Using word study activities in upper elementary is key to helping students become skilled readers. We want our students to transform into word watchers. This means when students see a word, they think about things like spelling, pronunciation, historical origin, and the connection to other words.
We can help our students to become word watchers by incorporating a variety of word study activities into our literacy block. When you are planning out your word study lessons and activities, you want to make sure that you are planning activities that cover four main word study concepts:
- Syllabication
- Affixes
- Roots
- Context Clues
While there are other word study concepts you can include in your lessons, word study activities that focus on these four concepts will help your students develop a strong foundation in word recognition and word understanding.
We know that both word recognition and word understanding are essential to becoming a skilled reader.
Let’s dig into some of the word study concepts and word study activities you can incorporate in your upper elementary classroom.
Key Word Study Concept #1: Syllabication
Syllabication is the act, process, or method of forming or dividing words into syllables. Teaching syllabication gives kids confidence to read multisyllabic words.
So often, we tell kids to “sound it out” or “break it down” when they see a word they don’t know. But, if our students don’t know the seven types of syllables or specific syllable division rules, those prompts aren’t always helpful.
When we explicitly teach syllabication, we are giving students tools they can use to break down and read big words. This is how teaching syllabication benefits your students:
- They will understand words can be separated into parts and syllables.
- They will understand each syllable has a vowel.
- They will understand the different sounds vowels can make (long, short, schwa).
- They can look for letter combinations that are consistent within the specific types of syllables.
What should I teach during syllabication lessons?
- What is a syllable?
- The sounds in syllables (short vowel, long vowels, and schwa)
- Syllable division rules
- The seven types of syllables
Check out my Types of Syllables resource that I developed for upper elementary teachers and students. It has scripted lesson plans, anchor charts, slides, and student pages. This word study resource will make it easy for you to teach syllables to your students!
Word Study Activity for Syllabication
To help students strengthen their understanding of syllabication, one word study activity you can have them do is a word sort. Students can sort words by the types of syllables or the number of syllables in a word.
Key Word Study Concept #2: Affixes
An affix is a set of letters, generally added before or after a base word or a root word that modifies its meaning. A prefix is the term we use to describe a set of letters we add before a base or root word. A suffix is the term we use to describe a set of letters we add after a base or root word.
Affixes help students with both word recognition and word understanding. It is important for our students to recognize and understand the meaning of common affixes.
For example, if students know the letter combination -un means not or opposite of they can decipher new words they encounter with this prefix. If a student sees the word unbelievable they can determine the word means not believable.
Teaching affixes in-depth will help students understand the difference between inflectional endings and derivational endings.
- Inflectional endings are the suffixes that don’t change the part of speech. For example, the word student is a noun. If you add the suffix -s to it to make it plural, you get students, which is still a noun.
- Derivational endings are suffixes that can change the part of speech. For example, the word encourage is a verb, but if you add the suffix -ment to it you get encouragement, which is a noun.
By teaching students about affixes, we are giving them tools to help them recognize and understand the meaning of a word.
What should I teach during lessons on affixes?
- Common Prefixes
- Suffixes with inflectional endings
- Suffixes with derivational endings
Word Study Activity for Affixes
To help students strengthen their understanding of affixes, one word study activity you can have them do is word building. Students can build words with an assortment of prefixes and suffixes to help them better understand affixes and their purpose.
Key Word Study Concept #3 Roots
Let’s talk about roots! In Speech to Print by Louisa Moats, she defines roots as morphemes, usually of Latin origin, that cannot stand alone. Roots are used to form a family of words with related meanings.
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaningful language. They can be of Latin or Greek origin. They are not words on their own.
When roots, or morphemes, are combined with other word parts, like prefixes or suffixes, they form words. Word study activities focused on roots help our students become confident and successful readers.
Why do we want to teach roots?
- About 60% of words in English are of Greek or Latin origin.
- If we can teach our students Greek and Latin roots, they will have the tools to figure out the meaning behind 60% of the words they encounter.
What should I teach during lessons on roots?
- What a root is.
- It’s helpful to teach a lesson about free vs. bound morphemes.
A free morpheme is a word that can stand on its own. For example, happy is a free morpheme. You do not need to combine it with any other word part to create a word. You can add prefixes and suffixes to it, but it doesn’t need them to be a complete word.
