Words Their Way Word Sorts For Syllables and Affixes Spellers 1
Words Their Way Word Sorts For Syllables and Affixes Spellers 1
VC
Wrap
Twig
VCC
Smell
Sharp
VCe
Whine
Theme
Brief
Scout
Groan
stain
When
Plot
Clog
quit
Thank
Front
Climb
trust
Brave
Scale
Phone
quote
Double
Getting
Swimming
Running
Sitting
Shutting
VCC
Ask
Yell
Rest
Stand
Pass
Jump
Pick
Nothing
Asking
Yelling
Resting
Standing
Passing
Jumping
Picking
After modeling the sort with the group, have students repeat the
sort under your supervision using the same headers and key
words. Have them check their sort by looking for the pattern in
each column. Encourage the students to reflect by asking them
how the words in each column are alike and what they have
learned about adding ing to base words. Have the students put
the rules into their own words. You may want to write this rule on
chart paper and post it for reference. Leave space for the
additional rules and revisions that will develop over the weeks to
come.
*Students should repeat this sort several times and word with
these words using some of the weekly routines listed above.
Word hunts will turn up lots of words that can be added to these
categories, but students will find many words that do not fit either
of them. Tell your students to add these words to a third column
(oddballs) and challenge them to see if they can discover a rule
that governs these other words in anticipation of the sort for next
week.
Students might be encouraged to write contrasting
sentences for the base word and its ing form: I swim on a team.
I have been swimming for three years. Ask students to share
sentences using the ing form and ask them if they notice
anything (using ing as a verb often requires helping verbs such
as am, have been, was, etc.) Give students additional words and
ask them to apply the rule. Some suggested transfer words are:
drip, hunt, kick, stir, mop, wink, quit, wish, sob, guess, smell,
chop, drag, and purr.
VCe
Use, close,
write, wave,
trade, skate
e-drop
Using, closing,
writing,
waving,
trading,
skating
VVC
Eat, moan,
dream, look,
clean, mail
Nothing
Eating,
moaning,
dreaming,
looking,
cleaning,
mailing
Sort, Check, Reflect, and Extend: Students should repeat the sort
using the same headers and key words. Encourage the students
to reflect by asking them how the words in each column are alike
and what they have learned about adding-ing to base words.
Review what they learned in the previous sort and add to the
chart. Give students additional words and ask them to apply the
rule. Some suggested transfer words are: ride, need, give, bake,
peek, smile, vote, bloom, scream, joke, and come.
e-drop
Hiking,
moving, living,
Nothing
Reading,
adding,
Oddball
stopping,
begging,
grinning,
jogging,
humming
coming,
having, taking
spelling,
floating,
feeling,
talking,
pushing,
fixing**,
working,
going**,
snowing**
**These will become oddballs after the second sort.
Guide the students to reflect on how the words in each column
are alike. They may notice that the base words under double
have the VC pattern and those under the e-drop have the VCe
pattern. However, under nothing there are a number of
different patterns. These can be sorted out in a second set.
Headers are not provided, but you can create them if you feel
they are needed. A second sort of the nothing column will look
something like the following:
VVC
Reading, floating,
feeling
VCC
Spelling, talking,
pushing, adding,
working
Oddball
Snowing, going,
fixing
most cases the ing is simply added to a word and it is only when
a word fits the VC or VCe pattern that a change to the base word
is needed.
Sort, Check, and Reflect: After modeling the sorts have students
repeat the first sort using the headers double, e-drop, or
nothing. The only real oddball is fixing because it does not
double as expected. To reinforce the idea of base words you
might ask students to underline them. Help the students
articulate a rule that covers all the words. This may be a revision
to former rules.
