Sunday, October 6, 2013

All 'sorts' of Fun

We had a 'sweet' math lesson this week.  Each student got one scoop of m&m's in a little baggie. The class happily estimated, counted, sorted, graphed, compared, problem solved and made patterns for an hour!  And yes, they deservingly ate their math materials upon completion!








This week we started Word Work.  I'm using a program called Words Their Way, which is phonics, spelling, and vocabulary instruction through daily word study.


One focus of word study is to teach students how to spell and decode new words and to improve their word recognition speed in general.  Students will learn to examine words and learn some regularities that exist in the spelling system.  They will also learn some irregularities of spelling, which we call “oddball words”.  The simple process of sorting words into categories is the heart of this word study program.  When students sort words, they are engaged in the active process of searching, comparing, contrasting, and analyzing.  Word sorts help students organize what they know about words and to form generalizations that they can then apply to new words they encounter in their reading.  Comparing and contrasting words by sound helps them associate certain sounds with letters, syllable patterns and spelling conventions.