October 7, 2013: Making Words

I found the article this week so interesting and valuable. It's amazing to realize how Making Words lessons don't only help students with spelling, but with reading and writing as well. It truly is a novel idea when you think about it. The article put it in perspective for me. When students participate in the activities discussed they not only expand their vocabulary, but they learn the patterns and sounds of the letters and grasp each concept of each sound that results in the creation of more words. I actually remember having worksheets that included finding words in other words. I remember always feeling so accomplished when I finally found out the "big" word with all the letters. And come to think of it after you learn the patterns of many letters and their sounds that's really when you start to grasp the concept of writing and reading words. Lessons that include Making Words can also be used through all grades and levels of schooling. The size of a student's vocabulary, in my perspective, truly helps them succeed. If you have a grasp on many words or are even able to recognize a lot of words I believe that it truly helps in a student's future with testing and when writing papers in any grade level. Don't you agree? I personally like all the word ideas that are given in this article, I can't wait to see how they work in my classroom. What Making Word Lessons did you think would be best to use in your classroom?

Making Word lessons can also help to introduce lessons in other subjects. Like in this example they were about to learn about Penguins in their Science lesson, so the teacher started it out by teaching the students how to spell the word, then they eventually learned all about the penguin and how it lived. By the students knowing how to break down each word into smaller words, it will help with memorization in how to sound out and spell that word they are learning about, and will help with learning other words, big or small. 

Here are some websites with other Making Words Lesson ideas and ways to get the templates that I gave examples of:

http://fun-in-first.blogspot.com/2011/01/penguins.html

http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/2013/09/freebie-friday.html

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Making-Words-Work-Mat-Word-Family-Sorting-Chart-112737

Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/113984399396097313755/ChartsGraphsClassroomPictures?gsessionid=pDPOykK4gV5S50Mgw9Q-Dg#5130262634146834274
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Making-Words-Work-Mat-Word-Family-Sorting-Chart-112737