Making+Words


 * Making Words**

Making words is a strategy that helps students learn how to work with letters to form words, how to change letters to form new words, and how to look for patterns in words. Making words is used when students need to understand how words work and to develop knowledge of common or frequently used words. This directed activity might be done with pencil or paper or with a predetermined set of magnetic alphabet letters, letter tiles, or letter cards. Junior students may be instructed to create two-letter words, then to add a letter to make a three-letter word, and so on, with the aim of reaching a particular target word. Senior students may be instructed to add suffixes and prefixes to roots. Words may be then sorted (see “Word Sorts” in “Direct Instruction Strategies”) according to common patterns or characteristics, such as rhyming words, words that end the same, or words that start with similar prefixes.
 * Description**

The teacher:
 * Method**
 * pre-selects the letters to be used;
 * establishes the patterns to be examined;
 * identifies the letters needed by the student;
 * observes behaviours that indicate the student’s knowledge (e.g. word patterns, initial consonants, or blends).

Making words:
 * Considerations**
 * requires classroom management for storage and access to letters.


 * Illustrations From The Mathematics Classroom**

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 * Elementary**

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 * Secondary**