I'd like to explain what the word study program looks like in our class.  Each week, we will study a new pattern in class.  Your child will be given ten pattern words to study at home based on the pattern we're studying in class.  Each Friday, your child will take a Word Study Quiz which will check whether your child has learned the ten assigned pattern words, as well as five other words that follow the same pattern but that your child has not studied.  Researchers have found that students often memorize words for a weekly test, and then promptly forget them the following week.  This is because assigned spelling lists require students to study isolated words rather than studying the phonics, the patterns of sounds the letters make within words.  The five words on the quiz that your child is not able to study will allow me to determine how effectively your child is able to apply the word study pattern to new words.  Research shows that this approach leads to more accurate spelling when students are writing. 

There are also specific words in the English language that are commonly found in texts and regularly used in students' writing.  We call these High Frequency Words.  These words are often irregular and do not follow standard phonics patterns.  Each week, students will be assigned five high frequency words that they will be expected to practice at home.  These words will also be posted on our class "Word Wall" so that the students can quickly refer to the correct spelling of these words whenever they write while at school. (Sneak a peak at our Word Wall.)

A word study packet will be given to your child each week with assignments that should be completed at home.  The completed packet is due Friday morning.  Your child will have a word study quiz each Friday with twenty words: the ten assigned pattern words, the five new pattern words, and the five high frequency words.  Please help your child study the words at home in preparation for the weekly quizzes. 

Use the links below to download the weekly word study packets and to view the weekly word study words online.

Click here to learn more about the "Weekly Edit" part of the word study packet.


Click here to see which students make it into the "Perfect Paper, Hundreds Club" each week.