What+is+Word+Study?

__**__Word Study__ **__ Word study has many components to it that must be understood to be an effective reading teacher. The areas that we will look at are early literacy concepts, phonological awareness, letter-sound relationships, spelling patterns, high frequency words. The information below is taken from [|Fountas and Pinnell] //The Continuum of Literacy Learning.// This information is found throughout the book and I have tried to consolidate the information into one spot for easy reference. I tried to focus on those items that are introduced and used in Pre-K – 1st grades.

**Early Literacy Concepts** Students have some awareness of written language before they can read. Almost all children notice print in the environment. The child’s name is a very important word that helps them begin to understand print concepts. Many students enter Kindergarten with a good grasp of these concepts, but if they do not, explicit instruction is needed to help them become oriented to early literacy. Below are some principles of Early Literacy Concepts: Using left to right directionality of print //“We read and write from left to right”// Distinguishing between print and pictures “//We read the print to find out what the words say”// Recognizing one’s name //“Your name has letters in it” “Your name starts with a capital letter. The// //other letters are lower case”// Understanding the concept of letter //“A letter has a name and shape”// Understanding the concept of word //“A word is a group of sounds that mean something”// Locating the first and last letters of words in a continuous text //“You can find a word by looking// //for the first letter”//

**Phonological Awareness** Phonological awareness is a broad term that refers to both implicit and explicit knowledge of the sounds in language. It includes the ability to hear words (word awareness), rhymes (rhyme awareness), syllables (syllable awareness), onsets and rimes (onset and rime awareness), and individual sounds (sound awareness). There are multiple parts to phonological awareness. There is phonemic awareness that refers to the ability to identify, isolate, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes). Phonics is also part of phonological awareness. Phonics refers to teaching children to connect letters and sounds in a word. Below are some principles of Phonological Awareness: Hearing and saying syllables- “//You can hear and say the syllables in a word [to-ma-to]”// //“Some words have one syllable [cat]”// Segmenting words into phonemes- //“// <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">//You can say each sound in a word [c-a-t]//” <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Hearing and saying beginning phonemes in a word- //“You can hear the first sound in a word c////-a-t]”// <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Hearing and saying ending phonemes in a word- //“You can hear the last sound in a word [c-a-t]”// <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Hearing and recognizing word boundaries- //“You can hear words in a sentence if you stop after// //each one [I-have-a-cat]”// <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Hearing and saying rhyming words- “//Some words have end parts that sound alike. They rhyme [////cat, sat]”// <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Hearing and generating rhyming words- //“You can make rhymes by thinking of words that end t////he same [I can fly in the ____]”// <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Hearing and segmenting onsets and rimes- //“You can hear and say the first and last parts of a// //word [ c-at, cat: pl-ay, play]”// <span style="color: #00ccff; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">**Letter –Sound Relationships** <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">We know that there are 26 letters in the alphabet, upper and lower case, and about 44 phonemes. Learning the connections between letters and sounds is basic to understanding written language. Students must learn that letters often appear together, for example, cr, bl, fr.

<span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using beginning consonant sounds and the letters that represent them. //“When Y////ou know the sound, you can find the letter”// <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing similar beginning consonant sounds and the letters that represent them. //“ Words// //can start with the same sound and letter [big, box]”// <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing similar ending consonant sounds and the letters that represent them. //“Word can// //end with the same sound and letter [cat, fat]”// <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using letters that represent two or more consonant sounds at the beginning of a word: c, g, ch [car, city; get,gym; chorus, chat] <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using consonant sounds represented by consonant digraphs: sh, ch,wh //"you can hear the sound of a consonant digraph at the beginning or ending of a word”//  <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Hearing and identifying short vowel sounds in words and the letters that represent them. //“ In// //some words, a sounds like the a in apple”//   <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using short vowels in the middle of words (CVC) //“Some words have one vowel// //between two consonants [cat] and the sound of the vowel is short”//   <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using long vowel sounds in words “//You can hear and say the vowel in words l////ike make, pail, day”//

<span style="color: #33cccc; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">**Spelling Patterns** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Students need to be able to recognize and find patterns in words. In CVC words, the vowel is usually short. However, in CVCe words, the vowel is usually a long sound. You will hear the term word families used when discussing spelling patterns. This term usually refers to rimes, or the endings of words. For example, -at, -am, -ot. <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using simple phonograms with a VC pattern: -an, -at, -it, etc //“You can look at t////he pattern you know to help you read the word”// <span style="color: #800000; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using phonograms with a vowel-consonant-silent e (VCe) pattern //“Some words h////ave a vowel, a consonant, and a silent e. The vowel sound is usually the name of the vowel [////a in make, e in Pete]//

<span style="color: #00ccff; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">**High Frequency Words** <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Students need to know a large number of high frequency words. Automatically recognizing high-frequency words allows students to concentrate on understanding and solving new words. <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing and using high frequency words with one or two letters: I, is, in, at, my, we, to, etc. <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Locating and reading high frequency words in continuous text //“When you know a word, you can// //read it every time you see it”// <span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Recognizing high frequency words with 3 or more letters: the, and, but, she, would, could, etc.