Instruction Plan

M is a 3rd grade student at a small rural school in Iowa. She is nine years old and loves to
play with her dog, Bobo the English Mastiff, and younger sister Gabby. When I was
administering the spelling test she was attentive and seemed confident in the work she was
doing. She didnt take an extremely long time to spell every word and fixed her mistakes
immediately if she thought there was one.
After administering and grading the assessment I believe M is at the late within word
pattern stage. She struggled with the sections other vowels, and inflected endings. While I will
focus most of my recommendations for M on the late within word pattern stage I also will point
out that she may need a quick review of blends and common long vowels.
I picked an activity called Word Study Uno found on page 233 of Words their Way. This
Uno game has vowel patterns that the students are currently working on written on the cards.
Players start with 5 cards and then take turns playing cards that match the pattern on the face-up
card in the center. For example if the card in the middle is boat a student could lay goat, road,
soap, or play one of the special cards such as skip, draw 2, or wild which allows the students to
choose any new vowel pattern. The first student to run out of cards wins!
This activity was selected because I know that M loves to play games and is competitive.
I also like how the Uno game allows me to select several vowel patterns that she is struggling
with and tailor it to fit her needs. In order to make sure that M is learning new information and
not just revisiting previously learned skills, we will focus on the vowel patterns of ew, aw, and
ow. She missed those on her spelling inventory so this game will allow her to see those patterns
in many words and gain skills in the other vowels category.

M has a very solid foundation in much of her spelling. She just needs reinforcement in a
few categories before she is completely out of the within word pattern. This Uno game while fun
will give her the skills needed to increase her word knowledge.