A bound morpheme is not a word but is still a unit of meaning. The root aud means to hear or listen. It is not a word on its own. Audible, auditory, audition, all of those words have the root aud. They all have some meaning connected to hearing or listening. If students understand the meaning of bound morphemes like aud, they can figure out the meaning of words with roots and other related words.
- Most common Latin roots
- Most common Greek roots
Word Study Activity for Roots
To help students build a stronger understanding of roots, have your students do word webs as a word study activity. Words webs are a great way to encourage your students to work with various root words and help them understand how words with the same root family are connected.
You can also check out my blog post on 5 Simple Ways to Teach Greek and Latin Root Words for word study activities for roots!
Key Word Study Concept #4: Context Clues
Context clues are defined as hints, or clues, found within a sentence, paragraph, or entire text that help a reader understand the meaning of new or unfamiliar words.
It is important to help our students understand context clues can be anywhere in a text, not just the sentence of the unfamiliar word.
We cannot teach our students every single word part, affix, root, and word study concept… there just isn’t enough time! So, we must give them tools and strategies they can use when they encounter new or unfamiliar words.
Explicitly teaching context clues is just one way we can support our students with word recognition and understanding. It is also a concept students will use in both word study and independent reading.
What should I teach during lessons on context clues?
- Teach the five types of context clues. To support you with this, check out Episode #41 of the podcast: The 5 Types of Context Clues to Teach Your Students.
- Teach students about parts of speech and the role words play within a sentence.
Word Study Activity for Context Clues
Word of the Week is one of our favorite word study activities for helping your students strengthen their understanding of context clues! This routine exposes students to wordy study concepts that encourage word recognition and understanding… plus it’s quick and easy!
Remember, you do not need to teach everything within each concept. Instead, build on each concept and review throughout the year. Teach, practice, apply… teach, practice, apply and teach, practice apply to help your students become natural word watchers!
Put it into practice…
If you are ready to take action and start implementing the ideas found in this blog post, here are three things you can do.
- Grab my free word of the week routine to help your students master using context clues.
- Listen to Episode #94 where I share even more about the four word study concepts every upper elementary teacher should be teaching.
- Come join us inside The Stellar Teacher Reading Membership where you get access to a huge resource library that has word study lessons and activities to incorporate into your word study block.
Happy Teaching!
I have a confession to make…Planning for word study is one of my superpowers. I like to think about it, I like to talk about it, I like to create activities to help students improve their word study and spelling abilities. You probably don’t want to hear about my dreams of gameboards at night, but I’m so glad my secret is out and that you are here to learn more about word study activities for upper elementary students! Today, I’ve got the ultimate list of word study activities that I use for a well-rounded Words Their Way word study program. If you use another program, you’ll still find ideas that you can incorporate here, including a free set of word study sorting posters. Let’s go!
Note: This post contains affiliate links to the word study resources that I recommend. This means that I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Read my full disclosure here.
For my word study curriculum, I use the Words Their Way word sort books as my go-to for differentiated word lists and printable sorts. If you would like to see the Words Their Way Word Sort Books, you can find them here on Amazon.
As you check out the activities I use in my word study routine, think of this list as a buffet of activities you can choose from to fill any voids in your word study plans. Need more engagement, to add in the fun, or something to push the depths of students’ understanding? Think about what’s missing and see if any of these activities make sense to add in. As you read these, keep in mind that everything in my word study routine is differentiated with students grouped based on an assessment they take at the beginning of the year.
9 ACTIVITIES FOR WORD STUDY
1) DISCOVERY WORD SEARCHES
I introduce my students to their word study list with word searches. Students search through a word search that does not contain a word list. These word searches encourage students to “discover” or identify a common pattern being used among the words in the word search. When students discover the focus pattern(s) or concepts, they look for more words with that pattern and attune their minds to think about other words that could fit that pattern.
This assignment is designed for use at the beginning of a word study rotation as a way to introduce students to their new word list. I LOVE this activity as an inquiry-based way to launch my word study lists! You may want to add this to your word study routine if your students need some fun and challenge or if they’ve spent years doing word sorts and need a new way to engage with their word study lists. It’s an easy activity to print and go and since it’s repeated at the start of each word study list, students get better and better at them! (I’ve got lots of tips and tricks for success with word study word searches in this blog post.)
