Spelling Lists

I have had a couple requests from parents wanting to know how to find their child's spelling list. The spelling lists are derived from three books from the Words Their Way series. The books follow a progression of spelling patterns. Because of this, there isn't just one simple link to the spelling lists. To the right ----> are the spelling list links. Why are there six links instead of three? The first three are PowerPoints. If you have Microsoft PowerPoint, these are a great way for kids to practice sorting their words. The bottom three are simply PDFs of the spelling lists. Most computers can open a PDF, so that is where most people should be looking.

Here is where the groups stand this week. Next week their list will be the next one (they go in numerical order).

• Red Group: Word Within Word, Sort 14 Short -O and Long -O (CVCe and CVVC)
• Blue Group: Word Within Word, Sort 37 Triple R-Blends scr, str, spr
• Green Group: Syllables and Affixes, Sort 30 Unaccented Final Syllable (le, el, il, al)
• Yellow Group: Derivational, Sort 6 Comparative Suffixes (-er, -est, -ier, -iest)

Why sorts? I am trying to teach them how to spell, not just memorize words on a list. If they can recognize spelling patterns in words, then they can apply that learning to other words with the same spelling pattern.

Eventually, students will be practicing their spelling sorts every day here at school. It is not uncommon to see kids that normally do very poorly in spelling, scoring 90% or better. Practice at home is at the parent's discretion and not required. Tests are on Friday, and Thursday on short weeks.