Word Study Workshop- Unit TWO!

Greetings, teachers!

If you haven’t heard of this workshop, PLEASE check it out from the beginning HERE! So far, you can find:
Launching, Unit 1 here
Unit 2 here.
Unit 3 was just posted here!

I wanted to share a few snapshots and thoughts about unit 2. Unit 2 is all about becoming an investigator of words in our world. We want to turn our young spellers into people that inquire about spelling all of the time. They should be naturally curious and fascinated by words and the way they are built. That doesn’t just happen without teaching. Investigative curiosity is the spirit of this unit!

Some of my favorite teaching points from this unit are:

*Today I want to teach you that word investigators don’t want someone to tell them how to spell a word…they think, what or where is a word in my world that can help me?

*Word investigators notice environmental print. Environmental print is what you see…EVERYWHERE! Words that are on places like Home Depot, Best Buy, Sponge Bob, Wendy’s, Immediate Care, etc… If you are playing attention, you can use these words to help them spell other words! The thing about environmental print is that you probably know how to spell (or get pretty close) because you see it SO much. Why not use that to help you spell other words?

*Word investigators collect words from places they go as well. They might ask for the weekly flyer at the grocer or they can even ask for the junk mail at home. Then, they can cut out words they find interesting and glue them in a special place like a notebook or journal. If nothing else, they can record them on the back of their word pattern lists!

(These lessons are fully scripted with EVERY part of the mini-lesson included!)

Hopefully after reading those, the spirit of the unit shines through! I want to use this unit to push our spellers into a frenzy of word pattern finding. That is what makes a careful and thoughtful speller.

To celebrate this unit, we decided to go on a word- hunting “walking trip” around the school! Then, they get to celebrate with a certificate and a healthy snack that I bring in.