Morgan

Sears
Second Minilesson: Word Study
John Wayland Elementary
Mrs. Strawdermans Class
Date to teach: October 20, 2014

Lesson duration: Approximately 30 minutes

Number of students: Whole group (18 students)

Materials needed:
Eight Ate by Marvin Terban
Sorting homophone cards for during the book reading (9)
Cards for homophone memory (9)

Objective: The objective of this minilesson is to serve as an introduction to homophones,
what they are, and how to classify them.

Introduction: I will tell students that we are going to read some portions of a book (Eight
Ate) and I will hand each pair of students a set of homophone sorting cards to use
throughout the reading. I will read one full page of the book with the homophone
combination so that they have an example of what they are to do during the reading.

Procedure:
I will give students sorting cards and they will find matches of words that sound the
same.
I will have pages marked in the book and the homophone answer to each riddle
covered. I will read the riddle, show them the picture, and they will have 10 seconds
to work with their partner to find a pair of homophones within the sorting cards
that answers the riddle.
We will go choose the best answer and go over their definitions as a class. We will
do this five or six times.
I will briefly explain that these are homophones and what homophones are exactly.
The students will then be given another set of cards to lay out on their desk face
down in rows. In pairs, they will play a homophone memory game, focusing on
finding pairs of words that sound the same but are spelled differently.
We will conclude by talking about if they can think of any other homophones that
we did not address in the game or sort and clarifying that they understand what a
homophone is.

Eye

Knot

Right

Not

Write

Be

Made

Sea

Bee

Maid

See

Buy

Meat

Son

By

Meet

Sun

Four

Oar

Too

For

Or

Two

Die

One

Wear

Dye

Won

Where

Hear

Plain

Their

Here

Plane

There

Hole

Prey

Pour

Whole

Pray

Poor

Dear

One

Deer

Won

Plain

Flower

Plane

Flour

Meet

Which

Meat

Witch

Morgan Sears
READ 436
Word Study Minilesson
Response Paper
November 3, 2014


For my second minilesson, I completed a word study lesson. When trying to decide how I
wanted to approach this, I consulted my cooperating teacher to see if she had any particular word
feature or spelling set that she wanted me to focus on. She asked me to work with the students by
planning a whole group homophone introduction lesson. Mrs. Strawderman also provided me with
a book called Eight Ate, a book of homophone riddles. As a word sort, I used answers to six of these
riddles (which were homophone pairs) to type up sorting cards for students to sort in pairs without
help or without being given a feature to sort by. We then went to the six riddles in the book and I
used the document camera to read them to them; they had to decide with their partner which pair
of homophones answered the riddle. The last part of the lesson was allowing the students to play a
game I created, homophone memory. They worked in groups of three and four to play this game,
finding matches of homophone pairs (for example, son and sun). I planned my lesson like this
because it allowed the students to construct their learning and have fun.

The students responded to my lesson extremely well for it being an introduction lesson to

homophones. When I gave them the words to sort, I only told them to read them well and try to sort
them in a way that they found appropriate. As they were reading over them, their faces started
lighting up and noticing that the words sounded the same. We then went over what a homophone
was and did the riddles from Eight Ate, which they loved, thought were funny, and were very
engaged in. They also seemed to thoroughly enjoy the homophone memory game. They followed
directions, worked well together, seemed to learn a lot and pick up the concept quickly, and have a
ton of fun! I asked them how they liked the game after, and they said it was awesome. I did not
find it appropriate to use the word study checklist provided in class for this particular word sort.

In the future, I do not think that I would do anything differently in this lesson. Originally, I

was apprehensive about using a whole group approach to introduce students to homophones, but I
think it worked out really well because they worked with partners to sort and choose the answer to
the homophone riddles, and they worked in small groups to play homophone memory. For an
introduction lesson, I think this turned out great and the students really grasped the concept
quickly and successfully.

In my own classroom, I will arrange students into groups based on their reading levels and

difficulties. Additionally, I will take into account personality differences and conflicts when
grouping. I will then choose their spelling words based on one word feature, and develop
instruction for each group. Instruction will follow a similar schedule each week. On Mondays, the
students will be introduced to the feature that they will be working with for the week, I will sort the
words with them, and they will copy them down. On Tuesdays, the students may sort with teacher
and/or sort their words with one of their peers within their spelling group. On Wednesdays, the
students may do speed sorting activities. On Thursdays, they will play a game of some kind that
allows them to work with and apply their knowledge of the word feature and the spelling of the
words. On Friday, I will assess the students by giving a spelling test. However, I will also assess the
students throughout the week informally by monitoring and observing them during their word
sorts and games, and by providing interactive whole group activities, word searches, crossword
puzzles, worksheets, and more. All of these assessments will give me insight into where students
are excelling and having trouble, helping me to plan future instruction.

To conduct word study instruction, I do not believe that I will need to have a large number

of materials. I will need whiteboards for teacher-student sorts, a projector or a smart board for
games, and two sets of weekly spelling words for each student (one to cut up for sorts, and one to
use to study their words for the week or in case they lose one of their words). It would also be
helpful to have actual games that addressed word study if it were possible to find any. However, it

would be just as effective to create some on my own, which I would need materials for. I would also
like to use books for independent reading for students or read alouds that address the words of the
week (if they were possible to find or appropriate) in order for students to see the words in context.