To do that, it ignores minor variations in the pronunciation of specific words. When we think about that fact, and examine the spelling of words that are categorized as "irregular," we see illustrations of a foundational, critical concept about English spelling.
English spelling is optimized for comprehension, not pronunciation.
Written words do indeed represent meaningful aspects of pronunciation, but not necessarily as directly as possible. That's an observable fact, and it allows the entire writing system to make sense, but the fact that it's a coherent part of the overall system is not understood; the words <been & says> are categorized as "irregular" precisely because their spelling is not the most direct representation of their pronunciation and because it's obvious that their spelling is not optimized for pronunciation.

However, if we look at the ways in which spelling allows English speakers to quickly comprehend words while reading, then we can understand why "irregular" words contain the specific graphemes they do. Graphemes in all words represent flexible segments of pronunciation (phonemes) but they must represent those phonemes while maintaining consistently spelled structural units across an entire morphological (structural) family of words. As we read, the specific graphemes in words give us signals about both phonemes and morphemes, which facilitates and deepens comprehension of written text.

We can see this in the spelled word<says> where the graphemes must represent the phonology of not only the word says, but all words that are in the same structural (morphological) family, including say and saying. And they need to do that while maintaining a consistent spelling of the base <say>.

It's important to know that we can absolutely understand the phoneme-grapheme relationships in words like <says, been, does, any> and every other word that is mistakenly categorized as irregular.And it's often very useful to do that type of analysis. However, I'm not going to go into that right now, because I want to point out that many times that type of analysis is not even needed. Once students understand that words are formed by combining consistently spelled structural units, they can often use the "expected" phoneme-grapheme relationships in base elements like <say & be> and common suffixes like <s & en> to reconstruct the accurate spelling of a complex word like <says> or <been> when they want to spell it.

By examining and analyzing written words, we can see for ourselves that words traditionally categorized as "irregular" are completely logical once we understand their structures, their relationships to other words which influence their spelling, and the phoneme-grapheme relationships within them. Rather than being a source of confusion and frustration, these words can be a point of entry for studying the coherence of the writing system, even with very young students.

But there's another pitfall of confusion that beginning students will face, and the spelling <be> is an example. Why is that word spelled <be> and not <bee>? Many words in English are categorized as "regular," but may use different graphemes to spell the same phoneme. When students try to make sense of words by analyzing the phonemes in a spoken word in isolation, even advanced students who may know all the ways to spell a given phoneme have no way to know how to spell a particular word.
Understanding multiple spellings
In my school district, kindergarteners learn to read and (hopefully) spell a set of commonly used words over the course of the year, including we, see, me, three, he & she.Each of these spoken words ends with the same segment of pronunciation. So how is a student supposed to know to use a single <e> to spell <he, she, me & we> but a double <e> to spell <see & three>?

When we teach students to go directly from speech to spelling, there is nothing to help them with this task other than their rote memorization skills. So almost immediately, some students will start to fail. But no student needs to struggle with these words. There's a convention that explains why we find <e> or <ee> in each of these words. This convention is one of the many ways that our writing system facilitates comprehension of written text.

To understand this, we first need to know that English words can be roughly divided into two general categories: function words and lexical (content) words. Function words primarily serve grammatical functions and are often unstressed in speech. This category includes pronouns ( me, her), auxiliary verbs ( do, is), prepositions ( in, up, toward), conjunctions ( and, but), determiners ( this, a) and a few adverbs.There are a number of spelling conventions in English related to function and content words; one is that function words can be spelled with just the graphemes needed to represent the phonemes. This means that they may be spelled with only one or two letters, although more may be needed to signal the pronunciation. Examples of one or two letter function words include I, a, an, he, me, we, in, to, of, up, so.There are only about 300 function words in English, but they are used constantly in our language, showing relationships between words, indicating grammatical structures, and generally gluing together lexical words.

Lexical or content words, on the other hand, are the words that carry the meaning of sentences more directly, and they are more likely to be stressed in speech. This category includes nouns ( dog, egg, sweater, freedom, awe), verbs ( run, catch), adjectives ( friendly, peaceful, odd) and most adverbs ( slowly, happily). These words, by convention, are spelled with at least three letters, and if there are several graphemes available to represent a phoneme, lexical words will often use a longer grapheme than a function word will.

This simple convention which begins to differentiate the spelling of function and content words explains the spelling of words like <egg, odd, awe> and many others.If spelling were based primarily on pronunciation, then *<eg, od & aw> would work just fine. But this spelling convention has evolved to make it easier to comprehend written text efficiently. The hypothesis is that lexical words contain more letters than function words, whenever possible, to visually emphasize meaningful content words in written text.

Be aware, however, that these two categories- function words and lexical words -are not either/or distinctions, but are really two ends of a spectrum; an individual word may fall somewhere on the continuum between function and content words.

