Words Their Way Parent Information Letter August 29, 2011 Dear Parents, We are excited to inform you

that the second grade team at Gombert has chosen to pilot a new phonics, spelling, and vocabulary program called Words Their Way in place of our existing spelling program. The main benefit of Words Their Way is that it differentiates instruction, allowing each child to work at their appropriate instructional level. At the end of the year, we will be comparing the spelling performance of our current students with the performance of our students from last year. We hope to determine that a more developmentally appropriate spelling program like Words Their Way is a better fit for our second graders. Students have been given an initial spelling inventory to help guide us in placing each student into a group of words. From this point, students will begin working with a different group of words each week. Words will be introduced each Wednesday in class. Word work in our classroom will include sorting our words into categories, and noticing similarities and differences between words that sound alike. Students will continue to have weekly spelling checks. Spell checks will be on Tuesdays in the week following the receipt of new words. For each spelling check I will ask students to spell a random group of 10 of their words for the week. The main purpose of these spelling checks will be to help guide each students instruction, versus memorization of the words. Spelling homework will remain similar to the homework we have given in past years. Each Wednesday, when your child receives their new spelling words, they will also select three activities to bring home, complete, and return to school by the test day. These activities will allow your child to further practice and learn common spelling patterns instead of simply memorizing a list of words each week. Words Their Way focuses less on memorization and more on allowing students to work with the words during word sorts to give them the chance to learn the spelling pattern. Word work at home and school will reflect this philosophy. We are excited about the opportunity to work with your child using Words Their Way. If you have any questions about Words Their Way, please feel free to contact us. Sincerely, Mr. Ferrell, Mrs. Bretz, and Miss Stith