Differentiated Spelling Instruction
Differentiated Spelling Instruction
Differentiated Spelling Instruction (eBook) provides all the resources teachers need to truly differentiate spelling instruction. If you’re committed to explicit spelling instruction and individualized instruction to meet the needs of each of your students, this program is for you.
Program Overview
Everything a teacher needs to know about the program components and how to differentiate spelling instruction is found in the Learn How to Teach This Program in 10 Minutes section. It’s that easy. In brief, students take a spelling pattern pretest, then self-correct, and personalize their weekly spelling list. Teachers explain the spelling pattern. Students complete the spelling pattern word sort for homework and self-correct in class. Students study their spelling lists and take the posttest. After seven weeks of instruction, students take a formative assessment. The teacher records the student data and assigns remediation as needed. Remediation consists of 64 sound-spelling worksheets, each with a short formative assessment. Simple and easy to individualize instruction.
Program Components
- Diagnostic Spelling Assessment: a comprehensive test of each previous grade level spelling pattern to determine what students know and what they don’t know.
- Diagnostic Spelling Assessment Mastery Matrix
- 104 Remedial Sound-Spelling Worksheets Corresponding to the Diagnostic Spelling Assessment
- Weekly Diagnostic Spelling Tests
- Weekly Spelling Sort Worksheets for Each Spelling Pattern (with answers) formatted for classroom display. Students self-correct to learn from their own mistakes.
- Syllable Transformers and Syllable Blending formatted for classroom display and interactive instruction
- Syllable Worksheets (with answers) formatted for classroom display
- Four Formative Assessments (given after 7 weeks of instruction)
- Summative Assessment
Spelling Teaching Resources
- How to Study Spelling Words
- Spelling Proofreading Strategies for Stories and Essays
- Syllable Rules
- Accent Rules
- Outlaw Words
- The 450 Most Frequently Used Words
- The 100 Most Often Misspelled Words
- The 70 Most Commonly Confused Words
- Eight Great Spelling Rules, Memory Songs, and Raps (with Mp3 links)
- Spelling Review Games
- Formative and Summative Spelling Assessment Mastery Matrices
Why Other Spelling Programs are Ineffective and Why Differentiated Spelling Instruction (DSI) Makes Sense
- Others use “themed” spelling word lists, grouping words by such themes as animals, months, holidays, or colors.
- DSI uses developmental spelling patterns for its word lists, providing sequential, research-based orthographic instruction.
- Others use practice worksheets that focus on rote memorization, such as word searches, fill-in the-blanks, or crossword puzzles.
- DSI provides spelling sorts/word parts worksheets to help students practice recognition and application of the spelling patterns.
- Others de-emphasize structural analysis.
- DSI emphasizes word study: syllables, accents, morphemes, inflections, spelling rules, pronunciation, and derivational influences.
- Others do not integrate vocabulary instruction.
- DSI integrates homonyms, common Greek and Latin prefixes, roots, and suffixes, and other linguistic influences.
- Others minimize the reading-spelling connection.
- DSI reinforces the decoding-encoding connection with an instructional scope and sequence aligned with systematic explicit phonics instruction. The DSI program includes five years of seamless spelling instruction (Grades 4 through 8)—perfect for grade-level classes, combination classes, and flexible homeschool instruction.
- Others ignore spelling irregularities.
- DSI includes “Exceptions” throughout the program, providing problem-solving strategies that build student (and teacher) confidence in the English orthographic spelling system.
- Others use spelling tests solely as summative assessments.
- DSI uses spelling tests as diagnostic and formative instruments to help teachers differentiate instruction. Recording matrices enable teachers to keep track of mastered and un-mastered spelling patterns for each student—simple record-keeping and minimal paperwork.
- Others provide one-size-fits-all instruction.
- DSI provides the resources for true differentiated instruction from remedial to grade-level to accelerated spellers.
- Others use visual-only spelling strategies.
- DSI uses multi-sensory instructional practice, including songs, raps, games and phonological awareness activities—perfect for students with auditory processing deficits and a “must” for effective Response to Intervention (RtI) instruction.
- Others have no writing-spelling connection.
- DSI requires students to develop weekly Personal Spelling Lists that include commonly misspelled words from their own writing.
- Others provide no review activities for unit spelling tests.
- DSI provides ample review activities, including Word Jumbles for each sound-spelling pattern, web-based songs and raps, and entertaining games.
- Others take either inordinate teacher preparation or require too much class time.
- DSI is “teacher-friendly” and requires only minimal prep time. And the flexible DSI resources will not eat up excessive instructional minutes.
- Others are overly expensive and require consumable workbooks.
- DSI requires only one worksheet each lesson, per student—truly economical.
Differentiated Spelling Instruction is a “slice” of the comprehensive grades 4-8 Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Vocabulary programs. Please check out the product descriptions here.
Please check out our introductory video.
Differentiated Spelling Instruction Grade 4: Preview This Book
Differentiated Spelling Instruction Grade 5: Preview This Book
Differentiated Spelling Instruction Grade 6: Preview This Book
Differentiated Spelling Instruction Grade 7: Preview This Book
Differentiated Spelling Instruction Grade 8: Preview This Book