Want to give word study word searches a test drive? You can click the button below for sample word searches for each of the 4 word study levels. (I recommend printing one and having a go at it yourself to see what kinds of thinking your brain does while trying to find words with similar patterns. Have fun!) The PDF will open in a new tab.
2) WORD SORTING ACTIVITIES
Oh boy! Word sorts can be so much fun—but they are also an important way to help students discover ideas about the sounds and patterns in words. Since my upper elementary students have experienced pattern-based word sorts in past years, I like to spice it up for them with a “You Choose” menu of word sorting activities. I include the following main sorts on their choice board:
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Sound Sort
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Pattern Sort
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Sound and Pattern Sort—this sort gets more detailed than just a sound or pattern sort for sorts where words may contain the same patterns but make different sounds.
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OOPS! Sort—Students create a sort for a partner where they’ve misplaced one word in each column.
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Parts of Speech Sort
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“I Can Read the Word” Sort
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Number of Syllables Sort
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Memory Match—This is “sort of” a sorting activity; students play Memory/Match and record matches or pairs of words that have the same sound, pattern, or other connection.
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Word Meaning Sort—Students sort their words into categories based on meaning. They can even create a concept map or web showing how the words are related when it works for the given sort!
While some word lists will work better for these sorts than others (for example, it wouldn’t be a great use of time to complete a syllables sort with a word list where all words contain the same number of syllables), it is a nice option to let students choose their activity. In addition, you may modify the You Choose boards for different groups based on their level and what they need to focus on most. An “I Can Read the Word” sort may be very beneficial for students at the Within Word Pattern level, but unnecessary for students at the Derivational Relations level.
If you are interested in adding these sorts to your word study routine, I’ll send the “You Choose” word sort boards along with direction posters for each type of sort to your inbox. Just subscribe below!
WORD STUDY SORT DIRECTION POSTERS + MORE!
Use these posters to teach your students different ways to sort their words. You’ll also get a word sort choice board, directions for «How to Quiz Yourself,» and more.
You’ll be joining the Tarheelstate Teacher email community for 3rd-5th grade teachers and receive tons of other tips and perks along the way! Just check your inbox!
3) WORD STUDY NOTEBOOKS
Word study notebooks are a way to encourage students to think deeply about the words on their word lists. I ask questions like: What do you notice about the way these words are spelled? What do you notice about the sounds in these words? What do you notice about the way the beginning/ending changed the meaning of the word? How did the spelling change when (something) was added? How did the spelling change when the tense changed? etc.
In a recent re-reading of Words Their Way (6th Edition), Bear (et al) recommended that students have a word study notebook to house their thinking about their word lists. They also included a list of activities that could be used like a menu of choices to prompt students to think more deeply about their words. But, after years of struggling to utilize a “catch all” word study notebook well, I finally created word study notebooks for Within Word Pattern, Syllables and Affixes, and Derivational Relations Spellers. With thoughtful activities for each sort, these word study notebooks help students engage with the complexities of their word lists.
You can try free samples of the word study notebooks for each level by clicking the buttons below. (A PDF will open in a new tab).
4) MEET WITH THE TEACHER
My students meet with me in small groups based on their developmental level. I try to meet with my two emerging spellers groups twice during their word study cycle, while my other groups meet once. During our time together, we may go over any of the activities listed here. I use this time to give my students a boost with their word searches (if needed), ensure that students understand how to complete their word study notebook activities, and have students play a round of the independent or partner game so that they know how to play when it comes up in their schedule.
5) GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!
(If you cringe at the word “games” for your classroom, let’s call these SUPER FUN, ENGAGING activities 💕!) I mix and match partner games and independent games and activities in my students’ routine. Depending on where we are in the year, my students may play games during their meeting with me, during a whole-group game day, or as part of their word study schedule. Check out different ways to incorporate them in your word study block here.
I’ve created board games, games with spinners, picture board activities, card games, and more to help students practice and reinforce the concepts meant to be taught by their word study lists.
