My students need a more effective system for developing foundational language skills in phonics, vocabulary, and spelling.
FULLY FUNDED! Mrs. Wolfe's classroom raised $225
This project is fully funded
My Students
My students love words and are all at different levels of phonemic and vocabulary development. I want so badly to help them grow as readers, writers, and communicators but feel as though our traditional vocabulary and spelling lessons are holding some students back.
Our school is in a rural community, in South Carolina, where tradition is thick and families depend on one another.
We are a Title I school which means that over 40 % of our students are on free or reduced lunch plans. Students in our school are considered at risk of failure and live at or near poverty level.
I have students from many different races, religions, and academic levels. Their interests are just as diverse! My students are full of personality and are just beginning to discover that they can make a difference in their world. However, many of my students do not read fluently and we need are in need of resources to help them achieve greater success.
My Project
Many teachers teach spelling by giving students a list on Monday and a test on Friday with practice in between. This type of drill and practice has earned traditional spelling instruction a reputation for being boring. That there is no big picture and no ultimate goal makes it all the more tedious. As soon as one spelling list is tested, another list takes its place.
Words Their Way is an assessment-based, differentiated, leveled approach to spelling and word work. Word study provides students with opportunities to investigate and understand the patterns in words. Knowledge of these patterns means that students needn't learn to spell one word at a time. They become word detectives, engaged in an ongoing attempt to make sense of word patterns and their relationships to one another. Spelling "rules" are not dictated by the teacher for students to memorize. Rather, spelling patterns and generalizations are discovered by students. These same words can be used for vocabulary development.
A word study program is a cohesive approach that addresses word recognition, vocabulary, and phonics as well as spelling.
What I love about Words Their Way is that it is differentiated. This means that each student is working on their own developmental level. Students are not working with words that are too easy or too hard for them. As a result, students are not memorizing words for a spelling test. They are understanding that words have patterns and that patterns have meaning.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Wolfe and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.