Preparation
Prepare the overhead or print these letters on the flip chart:
p s r l t f a n i .
Copy handout.
Optional – find a list of common word families.
STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS
The first two steps of this activity come from Mary Norton’s 1990 book,
Preparing Literacy Tutors.
- Show the overhead or the list of letters on the flip chart. Inform tutors that
they are to spell as many words as they can using these letters only. They
may use the letters as many times as needed, but only once in each word.
Give them about three minutes to finish the task.
- Encourage some volunteers to read their lists of words. Write the words on
an overhead or flip chart. Usually people follow a pattern in their lists (e.g.,
fan, pan, span). Point out the word patterns people used (e.g., the an group). Emphasize that knowledge of patterns is useful for spelling and identifying words.
- Hand out Word Sorts and lead a discussion about it. Point out that sorting words into groups with similar spelling patterns (words sorts) is a way of helping learners develop awareness of patterns in spelling. It is also easier to learn new words if they have the same spelling as one that they already know. Encourage tutors to use word sorts with their learners.
- You may want to show a list of common word families to your tutors. You
can find such a list in the back of many reading instruction books.
|