I am so excited to finally share....

I know it has been a while since I have posted but don't worry I have been very, very busy putting together a massive resource. But before I get into all that I have to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I can't believe this is my first post for 2014. This got me thinking about all the other amazing blogs out there and what they have been up to. That is when I remembered Doodle Bugs Five For Friday Linky and decided that is where I would start.

Coming Clean

Now onto the good stuff. I have been researching, reading, and getting my creative juices flowing to bring you a band new set of resources!!! The best part is that they are almost done. This means I can finally share what has been keeping me so busy.
Let me share a little background with you, or should I say come clean about something.
I have always felt a little unsure of myself when it comes to word study. I was only introduced to the idea of word study after my first year of teaching when I decided to do summer school. I am now in my sixth year of teaching and can finally tackle my goal of teaching a purposeful lesson in word study to my students. Sure I do word study lessons, but none that have left me thinking, wow my students really have strategies for unknown words now that I did that awesome lesson. Until now.
Spelling words and my school's reading series never seemed to do it for me. I always felt my students were memorizing words/rules for the time being and then forgetting them after we used them. I never saw my students retain the information and apply those lessons to unknown words. So I decided to change that.
I want my students to become meta-cognitive spellers. The kind of students that think about the words they don't know in order to figure them out!! Not just skip over them.
So in order to achieve this, I had to start at the root of the- dare I say- problem, me. That's right, me. I said it. I needed to build myself up with all the word study knowledge so that I felt confident to teach it. I needed to become that meta-cognitive speller in order for my students to become one. I started by compiling lists full of generalizations and strategies for my students. I basically wanted the best cheat sheet go-to resource for my instruction. A place for all the generalizations and guidelines of an effective word study.

Doing the Needed Research

So that is just what I did. I compiled a huge list of prefixes, suffixes, root words, as well as the generalizations to go with them. But I didn't stop there. I wanted my instruction to be the most effective and expose them to the most words as possible. I also have included a top 20 list for the most frequent  prefixes and suffixes as well as the order in which you should teach the topics with in my unit. I have done all the research here.

Within the 42 page list of words I have also added a section that can be customized with words your students come across that they think fit the word study focus but do not. These words are most commonly know as exceptions. I have found that using the words that students come up with help them learn the exceptions as well as help to deepen their understanding of the concepts being taught.

Holding the Students Accountable

Once I had the list created I then started working on a resource that the students can use to keep all their learning in. I wanted a student book full of word study AWESOMENESS!

Each page contains two teaching points of either prefix, suffix, Latin root, or Greek root. The book is created in alphabetical order for quick and easy locating so that the most time can be spent on writing, building, and learning the new words. There are words as well as pictures that give examples of the two focus word parts at the top of every page. The best part here is that I created two options. One has the meaning or the word part defined for the students to allow for them to write words, their meanings and complete an illustration. The second option is completely blank. This allows you to come up with each word part definition, coordinating words, their meanings, and an illustration.

 Learning the Generalizations

After I had the words figured out as well as the word parts I wanted to cover I set out on how to teach them. That is when I learned about generalizations.

I am sure all of you are familiar with spelling rules/patterns. After my research I learned that these rules are not really rules, they are more like generalizations. They almost always have an exception, meaning there is usually words that do not follow a rule in some way. This is what makes spelling so hard for students. However, once they understand that words might not follow the most obvious generalization they see it allows them to be problem solvers and use other spelling generalizations to figure out the unknown word.

Effective Practice

Of course, in all good instruction, practice and self discovery is key. So I have included a few word work card games to help boost student practice.

Building words, working with words, or making words, whatever you call it, it is definitely important to all word study programs. It is how your students gain experience and understanding with words. I knew I wanted to have this be a part of my resource. So you will find many word cards for students to use as well as printables for you have at your fingertips. I also included homework pages for extra practice.

Creating a Focus Display

The last resource I wanted to highlight tonight is the posters you will receive. I have created 20 different posters that you can hang in your room for students to refer to as they learn strategies, spelling generalizations, and word parts.

Each poster is bright and colorful with a definition, Word Wrestler, and depending on the word, an example. They are meant to be matching so that if you want to create an ongoing display you may do this with a cohesive look. I will also mention that I have included word wall words that can be added to your word wall. Most of the ready made word wall words fall into the category of word parts (suffix, prefix, and root). Because the words you will want to use is different with every classroom, I made a template that can be editable. I know that purpose is also important.

There is more to come on this unit but that I all I am going to share tonight! 

Since a long weekend is in my sights I hope to have this all finished up and posted to TpT this weekend! I hope you all enjoy your weekend and get some much deserved R&R!

Coming Soon!!