If you’re thinking students will just goof off during game play, have no fear! I include a word study-focused recording sheet that helps hold students accountable, reinforces the concepts taught in the games, and allows me to check to see if students have any misconceptions I need to address individually or during our next meeting. This accountability along with a strong focus on teaching my students the organization, routines, and procedures of using word study games allows games to be a fun part of our routine!
6) LOOK, SAY, COVER, WRITE, CHECK (SELF-QUIZZING)
In Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check (LSCW✓), students do exactly what it sounds like. They take their word lists (from their word sort slips), place them in an upside down pile in front of themselves, flip over the first word, and
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Look at the word
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Say the word
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Cover the word (or flip it over)
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Write the word down
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Check it by looking at the word slip and comparing.
Then, students give themselves a check beside of the word if it is spelled correctly and record the correct spelling for any misspelled words right beside of their original try. In the word sorting activities download, I’ve included directions for how students can quiz themselves with LSCW✓.
7) WRITER’S NOTEBOOK DAY
I include a day that I call “writer’s notebook day” in my students’ word study cycle. (A writer’s notebook is simply a composition notebook that students use during our writer’s workshop to free write, work on drafts, etc.) During this activity, students go through a page or two of an entry in their writer’s notebook to look for misspelled words. Students can write directly on their writing sample (circling misspelled words and writing the correct spelling above it) or use a sticky note to jot down the correct spellings and attach it to the page.
Writer’s notebook day is important for helping my students make the connection from word study concepts to improved spelling in writing. This activity can be especially beneficial if you have time to analyze common patterns that students are misspelling or want data on the transfer of «word study» to authentic spelling during writing.
BUILDING WORDS ACTIVITIES
BUILDING WORDS ACTIVITIESBuilding words is a beneficial activity for some students. In this activity, students take a word from their word slips, then
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say the word,
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build the word with letter tiles,
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do a “Pencil-Touch check”—Students touch each letter on the slip and each letter tile back and forth with their pencil to check their spelling,
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record the word they built in their word study notebooks.
You can modify this activity to make it a bit more challenging by having students flip over or cover the word before they build it.
9) “HEAR IT/SORT AND SPELL IT” OR “NO PEAKING” ASSESSMENT (BUDDY QUIZ)
To check students’ progress on learning to spell the words from their word list, you can implement a “Hear it/Sort it and Spell it” assessment. (I formerly called this a “blind” assessment, but I have updated the language for sensitivity and to more clearly describe what students do. This could also be called a buddy check or buddy quiz.)
Ideally, the teacher is able to call out words to students on their quiz day, but often times, it’s easier to set students up with a buddy from a different group who will read their word list to them.
WHAT IF YOU HAD THE DREAM WORD STUDY SCHEDULE?!
👉 We know that we have a wide range of spelling abilities in our upper elementary classrooms and that students are not on the same level in their word study and spelling development.
💜 A differentiated program helps students fill in the gaps in their learning of phonics, spelling, and how words work. Differentiated spelling routines put spelling success within students’ zone of proximal development.
👉 While spelling is often a minimalized instructional piece in upper elementary classrooms, students’ spelling abilities can be one of the most stigmatizing factors in their academic performance. Students who have difficulty spelling well may resist writing during your writer’s workshop or other content-area writing activities.
💜 The idea that all students are working to understand words better and become better spellers normalizes not knowing how to spell all words—no matter what level students start from.
How long does it take to make a difference in our students’ attitudes and abilities toward spelling?
Can you believe that a word study routine of 15-20 minutes 3-5 times a week can positively affect your students? It’s true!
If you want to see the word study schedules that worked in my classroom and made a difference in my students’ spelling abilities, click here to make your own copy of my sample word study schedules—perhaps you’ll see why word study quickly became one of my teacher obsessions!
HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR UPPER ELEMENTARY WORD STUDY
Looking for some fresh phonics activities for your word study lessons?
I use a lot of word sorts in my word study lessons, and they’re effective. But sometimes my kiddos and I get a little tired of sort after sort after sort. Can you relate? 🙂
In today’s post, I’ll share 5 phonics activities to try with your kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade students! I hope you find at least a couple of new ideas!
Photo Credits; Regreto, Shutterstock
1. Mystery Word
Have students place 5 – 10 words, on individual cards, on the table in front of them. (Have students use the words they are currently studying AND words they have studied in the past, for review.) Each student should have the same set of words.
