Word Study

You may have noticed there has not been a spelling list sent home.  As part of our first grade phonics instruction, your child participates in daily word study centered around a weekly phonics skill.  Our first week was focused primarily on l-family blends (cl, gl, sl, pl, fl, bl) found at the beginning of words.  

Throughout the week, your child builds these words with letter cards based on the sounds they hear, “pulls out” each individual sound and blends them together to make words, and practices writing and reading these words.  There is no set “spelling list” for your child to memorize for the week.  Rather, a large list of words matching the skill for the week is used and students work with a variety of words on the list throughout the week here at school with adult guidance.

On Fridays, a word study assessment will be given to gauge how well your child has grasped the week’s phonics skill.  During this assessment, your child will be given words from the word list and asked to write them, listening for individual letter sounds or word “chunks” depending on that week’s skill.

We feel this is a more accurate measure of whether your child has truly understood the phonics skill of the week as he or she will be asked to apply it directly to word writing.  

We look forward to touching base with you about this during our Parent Partnership Night on Wednesday, September 24th.  

If you have any additional questions, please contact your child’s teacher.

Mrs. Happel

Ms. Upah