Making Words

Cunningham and Cunningham (1992) stressed how important inventive spelling is to the reading and writing

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of young students.  Through the exploration of words and sound patterns, they not only learn proper spelling but how to read those words if they come across them.  They suggest using Making Words lessons to accompany other inventive spelling strategies.  I loved that the lessons can be modified for a wide range of learners.  Each student learns at a different pace, so you could simply divide the class into small groups and provide different sets of letters based on their current understanding.  It's also a fun way to transition into another subject by having the "big" word be from that day's lesson.

I don't remember my teachers doing Making Words lessons, but one of my teachers had us play Scrabble often.  I think it's a fairly similar concept to Making Words, except it allows the students to create words on their own and practice inventive spelling more.  I'm sure I played a lot of made-up words, but as long as they sounded close to the word I was trying to create it was fine with my teacher.  After playing, she would select some of our misspelled words and help us figure out their proper spellings.  This really helped me understand the connection between what I was hearing and the correct combination of letters.  I think using both Scrabble and Making Words lessons with my future students could create some great readers and writers!  Did your teachers use Making Words lessons or anything similar? Do you think it helped you learn to spell and read?  What are some other ways to encourage inventive spelling and word making?

Here's a link to a great blog that easily explains how to create a Making Words lesson. It also includes a free printable worksheet, so students can keep a list of all the new words they learn!

http://www.theschoolsupplyaddict.com/1/post/2012/02/making-words.html