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Assessing Orthographic Development - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Spell some words together: Say, “Let’s try spelling some words by listening for the sounds. Who has a word they want to spell?” A student might suggest something like turtle. The teacher can then respond, “That’s a good one. Let’s say it slowly and stretch out the sounds. Turtle has two syllables: turrr – till. What is the sound at the beginning of turtle? What letter do we need to spell that /t/ sound? Continue to stretch out the word and listen for more sounds. Depending on the level of the group you might generate a range of possible spellings: TL, TRTL, TERTL, and TERTUL. Write down what the children come up with.
        
        Spell it the best you can: Explain, “This is not the way you would see turtle spelled in a book, but it has some of the right letters. In kindergarten (or __ grade) it is okay to spell the best you can. Sometimes all you can do is start with the sound at the beginning and write the first letter, but you are getting practice in spelling! At the end of the year you will be surprised by how much more you can write.” Repeat this exercise several times or when you feel it is needed.
        
        If students criticize each other: Occasionally a student might be critical about another student’s attempt: “That’s not right.” Handle this firmly and say something like, “The important thing is that you have written down the word you need and spelled it the best you can. You and I can read it. Later you will learn how to spell it correctly, but for now this is a good try.”
  - - - consists of a list of 26 words that begins with simple CVC words (fan, pet) and ends with inflectional endings (clapping, riding). It is recommended for kindergarten through early third grade because it assesses features found from the emergent stage through the within word pattern stage.
    - - is a list of 25 increasingly difficult words that begins with bed and ends with opposition. The ESI can be used in grades 1 through 6 to identify students up to the derivational relations stage. If a school or school system wants to use the same inventory throughout the elementary grades to track growth over time, this inventory is a good choice, but we especially recommend this inventory for grades 3 through 5. By third grade, most students can try all 25 words but be ready to discontinue testing for students who are visibly frustrated or misspell five in a row. Students who spell more than 18 words correctly should be given the Upper-Level Spelling Inventory.
    - - consists of a list of 31 words, arranged in order of difficulty from switch to succession. It can be used with students in upper elementary to college. List words were chosen because they help identify—more specifically than the ESI—what students in the syllables and affixes and derivational relations stages are doing in their spelling.
  - - - Some students will try to copy if they feel especially concerned about doing well on a test. Creating a relaxed atmosphere with the explanation suggested earlier can help overcome some of the stress students feel. Arrange seating to minimize the risk of copying or hand out cover sheets. There will be many opportunities to collect corroborating information, so there is no reason to be upset if primary students copy. If it is clear that a student has copied, make a note to this effect after collecting the papers and administer the inventory individually at another time.
- - - - Put the cue cards (such as “drop a final e and add -ion”) into one deck facedown. Deal the rest of the cards out to the players making sure that everyone gets the same number. The rest are set aside.
      - The first player turns over a cue card. All the players look for words in their hand that fit the criteria. For example, if the cue card says, “change the d to s and add –ion,” players look for matches such as explosion and expansion and remove them from their hands.
      - The matches are displayed faceup and if any are contested the player must justify their decision by naming the base word and how it changed. For example, “The base word was explode so the d was changed to an s when -ion was added to make explosion.”
      - The next player turns over a new cue card and again students look for all possible matches and pull them from their hands.
      - The winner is the player who runs out of cards first.
    - - Decide on a base word or a word root to highlight. Begin with more frequently occurring words; over time, move to less frequently occurring roots.
      - Write the base word or word root at the bottom of the tree, and think of as many forms as possible.
      - Write the different forms on individual branches.
      - Display the word tree in the classroom for several days and encourage students to think of, find, and record more derived words. At the end of the week wipe them off and begin again by introducing a new base or word root.
    - - Each player is dealt seven cards; the rest are put in a deck. Each player looks through his or her cards for words in the same suit.
      - The first player turns to the next and asks for a particular root: “Give me any cards with the bio root.” If the second player has any cards with the requested root, the player must give them up and the first player gets to go again. If the second player does not have any matches, he or she responds, “Draw one” and the first player draws from the deck.
      - Play proceeds in a clockwise fashion. When a player has a complete suit of four cards, he or she may lay them down. The player who has the most suits at the end—when someone runs out of cards—is the winner.