The teacher chooses one word and gives clues about that word. Students may guess the word at any time, but I do not allow the children to guess after one clue (they have to wait to hear two or more clues).
When you give clues, make sure that they do not immediately reveal the “identity” of the word. For example, if you state that the word ends in -at, you’ll want students to have several different words that end in -at.
Examples of clues:
“The mystery word starts with the digraph ‘ch.’”
“The mystery word rhymes with ‘pig.’”
“The mystery word has 2 syllables.”
“The mystery word has a prefix.”
Kindergarten teachers can modify this by giving students alphabet letters rather than words. You then give clues like, “This is the letter that starts the word ‘hat’” or “This letter has two straight lines” or “This is the last letter in the word ‘pin.’” You can eventually transition to having students work with complete words.
This activity can be done in a whole group or small group setting. Once students have played this game many times with your support, you can have them play it on their own—a student leader makes up the clues for a partner or small group!
2. Word Train
In this activity, students manipulate words and change out letters to make new words.
First, direct students to make a word (they should use their own magnetic letters or letter tiles). After students have made it correctly, have them write it on the first car in their train.
Next, either show or ask students how they can change that word to form a new word. Once students have formed the new word with their magnetic letters or tiles, have them write it on the train.
Continue until the train is “full.” Praise students for their work in changing the first word to a completely different word.
If you’d like this train template, you can get it for free at this link.
You can make the activity even more challenging (and assign it as independent work) by writing the first and last word on the train. Students have to figure out how to get from the first word to the last word!
3. Making Words
This activity was developed by Patricia Cunningham (1992). I’m going to share a basic outline of her activity, but there are other variations and extension activities that you can read about in one of her books, like this one.
To prepare for the activity, the teacher chooses a “secret word” (something related to a topic you’ve been studying, if possible). The teacher displays the letters in the word in a mixed-up order. Students should also have their own paper letter tiles with matching letters to manipulate.
The teacher directs students to make a 2-letter word, with her help (or a 3-letter word, if no 2-letter words are possible).
Continue guiding students in making words by giving directions like “Change the first letter to an S” or “Mix up the letters to make a different word.” As you go, increase the number of letters in the words students make.
Have students try to figure out the “big” secret word. If they are not able to, give them clues to help.
Students can then do follow-up activities like practicing sorting the words they made, comparing and contrasting words, looking for words that rhyme, etc.
Again, this can be done in a whole group or small group setting. Students can eventually do “Making Words” activities and variations on their own (as independent work, they can repeat the same “Making Words” activity you did with them, but without your support).
4. Dictation
This one is not quite as game-like as numbers 1-3. But it can still be fun AND is an extremely valuable phonics activity. It also allows you to see how students are doing with applying phonics / word learning to their writing.
The way you structure the dictation activity will depend on students’ ages and abilities. In general, you might try something like this:
- Choose a sentence that includes ONLY words that students have been learning how to spell (CVCe words with the long i, for instance) and sight words.
- Say the sentence aloud to students: “I like my bike.”
- Then, say, “Write ‘I.’” Have students write the word.
- “Write ‘like.’” (If necessary, comment on the long i sound, and help students segment it if necessary.) Have students write the word.
- Repeat for the remaining words in the sentence. Note: In kindergarten and first grade (and sometimes 2nd), I almost always dictate the sentence word-by-word. I want students’ focus to be on using their phonics knowledge rather than trying to remember a sentence. If necessary, I will remind them to space, use capital letters, and punctuation. Although I can discuss these skills during the lesson, I try to stay focused on the phonics patterns (since that is the point of this type of dictation).
- Have students reread their sentences. Discuss word features.
In kindergarten, I start with single-word dictations, and then we eventually move into very simple sentences. You can incorporate sound boxes or have students “tap out” words to support them with segmenting during the dictation.
Ways to make dictation fun:
- Make up sentences about your students and/or classroom. (You may have to tell them how to spell a word if it doesn’t fit the patterns students have been studying, but the enjoyment they get from relevant sentences will make it worth it.)
- Make up silly sentences.
- Allow students to choose a word they’ve been studying. Then, you come up with a sentence that uses that word (but is still phonics-controlled).
