What is word sorting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A word sort is a developmental word study activity espoused by the Words Their Way curriculum as written by Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, and Francine Johnston. The activity focuses students’ attention on critical features of words, namely sound, pattern, and meaning.^[1]

Recent descriptions of comprehensive vocabulary programs identify fostering word consciousness (getting students really interested in and excited about words) as a crucial component of effective programs.^[2] Word sorts are a method to foster word consciousness.

Role of Word Sorts[edit]

The process of sorting words into various categories is the heart of word study. By categorizing different words by certain elements, young children make sense of words and patterns within words. Word sorts combine both constructivist learning and teacher-directed instruction.^[1]

Students receive a stack of cards containing either pictures or words that have several types of contrasting sounds, patterns, or meanings. Each student must then figure out the patterns that exist within the stack, and sort the cards accordingly. By doing this, students construct their own knowledge of words, creating a lasting understanding of how language works. This process contrasts greatly to the simple memorization related to traditional spelling tests.

The more students understand about the structure of words — their spelling or orthography — the more efficient and fluent their reading will be. Word sorts place instructional emphasis on the exploration of patterns that can be detected in the sound, structure, and meaning features of words. Thus, word sorts contribute to orthographic or spelling knowledge, the engine that drives efficient reading as well as efficient writing.^[3]

Types of Sorts[edit]

There are three different types of word sorts: sound sorts, picture sorts, and word sorts.

Sound Sorts[edit]

Sound sorts can take on many forms in a primary classroom and this is essential because sound is the first layer of English orthography.^[1] Sound study can be introduced at a very early stage and develop with a child’s individual ability. Sorting pictures or oral vocabulary is a manipulation of sounds, and this manipulation increases awareness. A simple introductory sort is by initial sound and this can develop to ending sound, vowel sounds, and word families sorts. The root of importance is student motivation and involvement in the sort. By “setting the scene with sounds,»^[4] sorts may include concrete materials and pictures linked to learner interest. Phonemic awareness, not phonics, is the understanding that our spoken sounds work together to make words. This is a very early understanding that can be developed in a variety of ways. Comparing sounds is the easiest task for developing phonemic awareness.^[5] Sound sorts can be introduced very early on and develop strategically throughout primary learning.

An ability to sort sounds is essential for early reading because sound manipulation is a stepping stone to word study and decoding ability. For some students a direct instructional approach is not necessary in the development of sound study and sorting. Other children who have had less exposure or lack the understanding of sounds and their manipulability may need further instruction to develop their ability. Teachers have a responsibility to students they serve to identify their needs and implement instructional strategies to scaffold students’ understandings of sounds.

Intervention strategies may be necessary in remediating students who cannot correctly identify sounds in isolation on a given opportunity.^[6] Programs like Reading Recovery have contemporary phonemic techniques embedded in the program. Also, books and poems may specifically focus on word families and similar sound patterns for children to identify and understand in context.^[7] Sound sorts can be integrated through programs, or very inexpensively through teacher-created materials. For example, students can sort pictures by beginning sound, rhyme, or ending sound. Students do not need to have strong phonics skills in order to engage in sound sorts. This can be a beginning phonemic awareness activity because students need only to identify the sound in order to complete the sort. Letter knowledge is not required, and phonemic development can mature as students do acquire more print knowledge.

Picture Sorts[edit]

Picture sorts are one component of word study and are used to help beginning readers develop Concept of Word, phonological awareness, and phonics.^[1][8] Picture sorts most often begin with focusing on initial sound (single consonant, digraphs, or blends). By using picture sorts teachers are able to help students who do not have extensive reading vocabularies focus on isolated sounds (Initial, final, or medial) within a spoken word.^[1] These sorts are often a child’s first introduction to word study and are most commonly used with students whose developmental skills are at the emergent, letter name-alphabetic, or early within word Spelling Stages.^[9]

Word Sorts[edit]

Word sort activities involve students comparing, contrasting, and classifying words — considering words from a variety of perspectives.^[3] Bear et al. emphasized the importance of comparing those words that do fit into a particular category with those that don’t. This type of engagement with words will for most students lead to the abstraction of spelling patterns and the sounds to which they correspond.^[1]