Extend: You might sort all the words from lessons 2, 3, and 4 by
double, e-drop, or nothing as a review. Students should look
back at word hunts from previous weeks to find oddball words
they can now sort into one of the 3 categories. (Even words such
as chewing, seeing, flying, studying, etc., which have patterns
different from the ones included in these sorts, can go under
nothing.) Add to the list of rules that you have been generating
after each sort. Double Scoop and Freddy the Hopping, Diving,
Jumping Frog in Chapter 7 are designed to reinforce inflected
endings. Double Scoop can be downloaded from the CD-ROM.
Give students additional words and ask them to apply the rules.
Some suggested transfer words are: slip, row, sneeze, pout, find,
mix, tap, blow, cheer, love, speed, dress, start, box, draw, and
win.
if they can generalize from what they learned doing the ing
sorts. Explain that students often have trouble with these words
and that the sort for this week will help them learn and remember
the rules that govern the addition of ed just as they did for ing.
Students can sort without the headers for a student-centered sort,
or you can begin a teacher-directed sort using the headers.
Asking the students to underline the base word may be helpful in
determining patterns, especially in words like hoped and
saved. Help the students see that the rules are similar to the
rules for adding ing and can be summed up as double, e-drop,
or nothing. Talk about the fact that adding ed means that
something has already happened and that such words are said to
be in the past tense. Model, and then have students create
sentences that include the base word and the past tense: Dont
step in that hole. I stepped in it yesterday and sprained my
ankle.
Double
Hopped,
planned,
grabbed,
nodded,
stepped,
dropped,
stirred
e-drop
Hoped, saved,
closed, scored,
lived, named
Nothing
Oddball
Joined, waited, Mixed, chewed
seemed,
shouted,
passed,
wanted, acted,
helped, started
/d/
Planned, grabbed,
closed, scored,
named, saved, lived,
joined, seemed,
stirred, chewed
/id/
Nodded, waited,
shouted, acted,
wanted, started
Past
Slept
Kept
Slid
Present
Sweep
Drive
Bleed
Past
Swept
Drove
Bled
Shine
Freeze
draw
Shone
Froze
drew
Know
Throw
say
Knew
Threw
said
Vowel
change
Shine/shon
e
Drive/drove
Freeze/froz
e
Change to
ew
Know /knew
Throw/thre
w
Draw/drew
Eep to ept
Sleep/slept
Keep/kept
Sweep/swe
pt
Say/said
-s
Guesses
Kisses
Classes
Add -s
Oddball
Horses
Voices
Changes
Places
Clothes*
Sketches
Ditches
Branches
watches
*Among the top 300 high-frequency words
Extend: Give students transfer words to practice applying the
rules: switch, house, glass, glove, choice, witch, song, flame,
pass, match, smash, box, shape, lunch, sandwich, grade, wish,
eyelash, drink, and mask.
+s
Plays
Stays
sprays
+ed
Played
Stayed
spraye
d
+ing
Playin
g
Stayin
g
sprayi
ng
Base
Fry
Cry
Spy
+es
Fries
Cries
spies
+ed
Fried
Cried
spied
+ing
Frying
Crying
spying
Pose questions that will get your students thinking about the
spelling changes. Compare play and fry. They both end in y
but one ends in an ay. What happened before the s, -ed, and
ing were added to each? Speculate about why the y doesnt
change to I before adding ing. (Double Is are rare in English and
would look odd. Skiing is an exception.) Some suggested transfer
words are: fly, (but not flied/flew), dry, try, prey, slay, stray, and
pray.
Extend: After many sorts that focus on base words and inflected
endings, your chart of rules may look quite complicated. Now is
the time to review and simplify it. The following are really the
only rules students need to remember, for now, that cover most
cases.
Double: When a word ends in one vowel and one consonant, you
double the consonant before adding ed and ing.
E-drop: When a word ends in silent e, your drop the e before
adding ing and -ed
Change y to i: When a word ends in a consonant and a y, you
change the y to I before adding ed or es.
Nothing: Otherwise, just do nothing and add the ending.
Add es: To make words plural that end in s, sh, ch, or x