5. Real or Nonsense?
This activity is very flexible, open-ended, and can be adapted for any level.
To prepare, choose letters, chunks, or syllables students have been studying and place them on index cards or small pieces of paper.
You can either A) fold up the cards and place them into a bag or jar, or B) give each student a set of the cards to place on the table in front of them.
With option A, students reach into the bag/jar and take out two pieces of paper. They manipulate the word parts to try to make a word. They record the word(s) they can make, writing them into the “Real” or “Nonsense” categories.
With option B, you can direct students in finding specific letters, chunks, or syllables (“Find the chunk ‘ing’ and the letter S”). With your guidance, students form real and nonsense words.
This makes a great small-group activity because you can discuss the meanings of words too. Students can sort the words in other ways, beyond “real” and “nonsense.”
Conclusions
I hope you got at least one new idea for your phonics instruction! 🙂
Want some free word work games that you can customize so students can practice words of your choice? Grab my free word work games at this link!
If you’re looking for many more activities that your students can do independently, check out my word work resources for K, 1st, and 2nd grade.
References
Blevins, W. (2017). A Fresh Look at Phonics, Grades K-2. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Cunningham, P.M., & Cunningham, J.W. (1992). Making words: Enhancing the invented spelling-decoding connection. The Reading Teacher, 46, 106-107.
Related Posts:
A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about how I used a variation of Daily Three in my reading classroom. Since writing that post, I have gotten several questions about a word study activity I mentioned in the post.
As an upper grades teacher, I have always struggled with finding word study activities that are appropriate for my students. To be honest, I still struggle and my personal goal for this school year is to work on developing or finding more word study activities that are engaging, grade level appropriate, and truly help my students think about, analyze, and explore words. This post shares one of my favorite go-to word study activities for upper elementary students that I have used for the past five years. This word study activity can be completed during centers or even as a whole group activity.
About the Word Study Activity
Basically, students choose one of their spelling words for the week and then “Make Connections” between that word and other known words or words they specifically search for while they are reading.
Here are the “Making Connections” choices that students can choose from at the beginning of the year to complete this word study activity. We do add to this list as the year goes on and the students become more proficient with these choices and are ready for more.
Introducing the Word Study Activity
I spend the first few weeks of school modeling each one of the choices. It helps ensure the students understand the choice and understand how to find words that meet that requirement.
To do model this, we choose one word from our spelling list. The students help me choose “Making Connections” choices from the list that we have not used before. We go through the entire activity with students volunteering words that fit the choices we chose. When we have four words for each, I have them choose another word from the list to complete the activity on their own with the same “Making Connections” choices.
This can be done on a piece of paper easily, but I like to use a printable. It helps keep the work neat and organized, and I really dislike grading things work like this on notebook paper for some reason.
The students write their chosen word in the middle of the printable. Then they write their four chosen “Making Connections” choices in the four outer boxes. As you can see, this student chose same number of syllables, synonyms, same part of speech, and same ending sound.
Completing the Word Study Activity
After making their choices and clearly labeling each box with their choice, students get to work finding words that they can connect with their chosen spelling words. They can pull from their own knowledge, previous spelling lists, books they are reading, and even dictionaries.
I do require that they double check the spelling in a dictionary before recording the word in their printable. This takes extra time at first, but it takes care of my dictionary skills for the year and the students get faster as they use it more.
I also have a requirement of at least four words in each of the outer boxes. However, I have been known to allow students to do five in one box and three as long as they average about four words in each box.
Since this word study activity requires thinking, searching, and double-checking with dictionaries, I only require one printable (with one spelling word) to be completed during a 20 minute center in the beginning of the year. After Christmas, I require two to be completed. I do have some students who actually finish more than the required amount during the time frame. For students who need more time, you could lower the requirement to two words per “connection.”
In addition to using this in a word work center or station, this can also be done whole group. Read more about implementing word study in a whole class format versus centers by clicking here.
Download the Word Study Activity Printable Here
Click here or on the image below to download the FREE word study activity printable.
Do you have any word study activities that you have your students complete that you love? Let me know in the comments.
Want more word work activities? Click here to check out my FREE Word Work Activities using Jenga blocks!
