Customer Reviews

Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, 4th Edition (Book, CD & DVD)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My children attended a public school where this program was used. When I brought them home due to their various LDs/allergies, I balked at the $40 price tag of this book and opted for the less expensive Spectrum Spelling books for their grade level. I found those to be rather annoying because often my children already knew the words. And the ones they didn't know, they would spell correctly on the tests, but they didn't necessarily continue to spell the words correctly in their writing. Mid-way through the year I abandoned the Spectrum books and purchased this one.

My favorite thing about this approach is how the kids really think about and interact with the words. It is a disciplined program, I require my kids to do a word sort and an activity in their spelling journals every day -- their choice. However, this typically takes less than 10 minutes a day.

The other thing I do is pretest the kids every week to find out which words they need to study. If they already know a spelling pattern, then I don't give it to them and move on to the next one. Sometimes I pull misspelled words out of their writing, and then find the pattern that applies and give them those words for the week.

I will say, that for most homeschoolers, this book is pretty heavy on the theory, and the "how-to" is mixed up with the theory so it may take more work up front to start the program if you are unfamiliar with the idea of spelling notebooks and word activities. But it is quite fascinating, and will give you a new appreciation for a young child's emerging spelling skills, as well as concrete strategies for helping older students with more complex words.

As for content, the book covers spelling from pre-K through at least middle school, perhaps early high school.

And the CD-Rom is a real time-saver too, with its words for sorts and activities.

All in all, quite effective, very interesting, and a great value - you buy this once and then purchase simple notebooks or composition books for their spelling journals, and you are set for years to come.

The research in this book is excellent, and the resources (sorting pictures) and lists are also great however this program is most successfully implemented through school training and inservice for teachers. Many schools in Virginia have adopted this program because the research was done out of the University of Virginia. It is not a traditional "introduce the words on Monday and test on Friday approach"--it involves a total understanding that children go through specific phases of spelling ability and the program is mostly individualized. If you are a center based teacher and you don't mind lots of cutting and prep and you devote a big chunk of your language arts time to spelling then this might be the book for you. It is very well written and thorough, but it is also long winded. I learned the program through inservice and still had difficulty seeing how it actually worked until I observed teachers using the program. As a reading specialist and veteran primary teacher, I have used this program as well as traditional programs and I don't see a big difference in the outcome of my spellers nor my scores.

I bought this book in hopes of finding some guidance for tutoring my daughter in phonics. I am not a teacher and have no background in it. However, this book is well documented, has sources cited, a glossary, terrific appendices and a cd. I learned about the connection between reading, spelling and writing development. The easy to administer spelling test and grading highlighted the phonic areas she needs to work on. I am very excited about the possibilities this gives me to help her. It is NOT a workbook, tear out the sheets type of book. This is for parents and educators who seek to understand and teach more effectively. It has loads of lists, guidance on how to use them and in each section indicates the additional help available on the cd.

I had to use this text for a graduate course in reading education and have found it invaluable when assessing not only students' spelling abilities, but also their reading abilities. The inventories make it easy to pinpoint areas of need.

This book is an excellent resource for all teachers (K-8). Provides alternative ideas for teachers to help with reading and spelling. Lots of game ideas and many are able to be modified to use at any level with very little work. Excellent for introducing a new spelling pattern or new vocabulary to your whole class or in small groups. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for some new ideas for their reading centers, alternatives to worksheets, etc. I have found this book to be extremely beneficial in my classroom as a resource.

When my daughter's 1st grade teacher began using this at the beginning of last year, I was skeptical. It seemed a little unusual and perhaps a bit like busy work. I wasn't sure how this would be an improvement over the traditional spelling lists I grew up with. But after a whole school year of using this curriculum at school and at home, her spelling had vastly improved. An early reader, my daughter's spelling had always lagged behind her reading ability pretty dramatically (in Kindergarten she was reading chapter books but misspelling common, short words). Words Their Way bridged that gap almost completely; I think her spelling improved almost three grade levels in one school year. It seems to have given her a logical framework for spelling even new words that she hasn't yet worked on.

Facing a 1st-2nd combination classroom of 30 students this year, I bought this book to help me learn more about word study and how to get rid of some of the paperwork of teaching. After reading it, I feel more confident about how to go about engaging all of my students in developmentally appropriate instruction in spelling, vocabulary, and phonics. I plan on making several sets of cards on two-toned cardstock (quite an undertaking with three stages of learners in my room!), but it will further reduce paper usage. I DID receive the DVD and CD with my book, but I was disappointed that I couldn't access any of the sorts or games on the CD (maybe that's why they quit including it). I feel cheated out of material that I really could have used. I would order the WTW stage books or Word Journeys over this book because it does give you ready-made sorts and literature connections for the word hunts.

It's been shown that spelling provides a window to one's reading. This book explains the developmental stages children go through K- adult. The database software on one of the CDs that allows one to analyze the spelling inventories and sort the results is very easy to use. Classroom teachers appreciate the data I have been able to give them on their students. The word games and short videos on the 2nd CD are very helpful. The analytical phonics approach is very kid-friendly right up through high school. This is a very thorough resource that every ELA, SpEd, and Title I teacher should use.

The book is outstanding. The materials in the book is easy to read and follow. I use the activities and word sorts in my classroom each day. I have used the spelling inventory with my class, also.
I do have a problem with the CD that came with the book. I wish the word sorts involving words would be big like the picture sorts are. My students have trouble with the small size of squares.

This book is filled with great reproducibles! It clearly spells out a balanced word study program and is a great resource for new and veteran teachers alike.