Brittany Foss

Word Study Mini Lesson Reflection

For my word study minilesson I pulled 6 students (2 students at a time) to complete a

homophone memory game. I would pull the students and then ask them what they know about

homophones, based off of their answers my explanations of homophones varied. Before the

game started I want the 2 students from each group to understand that homophones were words

that sounded the same but had were spelled differently and had different meanings. They would

then play the game with the homophone picture cards. When the found a match a picture

representing a pair of homophones, for ex: a man eating a burger for ate and then the number 8

for eight, they would say out loud the homophone pair ate/eight and then define what each

picture represented to show they had different meanings even though they sounded the same. I

chose homophones as the word study lesson topic because after discussion with my CT she

mentioned how some students in the class seemed to be struggling with homophones after a quiz

they had taken. My CT specifically asked if I could focus on homophones because of the data

she had collected the week before. I knew which students to pull because of the homophone pre

test I conducted previously. I wanted to make sure that I was pulling students who were using

but confusing the concept of homophones. The students were given two definitions and asked to

write the corresponding homophones. The students who participated in the mini lesson on

homophones all seemed to really enjoy the lesson because it was introduced as a game and there

was competition involved because they were playing the game with another person. The students

each wanted to be the student who collected the most homophones pair cards, so the students

worked very hard during the lesson. There were even some students who asked if they could play

the game during recess again.

 In my classroom I want to make sure that word study is completed effectively because of

the benefits research has shown to the students individual literacy as a whole. Each week, or

every other week, I want to take a formative assessment to see if students understand their word

study words for the week, if they dont understand, or if they are using but confusing them. I

want to have these word study assessments to understand where I should take differentiated

groups in their word study. I want word study to be differentiated as much as possible, and I

hope to achieve this goal by grouping my class into differing levels of word study. I want the

groups to be of students who are using but confusing the same word study features. After each

weeks assessment I would move students around to be in the groups that are most appropriate

for what features they should be focusing on. During my literacy block I would hope to spend at

least 20-30 minutes on whole group/small group word study. Throughout the week I will plan

different activities for my students that focus on the same word group family. Some of these

activities may include an introduction to the word sort, creating word wallets, word hunts, speed

sort, games, word study quizzes, etc. Materials for word study can include, but are limited to:

blank game boards, dry erase boards, post-its, highlighters, magnetic letters, word walls, word

sorts, etc. As a teacher I want to make sure that word study is not a literacy topic that is

overlooked. Word study so positively impacts literacy learning that I feel like it must be a topic

that is focused on in the classroom. Word study is also a topic that creates space for fun learning

activities. There are so many engaging ways that students can learn about word family patterns.

From rainbow writes, to Tic Tac Toe, to Hangman the opportunities for word study activities are

endless. I feel like I learned a lot from my word study mini lesson on homophones small group

memory game. It was an enjoyable experience for me and the students and it allowed me to

begin thinking about how I want to incorporate word study in engaging ways in my classroom.