So now let's look back at the written words <we, see, me, three, he & she> and see how we might categorize them to make sense of their spelling.

me, she, we, he: pronouns (function words)

see: verb (lexical)

three: a cardinal number (which is not strictly lexical or functional, but probably leans more towards the lexical end of the continuum)

With information about this one convention, we have a way to make sense of the shorter spelling <e> in the pronouns <me, she, we & he> and the longer spelling <ee> in the other two words. And can you now make sense of the spellings <be & bee>?If we understand something, we are much more likely to remember it and be able to apply it. This makes all the difference for a dyslexic student (or anyone) who does not have good rote memorization skills.

But perhaps you're thinking that concepts like pronouns and function words are too advanced for the youngest students. They're not. Very young children know how to use the words me, she, he and we and can have fun playing with sentences where nouns are replaced by pronouns, or sentences where we've removed all of the function or lexical words.Teachers in the early years can begin to use these terms in a very relaxed way. Although students will have many years before they need to master the details of the terminology, they will understand the concepts and begin their journey into literacy with the knowledge that all spelling makes sense.
A full understanding of spelling deepens and strengthens comprehension
Words that are called "irregular" and words that use different spellings for the same phoneme make it clear that we can't understand our writing system by starting with the pronunciation of words in isolation.English spelling represents the pronunciation of words, but it does so using flexible phoneme-grapheme relationships that allow for consistent spelling of structural units which build words. By maintaining the consistent spelling of base elements, prefixes and suffixes, our writing system makes it easier to quickly see relationships between words like <say & says, be & been, do & does>, and eventually <preside & president, normal & enormous, fast & fasten>.

When we ignore morphology and etymology in our instruction, the clues to comprehension that are embedded in the writing system are hidden from view. This restricts students to a shallow understanding of the writing system and we inadvertently force them to do far more rote memorization than is needed.

There's a lot of debate about the best way to teach students to read and write, including how to introduce the writing system to young students. For some reason, it's assumed that showing students the actual structures of words and the ways in which the spelling of words reveals meaningful relationships to other words is too advanced or even unnecessary. So we teach students to analyze pronunciation, which is a moving target. As prefixes and suffixes are added to words, the pronunciation of those words constantly shifts. Meanwhile, the consistently spelled structures of those words are sitting right in front of us, ready to be used to anchor those pronunciations to something that is logical and coherent. The writing system itself shows us that analyzing written words provides the best foundation for learning written English.

And in case you're wondering, it turns out that the spelling <home> is connected to the spelling of <hamlet>. Both come from the same historical root and have a sense of "settle, dwell." By looking at their entertaining history, students who struggle with rote memorization can understand and have a meaningful way to remember why the single letter vowel grapheme makes sense in <home> and they will also encounter the word <hamlet> and the idea of a diminutive suffix. And although I've known how to spell <home> for a very long time, when I was prompted to find out why it's spelled with <o-e> and not <oa>, I learned why many towns are called hamlets. This type of study not only enhances learning for 5-year olds and struggling students, but expands vocabulary understanding for all of us.Understanding how and why etymology influences spelling is a critical aspect of literacy study.

No one wants to condemn our youngest students to years of trying (and often failing) to memorize lists of words week after week. The wonderful truth is that every irregular word and every word that doesn't make sense is an invitation to deepen our understanding of our language. There's no better way to launch children into literacy than allowing them to understand how those puzzling words actually do make sense, by framing instruction in the real context of structures and relationships from the very beginning.

¹ Venezky, Richard L."English Orthography: Its Graphical Structure and Its Relation to Sound," Reading Research Quarterly, Vol 2, No. 3 (Spring 1967) pp. 75-105

³See information on <hamlet> at etymonline.com
And an update: when I published this essay a few hours ago, I included the word <bracelet> as an example of a word that has an <let> suffix. But I didn't look it up first. It started nagging at me, and when I just checked, I discovered that <bracelet> probably does not include a suffix <let>. Both <let> and <et> are diminutive suffixes, but I needed to look at the history before I could be confident which one seemed more likely, and I didn't do that. And I thought I had looked at <hamlet> carefully, but I didn't. As I reflect, I don't think I'm comfortable listing either <hamlet> or <bracelet> as words that have <et> or <let> suffixes in present day English, at least not without some more investigation. This is a great example of why etymology matters; it's a critical research tool to help us understand the morphology of present day words. And it's also a great example of a couple of things that I've learned from my friend Pete Bowers-that juicy mistakes often teach us so much and that it's never a problem NOT to analyze a word as deeply as we can, but that we do want to avoid false analysis. I've updated this essay and the pdf to something that (I think!) is justified by the evidence I've had time to look over.

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Bright, motivated, hard-working students often struggle to spell simple words like . And early in my training, one of my young students got my attention when he wrote * for and I realized that I had no way to help him understand why it wasn't spelled with . (The asterisk indicates that...

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From the Dyslexic Association
Article

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