Stage Assignment #1

Laura Efford

Group
Student Spelling Reading/Writing Receives EL
Stage Stage Intervention
Caleb Early WW Early Transitional X Spanish
Trevor B. Early WW Early Transitional X
Steven Early WW Early Transitional
Sam Early WW Early Transitional

The UBC chart for this group is as follows:

Mastered UBC Absent
Consonants, blends, Digraphs, CVCe, CVVC Consonant doubling,
preconsonantal nasals, (silent letters in long vowels in unaccented final
short vowels vowel patterns) syllables

Group justification: The group contains only 4 students in an effort to keep the group
small; these students are far below benchmarks for third grade. Caleb and Trevor B. have
mastered consonants, short vowels, and blends, and are using but confusing digraphs.
Caleb is also using but confusing long vowel patterns, while these features are absent in
Trevor B.’s spelling sample. Steven and Sam have mastered consonants, short vowels,
digraphs, and blends, and are using but confusing long vowel patterns.

Sort
The initial sort I will use with this group is as follows:
Short a (pic of hat) Long a a_e (pic of gate) oddball
flag shape was
(picture of path) gate have
fast (picture of race)
chat gave
glad (picture of cape)
chap same
(picture of rat) date
shave
Justification: The initial word sort for this group consists of words that compare short-a
with the long-a sound spelled with silent e. This sort includes some picture cards to
direct students’ attention to the differences in sound of the two vowel types. It also
includes words with sh and ch to provide further instruction in digraphs to Caleb and
Trevor B. Although Caleb and Sam spelled the two CVCe words on the ESI correctly, all
students will benefit from instruction in CVCe words with digraphs.

Introduction and guided practice:

The day 1 teacher-guided instruction with this sort would follow these steps:
1. Read the words together and discuss new vocabulary. Ask, “What do you notice?”
2. Introduce headers. Direct attention to the short-a sound in hat and long-a sound in
gate. Teach the generalization of silent e as a long vowel marker. Model sorting a
few words by the medial vowel sound. Think aloud as you model and draw attention
to matching vowel sound with the correct header. Tell students there are some
oddballs that do not fit either category, and then ask them to help finish the sort.
Oddballs are placed in a third column. When all cards are sorted, read down each
column together and check that the words share the middle sound.
3. Discuss the patterns they see in each column (CVC versus CVCe). Discuss oddballs
and have students verbalize why they don’t belong.
4. Leave headers on display and mix up all other cards. Distribute among the students
and ask them to think about their word cards and where they should be placed.
Students take turns reading a card aloud and placing it in the corresponding category.
Periodically ask, “Why does this belong here?” Do not make any corrections at this
point. When sorting is completed, read down each column together. Point out how
the words in each column share a sound and a pattern. If students do not self-correct
during this time, say, “There is a card in this column that belongs somewhere else.
Can you find it?”
5. Students cut apart and sort their own word cards. After sorting, they read aloud each
column to you or a friend and explain the categories. Store the cards for activities
throughout the week.
EL modifications: Students who speak Spanish at home and have some literacy in
Spanish tend to use e for long-a. They may spell gave as GEV, for example. They also
tend to stretch long vowel sounds, spelling diphthongs or glides with too many vowels,
such as spelling shape as SHEIP. (Here, the long-a sound is stretched to two sounds: /ā/
and /ē/. The long-e sound is spelled in Spanish with the letter i, thus creating the EI
vowel spelling.) Furthermore, /sh/ does not exist in Spanish and is easily confused with
/ch/ and /j/. Spanish speakers may also spell short-a sounds with the letter o because of
similar places of articulation. For all of these reasons, most of the words in this sort may
require extra support for Caleb to master them. He should be provided with extra
instruction in contrasting sh with s and ch. Teachers should also pay attention to their
own pronunciation of long-a sounds and avoid stretching out the sound as they read.

Follow-up/Extension
Activity: Vowel Concentration—Students turn word cards face-down. (Remove
oddballs and make sure they cannot see through the paper.) The first player turns over
two cards and if they have the same vowel sound and pattern, he keeps both cards. If the
cards do not match, they are placed face-down in their original spots. Students can also
record their matches on white boards or paper in order to practice writing the words as
well. The game ends when all matches have been made.
Justification: This game draws students’ attention to both the sound and pattern
of the vowel. It will especially help Trevor, who does not yet use any long vowel
patterns in his spelling. Familiarity with this game will be useful when students later
contrast the same sound with different spellings (a_e with ai, for example). Most
importantly, students play this game without a teacher. This allows for independent
practice, with the goal of keeping a brisk pace with these below-benchmark students.

Reading
The instructional reading text I would use with this group is the following:
Title: Soup and a Sandwish Sample of text: And so this boy closed his
Author: Stephen Cosgrove eyes and made a very special wish. He
Readability Level: GRL I made a sandwich sandwish. First he
sandwished a loaf of bread, hot from the
 oven. He cut off a slice so big, he had to
use a saw instead of a knife.

Justification: The text can be used as a source for a word hunt, during which time
students search for and highlight words that fit this week’s generalizations. Words to be
found include Jack, ham, had, last, that, made, crane, and ate. They will also find the
oddball was. The text includes word play contrasting /sh/ and /ch/ and draws attention to
how substituting one sound for the other changes the meaning of a word. These contrasts
will particularly help Caleb and Trevor.

Writing
Activity: Story Writing—Students write a story using at least 3 words from the
CVCe category and at least 3 from the CVC category. Model thinking aloud to create a
story that connects the words in some way before writing. (For example, “I can write
about a shape that has a chat with his friend outside his gate.”) Students should
underline their spelling words and spell them correctly.
Justification. This activity provides practice with application of the new spelling
feature (CVCe) and continued practice with /ch/ versus /sh/. Students write the words in
meaningful ways and build on their understanding of the vocabulary as they write, an
especially beneficial activity for ELs.

Intervention Collaboration
Services at this point will focus on the digraphs ch and sh, as well as long-a with a
CVCe pattern. Picture sorts should be used to help Caleb distinguish between /sh/ and /s/
and for Trevor to hear /ch/ versus /j/. Word sorts should later be used as well. Trevor
uses the letter name of g to inform his spelling and spells many sounds with the letter g,
including /ch/ and /zh/. He should be taught that hard g is the most common sound of
this letter. The interventionist should monitor growth and decide if /sh/ versus /ch/
contrasts are needed, especially that of Caleb, whose native language predisposes him to
confuse the two. CVCe study should include words with soft c to help Caleb understand
its use in these words rather than an s.