Word sorts can be teacher directed (closed) or student directed (open). For example, students in the with-in-word pattern phase of word knowledge could sort words according to a vowel pattern; in such sorts there is always a miscellaneous category for words that do not follow the target categories.^[3]

Game-like formats such as board games and card games can also be effective if they focus on words that reflect spelling patterns. Word-building activities also facilitate abstraction of pattern: word wheels, flip charts, making words. Spelling or word study notebooks may be used to record, collect, and organize information about words and spelling patterns learned from the word sort.^[10]

Digital Word Sorts[edit]

To complement the many ‘hands on’ activities students use for sorting words, digitized word sorts provide an efficient way for teachers to deliver spelling pattern differentiation. A variety of these are ready-made, including Word Sorter.

Adjusting Word Sort Instruction for Students with Learning Problems[edit]

Research has shown that students who experience significant difficulty with spelling follow the same developmental course as other students, but do so at a slower pace. In such cases, it is critical to provide word sort words at the appropriate developmental level, regardless of the students’ age and grade. Once the appropriate spelling instructional level is established — be it alphabetic, within-word pattern, or syllable juncture — instruction can be adapted by focusing on fewer words at a time, teaching spelling patterns in an explicit manner, and providing for copious amounts of practice and review.^[11]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Reading A-Z
• International Reading Association Publications

© 2023 Prezi Inc.
Terms & Privacy Policy

Word sorts are an engaging phonics activity for K-2 students who are learning how words work while developing word awareness skills. Make sure to download a FREE sample of these differentiated word sorts in this post.

When we first introduce a new phonics skill it is best to keep the instruction explicit, clear, and to the point.  But as I discussed in my last blog post, in order for students to truly master the phonics skills we teach we must provide them with lots of opportunities for review and repetition!   

Even when we know we need to provide this extra practice, it can be a real challenge to keep coming up with activities that are engaging and effective. In his book Phonics from A to Z, Wiley Blevins encourages us to have our students explore and play with letter sounds and suggests word sorts are a great way to do so!  

What are Word Sorts? 

Word sorts require students to think about how words work by drawing their attention to common spelling patterns.  Students are given a set of words that all have something in common and asked to sort them by the common feature.  

There are many types of word sorts but the three most common are: 

Open sorts:  In an open sort, students are not told how to sort the words.  They can sort them anyway they want.  It is smart to start with an open sort because it gives you insight into students’ thinking and what they notice about words.  

Closed sorts:  In a closed sort, students are told how to sort words.  Students visually scan the words for the pattern that you specified.  The most valuable part of a closed sort is the conversation you have after the sort is complete.  Blevins suggests questions like, What do you notice about these words?  What do you notice about these spellings for long-o?  Do you know other words with these spellings?  

Timed sorts:  In a timed sort, students are told how to sort a set of words but given a set amount of time to do so.  A timed sort is a great thing to do with a set of words that students have been working with for a while.  Students love the timed aspect which makes it feel like a game, but it also helps to train their eyes to quickly see larger word chunks which will help them when they encounter new and unfamiliar words. 

Word Sort Routines

The routine for word sorts is simple!  First, introduce the task by naming it and explaining the purpose. 

Next, have students sort the words.  If you’re doing a closed sort you’ll want to model one or two of the words. As students work, you can observe and ask students why they are putting specific words into each category. 

Finally, (and this is the most important one!) you’ll want to check and discuss the sort.  Ask students what they learned about the words from doing the sort and guide them to the aspect that will help them in their future reading and writing!  

Differentiated Word Sorts

Today I’m thrilled to share with you my very own Phonics Word Sort resource! These DIFFERENTIATED activities are both printable and digital so you can use them in the classroom or for distance learning with Google Classroom & Seesaw! 

These word sorts are an engaging phonics activity to compliment your word study routines. There are two levels of word sorts: whole words and words with the missing target spelling pattern to assign to your students. Students will look for common spelling patterns, sort, then communicate what they notice and have learned about the words they’ve sorted.

The resource includes the following Phonics Patterns:

• CVC Words
• Digraphs
• Blends
• Long Vowels
• Diphthongs
• R-Controlled Vowels
• Complex Vowels

All activities in the resource are all based on Wiley Blevins’ recommended scope and sequence for K-2 students.  You can be confident that they are developmentally appropriate and provide the scaffolding students need for mastery.  

Easy to Prep and Manage!

