FIRST GRADE
SPELLING/WORD STUDY
Learning to spell is a developmental process, just like learning to talk, read, or write. We do not expect children to perform perfectly in their first attempts at any of these language skills.
Mastering spelling is not simply a matter of rote memorization. It is a very complex developmental process.
To develop spelling and language skills, students need plenty of time to work with words-to talk about them, play with them, collect them, categorize them, and make links between familiar words and new or difficult words.
While we may not expect all of our first-graders to spell every word correctly, we do expect most of them to spell some words correctly.
Spelling in our Balance Language Arts Program begins with scribbling in the Pre Early Emergent Spellers, to writing letters based on how words look as well as how they sound, in the Upper Emergent Spellers, to beginning to write words using conventional spelling, in the Early Fluency Spellers and finally spelling most words correctly, in the Fluent Spellers.
Students practice spelling every day through various activities. Weather it be in literacy centers, story writing, learning centers, reading, or during writing workshop, students are learning to spell as they read and write each day.
However...
To assist first graders in learning to spell, we need to provide explicit instruction in spelling strategies.
Each week we focus on a specific skill to enhance the student's understanding of letter-sound relationships and practice listening for and identifying word families and rhyming words. Some weeks we focus on specific high frequency words. Of course, the students are learning to spell other high frequency words every day at their own levels.
Listed below are the focus words for spelling/word study that we work from each week throughout the year:
Lessons 7 - 12
Lesson 7 - October 16th
ran - can - pan - cat - bat - fat
Lesson-8 - October 23th
an - man - dad - had - at - has
Lesson 9 - October 30st
sit - bit - hit - big - pig - dig
Lesson 10 - November 6th
is - his - it - in - did - him
Lesson 11 - November 13th
I - am - was - and - the - a
Lesson 12 -
November 20th-December 1st
Review lesson - all of the words in lessons 7 through 11
This goes over Thanksgiving Vacation.
We will have 2 tests - 15 words each
November 30th and December 1st
Lesson 13 - December 5th
red - blue - green - yellow - black - brown
Lesson 14 - December 11th
led - bed - fed - let - met - jet
Lesson 15 - December 18th
men - ten - get - pet - leg - yes
Lesson 16 - January 8th
got - hot - pot - hop - top - mop
Lesson 17 - January 15th
not - lot- box - fox - on - mom
Lesson 18 - January 22nd
Review Lesson - all of the words in lessons 13 through 17
Lessons 19 - 23
Lesson 19 - January 29th
hug - rug - bug - but - cut - nut
Lesson 20 - February 5th
fun - run - sun - us - bus - up
Lesson 21 - February 12th and 19th
chin - chop - ship - this - that - when
Lesson 22 - February 26th
clap - club - flag - flat - stop - step
Lesson 23 - March 5th crop - crab - frog - from - sled - slip
Lesson 24 - March 12th
Review Lesson - all the words in lessons 19 through 23
Lesson 25 - March 19th
you - went - said - are - do - to - of - with
Lesson 26 - March 26th
name - came - take - make -made - gave - say - day
Lesson 27 - April 2nd and 9th (Test on April 13th)
bike - like - ride - nine - time - by - my - cry
Lesson 28 - April 16th
no - so - hope - home - nose - rode - stone - those
Lesson 29 - April 23rd (Test on April 13th)
we - he - me - she - see - free - feet - keep
Lesson 30 -April 30th
Review Lesson - all of the words in lessons 25 through 29
Lesson 31 - May 7th
mother - father - sister - brother - boy - girl - family - children
Lesson 32 - May 14th
one - two - three - four - five -
six - seven -eight -
Lesson 33 -May 21st
Contractions
it's - he's - she's - can't -
don't - I'm - I'll - wasn't
Lesson 33 - May 28th
Word Endings
kites - seeds - games - needed - peeked - slowed - sleeping - going - being
and Mrs. Walker