Category: Word Study
What Are Word Study Warm-Ups?
Here’s a quick overview of the activities in the free word study warm-ups…The word study warm-ups are no-prep, interactive videos. This means you press play for the class to watch, the video begins, and the video prompts students to participate. You walk the classroom to monitor students, support struggling students, and then check the work…
Why is Word Study Important
Why is word study important? What are the components of word study? What does high-quality word study instruction look like in elementary and middle school levels? These are important questions, because everything – absolutely everything – we do in schools requires comprehension of words. PE instruction, math problems, and even art class all require comprehension…
Spelling 1 is Now Upgraded!
These new spelling warm-ups are starting with a new set of 10 days focused on spelling skills including short vowels, consonant digraphs, and monosyllabic words! The word study warm-ups are newly designed for daily whole-class spiral review in grades 2-4 and reteaching in grades 3-6. The warm-ups are no-prep, video-based warm-ups that engage students at…
Decoding Fluency 1 (Updates!)
The new decoding fluency warm-ups are newly revised and available to all of our free Word Study Members and our Awesome Members! These are 20 days of spiral review focused on building fluency with the most essential decoding skills for late 2nd-grade and 3rd-grade. They also are tailored for reteaching or intervention in grades 3-6.…
4 New Weeks of Decoding Fluency
We just released four more weeks of free research-based word study warm-ups! These warm-ups are available to all of our Spiral WarmUps members including the free word study membership. The new warm-ups are based on feedback from two years of testing and trails. They feature a newly designed navigation menu that brings all of the…
Double Consonant Activities
We just released a new week of double consonant activities in the form of an interactive, no-prep video warm-up. The activities are called Word Builder. But this post isn’t just about those great word study activities, it’s about Double Consonant Activities that can help you in any classroom – with or without our free Spiral…
Speed Speller: Consonant Digraphs and Short Vowels
Congrats to our Awesome Members! We just added another week of warm-ups to your membership.Your word study warm-ups just got bigger! You now have this fast-paced spelling activity: Speed Speller. You’ll see it in your account or you can log in and jump straight to them here. What’s in Speed Speller? Students practice spelling patterns with…
Another Week of Word Sorts (Affixes)
Last week, we announced three new weeks of word sorts for affixes (including both prefixes and suffixes)…but that wasn’t enough! We just released another week of affix word sorts with advanced upper elementary suffixes. These suffixes word sorts increase the complexity of word knowledge beyond the basic words in Word Sort Spiral Reviews 1-15: ness,…
Affixes Word Sorts (Prefixes and Suffixes)
New release for all members! Free word study warm-ups and more extended word sorts for Awesome Members! These warm-ups were among the highest requested from our recent member survey…we’re also developing a fluency pilot and grammar warm-ups. These warm-ups are all animated word sorts, which are an essential word learning strategy, according to research. Categorizing…
FAQ About Word Work Fluency 1
SaveFAQ About Word Work in Fluency 1Before you begin our free word study course, Word Fluency, you might have a few questions about the type of word work. What will students learn in Fluency 1? And you might wonder:What skills will they gain and how will this word work help them?How will their reading levels increase?Will…
Word Builder Spelling Activity [Free]
Word Builder is the free spelling activity that helps students visualize word morphology in spelling. I know, that’s technical talk, so here’s how it helps you: Students will see a word broken into word parts. Students hear the word. Students will combine the word parts to form the correct spelling. Students get instant feedback on their…
Scaffolding the Word Sorts (Spelling 1 Tutorial #3)
Scaffolding the Word Sorts (Spelling 1 Tutorial) If you’re moving into the spelling units, you will find a very challenging activity: timed and open word sorts. These word work activities show in the days marked as “spiral review”. Here’s what you need to know to help your students. Challenges in the Spiral Reviews The timed…
Spelling 1 Tutorial #2
Tips for the Open Sort in Spelling 1 If you’re working on Spelling 1, your students will find a challenging thinking task on day 5. It’s their first true open sort in the word study unit. Here are some tips to help your students find success as they struggle through this word study task. And…
Before You Start Spelling 1 Day 3
Two Tips for Best Results in Spelling 1 If you’re ready to begin using the spelling spiral warm-ups, there are two things to do first. If you skip these two steps, your students might miss out on learning the spelling patterns in Spelling 1. Ensure your students are proficient the decoding patterns from Fluency…
[News] Spelling Warm-Ups Unit 3
Spelling 3: Inflected Endings We’re now rolling out our newest unit for free word study warm-ups. It’s Spelling 3: Inflected Endings. This unit is designed for grades 3-6 tier 1 instruction. It begins with direct instruction on inflectional endings and continues into three different activities for students to build spelling fluency:Word SortsWord BuilderSpeed SpellerEach activity progressively…
[NEWS] Spelling 1 Warm-Ups are Published!
We’re happy to announce our newest free word study warm-ups! The first spelling unit is complete. In this unit, your students will: Sort words based on orthographic patterns.Receive direct instruction/review on consonant digraphs, blends, and short vowels. Physically participate in identifying phonemes and graphemes.Build spelling fluency. The new spelling 1 unit is designed for on-level…
Spelling Warm-Ups (New Spiral Reviews)
Our newest spiral warm-ups are finished and ready to publish. Your dashboard will soon show spiral reviews 1-5 in your Spelling warm-ups! Who will benefit from these spelling warm-ups? What spelling activities will students do in these spiral reviews? In this post you will: Preview the spelling spiral review activities.Discover prerequisite skills students need in these…
Spelling Warm-Ups with Taps and Claps
Spelling Warm-Ups Activity: Taps and ClapsIntegrate multi-modal learning easily with this challenging spelling warm-ups activity.Taps and Claps is a multi-modal spelling activity that boosts spelling and reading fluency. The spelling warm-ups in our Spelling 1 unit are the easiest way to have total active participation and multi-sensory spelling instruction! Don’t believe me? Curious? Passionate about helping your…
Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping
Phoneme-grapheme mapping is a research-based activity that helps early and transitional readers build word recognition skills. Phonemes are the sounds we hear in words. Graphemes are the letters that represent the sounds. This activity can be challenging for 3rd and 4th-grade students – even your strong readers! With a little bit of practice, it will…
Activities in Fluency 1
The activities in Fluency 1 (our first unit in word study warm-ups) are designed to engage and build visual memory in upper elementary students. The fluency activities include:Word RacerBlending PhonemesWord SumsWord SortsA Variety of Blending Activities (oral, choral, and written).__TVE_SHORTCODE_RAW___Which students can do the activities in Fluency 1?The activities in the Fluency 1 unit are…