One of the major pitfalls with some word sorts is that they often require a lot of small pieces of paper, letter cuts, or word cards.  They can take a long time to prep, distribute, and collect! 

But NOT these activities! The printable pieces require very few cuts for students. There will be NO TIME wasted dealing with materials!

The digital version has been PRELOADED for you.  With 1 click you add them to your Seesaw library or Google Drive and then you can assign them to your students for remote learning or individual centers!

Another BONUS is that the structure of each word sort in the resource remains the same. This saves you from having to explain and model everytime you assign one!  Once your students have successfully completed one sort, you can be sure they’ll be able to independently work through the rest at whatever pace you assign them! And with 38 different word sorts you’ll have enough to last you the ENTIRE YEAR!  

Download FREE word sorts here: 

I hope the information and the word sorts I’ve shared today will make it easy for you to provide your students with meaningful practice that will allow them to develop their word awareness and master their phonics skills!  

Be on the lookout for my next blog post where I’ll be sharing all about another great activity to help develop word awareness- Word Building Activities!

– SHOP THIS BLOG POST –

–PIN for LATER–

Using Word Sorts to Help Students Recognize Word Patterns

In the book Words Their Way, authors Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston explain that humans have a natural interest in finding order, comparing and contrasting, and paying attention to what remains the same despite minor variations. Teachers see this inclination in their students, who are trying to master reading and spelling the English language. 

At many of my Reading Horizons training sessions, teachers ask me how they can get their students to identify how one skill or concept is different from another during structured literacy instruction. (“How can I get my students to understand why ‘fir’ has the ‘er’ sound, but the ‘ir’ in ‘fire’ doesn’t?” “How can I get my students to see the difference between words that follow Phonetic Skill 1 and words that follow Phonetic Skill 3 or 4?”)

My answer is usually the same. Word sorts! Word sorts are activities in which students categorize words according to the words’ features. Sorting makes it easier to see the similarities and differences of words.

Even before being able to read, students can begin sorting. They can sort pictures by beginning sounds, ending sounds, vowel sounds, number of syllables, etc. Students can sort words they already know how to read to increase their understanding of how the English language works and learn how to analyze words that they have never encountered before.

Students can also learn how to spell words that they don’t think they can spell by comparing words through sorts. Knowing how to spell familiar words gives the student reference points for learning how to begin spelling new words. Here are just a few of the sorts that students can experience:

• Sort beginning sounds
• Sort Digraphs from Blends
• Sort long vowels from short vowels
• Sort words with closed syllables from words with open syllables
• Sort words that double the ending consonant before adding –ing with those that do not
• Sort prefixes and suffixes
• Sort base words and root words

Teachers can even combine a sound sort with a letter pattern sort. The list goes on and on.

Following are some helpful guidelines for teachers who want to use word sorts in their classes.

• Start with the simplest of concepts and progress to the more difficult.
• Provide students with some example questions they can ask themselves to perform a sort. Examples might include: “Under which heading or into which pile would I place this word?” “What makes this word different from that word?” “What do all of these different words have in common?”
• Have students contrast at least two and up to four features in their sorts.
• Alternate between sorts that can be done individually or as a whole class. They are great to use as part of students’ workstations or as a class activity to reinforce a new skill.
• Using nonsense words draws the students’ focus on the concept or skill rather than on any particular word they may already know. It expands the idea that different words may have something in common. Noticing those similarities and differences is what makes us better spellers and readers.

Two of my favorite sorts are shown below.

1st Sort:  Sort these 20 nonsense words into the correct column following Reading Horizons Phonetic Skill 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Five words have been done for you.

1. slaze
2. mo
3. fet
4. gred
5. flamp
6. bo
7. glain
8. pob
9. bleet
10. quast
11. gand
12. cloat
13. crope
14. hab
15. fland
16. fline
17. smeak
18. rike
19. ji
20. daip

2nd Sort:  Sort these long vowel words from these short vowel words. Two words have been done for you.

1. tapping
2. coping
3. hopping
4. rating
5. pinning
6. griping
7. riding
8. moping
9. dotting
10. pining
11. winning
12. mopping
13. tiling
14. scrapping
15. hoping
16. striping
17. taping
18. tilling
19. gripping
20. doting

Learn more about the Reading Horizons phonics reading program.