C&T 743 Shelley Kennedy

Spelling Inventory and Summary of Instructional Spelling Needs

Part 1: Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI)

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Page 2
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Part 1 Cont.: Completed Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory Feature Guide
C&T 743 Shelley Kennedy

Part 2: Summary and Instructional Support

I selected a student from my classroom, Cohen, who is an enthusiastic learner
and on level with reading to partake in the spelling inventory. I was curious to see the
relation of his reading abilities to his spelling abilities. I administered the Words Their
Way Primary Spelling Inventory to my first grade student who is seven years old. After
reading the recommendation for first grades to take the primary spelling inventory,
viewing the word list for the inventory, and considering the reading ability of my student,
I chose the primary inventory as the best fit for my student. My student felt confident
and never became fatigued during the assessment. I asked if he would like to finish the
assessment to number twenty-six and he happily agreed to finish.
After analyzing the spelling features, I have concluded Cohen is within the early
to middle within words stage. This stage consists of common long vowels such as long
vowels with silent e and other vowel patterns such as r-controlled, ew, and aw. He did
exceptionally well with beginning and final consonants, short vowels, blends, and
diagraphs. He began to falter with long vowels during the within word stage. It is typical
for students in this stage to use but confuse vowel patterns. At this stage, Bear,
Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnson express spellers are not spelling sound by sound
but have transitioned into experimenting with the new vowel patterns they know (p.
205). Cohen is using but confused several of these vowel patterns. For example, he
spelling chewed as chude. He is hearing the long u sound but confusing it with the
incorrect spelling. As a result of this, he missed the ending of -ed. In two scenarios,
Cohen used the first vowel in a vowel team but deleted the second, silent vowel. In the
word dream, he deleted the a. The pattern continues in the word coach, when he
deleted the letter silent letter a. When Cohen is coming to a silent sound he is often
deleting the sound or falling back to what he is most familiar with for long vowel sounds,
vowel, consonant letter, e.

Using but
Student Examples
Confusing

R-controlled
Common
Vowel ir, er,
Vowels
ur

Doubling
Vowel Teams consonant
before -ing
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Carefully planned word sorts are a systematic way to guide students mastery of
the complexities of vowel and consonant patterns in the within word pattern stage
(Bear et al., p. 211). To begin instruction for the vowel patterns Cohen is using but
confusing, we will first begin with making connections with short and long vowel patterns
of a. We will progress with the other vowel sounds as each is visited and well on the
way toward mastery before tackling irregular vowel patterns. These vowel connections
will guide Cohen as more challenging patterns are introduced and provide as a stepping
stone toward the more difficult vowel patterns.
Word Sort Activities
Word Sort
p. 356
Short a a_e ai ay Odd Ball
last tape pain stay said
plan late mail pay have
sat shade snail play
made stage day

Activity: Teacher Directed Guess-My Category Sort

We will begin making connections with long vowel a words through a teacher-
directed guess-my category sort (Bear et al., p. 56). For this lesson, the list of words
provided above will be written on index cards and sorted on a pocket chart during the
activity. The lesson begins by reading through the words and discussing any unfamiliar
words with the student. I will begin sorting a few words by category without giving away
the features. Cohen will be invited to sort the remaining words by category. We will
discuss the features he is using to sort by and place headers above each column. The
purpose of this sort is to make the connection with other vowel patterns other than CVe
alone. Afterward, he will take the cards to use for his own sorting activities throughout
the week.
Activity: Turkey Feathers
To extend making connections by comparing and contrasting long a patterns,
Cohen and participating members, will be introduced to the Turkey Feathers activity
(Bear et al., p. 231). Students will use their long a word sort cards, ten feathers, and a
turkey cut out per student. Each student is dealt five word cards and five feathers. The
remaining cards are placed face down as a draw pile. Each player puts down pairs that
match by pattern such as rain and paid. As a match is found, a feather is placed on the
students turkey. The dealer goes first by asking the other if he or she has a match in
their hand. If so, they get to keep the card and place a feather. The game is similar to
Go-Fish and can be referenced in the learning of the game if students are more familiar
with the games procedures. The player with all five feathers wins the game.
Part 3: Activity Summary
C&T 743 Shelley Kennedy