Before I get into sharing some simple word study ideas, let me tell you something: sometimes things are just ironic. I’ve been working with my first grade son on word study patterns that complement his weekly focus in class. For example, last week they did long i using “magic e” so I created some games for him to expose him to all of the ways to make the long i sound. He’s loving it and I’m loving that he’s sorting and reading the patterns. The irony comes from the fact that I have randomly been receiving a notable number of emails asking me about word study and what I do and use. Read below to get some helpful word study ideas for elementary teachers you can use in your classroom.
3 Word Study Ideas for Elementary Teachers
Below are 3 word study ideas for elementary teachers.
1. Use Anchor Charts
The first word study idea on the list is to use anchor charts. Anchor charts are a great tool for teaching word study. They are creating for modeling and serving as a reference tool as students work independently or with partners. Let me share an example of how I use them in my classroom!
Below you can see an anchor chart I used to model how to play the game scattergories.
This activity was perfect when we were also studying data and graphing in math. Ultimately, my students will need to sort data into categories, pose a question, and create a visual to represent their findings. It’s a lot for their little 8-year-old brains to grasp. I always find the “forming categories” to be the most challenging part. We had a breakthrough moment today when I related the concept to sections of the grocery store (produce, canned goods, meats, freezer). Wish I thought of that one sooner!
Anyway, we played Scattergories as a fun word study activity. It was so much fun! The goal was to include words that nobody else had listed. After the time period ended, I manned the chart paper and began taking words from volunteers. A child would say a word. I would write it on the chart and ask, “Does anyone else have that word on their list?”.
If other students had also written the word down on the chart paper, they would give the silent “me too” signal in response. This is a great classroom management strategy!
If the word is on more than one student’s paper, then they would draw a line through it. If a child was the only one to think of the word he would circle it and I added a star on the chart next to the word.
I was so impressed with the words they came up with and we had a great time building our lists!
I recommend you try this word study idea in your classroom!
2. Incorporate Fun Hands On Learning and Games
The second word study idea on the list is to incorporate fun hands on learning experiences.
As elementary teachers, we know how important it is to incorporate hands on learning opportunities and fun games in our classroom. It engages students in their learning and results in better learning outcomes. Of course we should incorporate it into our word study instruction as well.
I’m really focusing on word study as opposed to just “spelling” this year and have been designing some games and activities to go with it. I wanted to come up with some materials that could be used week after week by simply changing out the word patterns. My hope was that they would become familiar with the directions which would make the activities more efficient and beneficial to them.
A word study center that is open-ended, highly engaging, student-driven, reusable, and easily prepped… Does this exist and where can I find it?! Good news: it does! You can find it right here. It is an interactive word study display called BOGGLE. It’s one of my favorite word study games!
This word study activity invites students to explore letters to create words. It is based on the game BOGGLE, which you may have played when you were younger. It serves as a great whole group game, small group activity, and reusable center.
Are you looking for a word study center that is engaging, reusable, and open-ended for differentiation purposes? This BOGGLE center is exactly what you need! Learn all about my Boggle Word Study Game resource! It’s one of my favorite word study ideas for elementary teachers.
Scoop up this Boggle Word Study Game Board!
3. Offer Daily Practice
This word study idea may seem obvious, but it’s important to note. Students need to be working on word study skills regularly. One way to offer daily practice is by incorporating a word study center in your literacy centers.
We have a list of spelling words that accompany our reading curriculum (Treasures). I use that as a guide, but differentiate my lists to meet the needs of my learners. This meant I needed to create activities that were open-ended in the sense that the students could be doing the same activity, but with their own personal word lists.
I use these printable spelling activities with spelling lists, word study lists, vocabulary, and content area words. I also use them as homework pages. They are also great to leave when you have a sub. Oh, and if you are a Daily 5er, then these rock for Word Work.
Download these printable spelling activities now!
In closing, I hope you found these word study ideas for elementary teachers helpful! If you did, then you may also be interested in these posts and resources:
- The Best Back to School Read Alouds for Elementary Teachers
- How to Read a Picture Book Every Day to Your 1st-3rd Grade Students
- Must-Have First Day of School Picture Books for Elementary Teachers
- How to Use Spelling Activities in Your Elementary Classroom
- How to Use Printable Boggle Board for Elementary Teachers
