Where it all began…Reluctant learners and word attack skills

As a special education teacher for upper elementary, I work(ed) with students with many different academic challenges. A couple years ago, it seemed I had quite a number who were struggling to read and reluctant to use any word attack skills.

We had worked on phonics and applied them to single syllable words, but as soon as a word looked big, they just stopped and waited for help. Over summer break, I had the idea that I would start my language arts class (I had a 4th grade ELA section and a 5th grade ELA section) with a “Word of the Day”. I would select a word they might not be familiar with or a vocabulary word they would soon see in one of their other content classes and we would 1. use syllable division patterns to divide the word, then 2. use phonics to sound it out and finally 3. discuss its meaning. This turned out to be a very successful start to class. I watched as their ability to use taught strategies grew, and they became more confident in using those word attack skills. The next year, I wanted to expand on this activity. Where I had been picking words at a somewhat random pattern (often using the word of the day from dictionary.com), I wanted to be a little more intentional and really dive into the morphology we were learning. I created a daily worksheet that gave the students a word to divide and sound out, as well as look at the vowel patterns as they relate to the number of syllables. The work sheet also had a place to break the word into morphemes where we discussed what the parts of the word meant, and a place for the definition. I used this last part to have them work on their dictionary skills. If they found the word in the dictionary and read the definition to me, they only had to write the page number on their worksheet.

This was a challenging activity for them, but doing it day after day they grew more confident and were able to discuss the phonic patterns and morphemes like experts. Fridays were also “Door Words” day. On slips of paper, I wrote past Word of the Days and each student would draw one at random. On their slip, they divided the word by syllables, highlighted the morphemes (pink-prefix, blue-suffix, yellow-Anglosaxon, purple-Latin, and green-Greek). Once they divided and highlighted it correctly, I had them read the word to me. Then they were given a di-cut shape to glue the word on and then tape the shape to the door. In August and September the shapes were green leaves and apples. In October and November they were colored leaves and pumpkins. In December, January, and February we had lots of snow flakes. In March we added shamrocks. In April we added rain drops, and in May we added flowers. They loved plastering the door with their shapes! If you are intested in this these word of the day pages I have a free sample in my TPT store as well as the full version for $8.