Activity: Teacher Directed Guess-My Category Sort

My student and I conducted our word sort activities over the span of two
sessions. Due to the conclusion of the school year our time together was very brief but
served as a learning opportunity in the methods of Words Their Way. The purpose of
our sorts were to study words by comparing and contrasting short vowel and long vowel
CVe words such as rat and rake. We begin by making connections with the long vowel
a words through using a teacher directed guess-my category sort. To begin the lesson,
the student and I read through the list of words on the following chart from shuffled
index cards.
Word Sort p. 356
Short a a_e ai ay Odd Ball
last tape pain stay said
plan late mail pay have
sat shade snail play
made stage day

We discussed any unfamiliar words. My student, mentioned the word stage was
confusing at first because of the /ge/ sound. He recalled several words from previous
learning and was very successful in their reading. Afterward, I began sorting a few
words in a closed sort. I did not include category headings because of the intent of the
game. I asked my student if he could continue sorting the words according to what
patterns he believed I sort by. I had to prompt him on the odd ball category because
this was a new topic for him. He especially liked this category and aimed to place those
words first. I believe this is something new and exciting for him therefore he preferred
this category to the others and made it his mission to get this category correct. During
the sort of long a words, he placed all ai, ay, and a_e words together. I prompted him
with the question, Do you believe you can sort this category even more? He
responded to this prompt well and sorted accordingly. To conclude this activity, the
student named the categories of our sort and labeled them accordingly.

Activity: Turkey Feathers

Our second activity took place the following day for a brief amount of time. To
extend making connections by comparing and contrasting long a patterns, I introduced
the game Turkey Feathers. My student loves to hunt and fish so we played this game
as we were plucking the turkey feathers. To play the game, my student used his long a
word sort cards, five feathers, and a turkey cut out. We each began with five word cards
and battled in a similar game of go fish to find matching pairs of cards. As each partner
made a pair, a feather would be plucked from the turkey! We were able to play two
C&T 743 Shelley Kennedy

rounds with myself winning the first round and my student finishing up the game with a
win.
Part 3: Activity Reflection

Several principles were met as these activities were prepared and conducted
with the student. The most important principle taken into consideration was what the
student was using but confusing. In the scope and sequencing of the Within Words
stage it was most appropriate to work with my student on comparing short and long
vowel words with silent e, ai, and ay. In preparing the activities, I took into consideration
what my student knows, short vowels, to step forward into long a vowels. It was
important to work with words that my student can read with ease in effort to sort and
compare different long vowel a sounds. In the process of sorting words, we covered the
principles involving comparing and contracting words. We did not hide any exceptions
and made sure to pinpoint any odd ball words found in our sort. My student rather
enjoyed this principle and benefited from the process. If time would have allowed, my
student would have able opportunities to work for automaticity but due to the final days
of school our time was limited in this activity and also the returning to meaningful text
after sorting our words.

The activities went very well for my student. I believe he is beginning to make the
connection that different words carry different long a vowel spellings. With these
activities he is becoming more exposed to the different spellings therefore the more
exposed the better connections he will make with words. The next steps for him would
include other long vowel sorts such as long o words. Activities involving a game work
best for this student. He becomes more engaged and holds his attention longer. If I
were to do similar activities with him, I would include a student partner to work with him.
He is a natural teacher and expresses his teaching best when explaining to another
student. This would give me a better understanding of this thinking and connections he
is making with words. Another student would benefit in this process as well.

In preparing these activities and reading through several chapters, I am grasping

the sequencings of spelling that is developmental for most learners. I have a wonderful
resource to reference as I plan the next stages of learning for my students in the areas
of phonics and spelling. I have learned through this process that I am continuously
learning about phonics and spelling. It is my job as an educator to continue learning and
applying effective practices in my classroom.
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References
Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2016). Words their way (6th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.