Lauren Sammon

4/22/14
Spelling Assessment Lesson Plan
Purpose:

Jacob completed the 25 words in the Letter Name list. He does not have any absent
features. He is spelling in the independent level for Initial/Final Consonants, Initial
Blends/Diagraphs, and Short Vowels. He is using but confusing both Affricates and Final

Blends/Digraphs.
Jacob had some trouble with affricates. Jacob used the letter g in place of both j and
dr. He correctly used ch whenever the word included ch, but replaced tr with ch in
the word trip. With Final Blends/Digraphs, Jacob omitted the letter m in the word
bump, used ch instead of sh in the word dish, and missed the letter n in the word

went. He correctly used th and st when either was used at the end of a word.
Upon observation of his using but confusing features, we decided the most important
feature to focus on for this lesson is the use of the letter j. We decided to compare this
with the use of the affricate dr, since Jacob replaced both of these affricates with the

letter g in his spelling assessment.

Spelling is integral to literacy instruction. Spelling is directly related to phonics, and
phonics is directly related to both reading and writing. Therefore, it is important to focus
this lesson on spelling instruction in order to further Jacobs understanding of phonics,

which will also improve his reading and writing abilities.

1.6 The student will apply phonetic principles to read and spell.
a) Use beginning and ending consonants to decode and spell single-syllable words.
b) Use two-letter consonant blends to decode and spell single-syllable words.
c) Use beginning consonant digraphs to decode and spell single-syllable words.
d) Use short vowel sounds to decode and spell single-syllable words.
e) Blend beginning, middle, and ending sounds to recognize and read words.
f) Use word patterns to decode unfamiliar words.
g) Use compound words.
h) Read and spell common, high-frequency sight words, including the, said, and come

Objectives: This lesson will target Jacobs use of the affricates dr and j. Given a graphic
organizer with a dr column and a j column, the student will write down 12 words that either
begin with dr or j, read aloud by the instructor, underneath the corresponding column with
80% feature accuracy.

Procedure:
a. Introduction Ask Jacob if he remembers the assessment you gave him. Explain to him that
you created a special lesson just for him based on that assessment. Tell him that you noticed he
had a little trouble with the sounds /dr/ and /j/.
Then explain to Jacob that today we will be practicing using the letter j at the beginning
of different words.
Ask Jacob what sound does the letter j make?

If he answers correctly, respond with Yes! Can you think of a word that

starts with the letter j?

If he answers incorrectly, model the sound /j/ for him, and ask him to
make the sound as well. Then make the sound together a few times.

Then, explain that there are other letters and letter combinations that make similar sounds
to the j sound. Show Jacob the letters d and r next to each other, and ask what do the
letters d and r sound like when they are put next to each other?

If he answers correctly, respond with Yes! Can you think of a word that

begins with /dr/?

If he answers incorrectly, model the sound /dr/ for him, and ask him to
make the sound as well. Then make the sound together a few times.

b. Development

Explain to Jacob that he will be practicing a word sort (he is familiar with word sorts, as
he does one every week). On the table, set up the /dr/ column and the /j/ column. Explain
to Jacob that he will be sorting a series of both pictures and words. Before beginning,

look over the pictures together and say aloud together what each picture represents.
To begin, read aloud the first word, compare it with the sound of the /dr/ sound and
example word, and repeat compared with the /j/ sound and example word. Then model
how to correctly place the word in the correct category. Model 2-3 more words.
o If Jacob feels comfortable, let him practice the sort on his own, and observe.
o If Jacob does not feel comfortable doing the sort on his own, model each word,

then ask him to place the word in the correct category

After sorting all of the words, introduce Jacob to the folder board game. Explain the rules
of the game.
o Board game Instructions: This is a Follow the Path board game. Each space on
the board will either be dr or j. Each player will take turns drawing a card.
The card will either have a picture or a word. The player must then say the word
aloud, and move his or her piece to the next space that has the same beginning

letter(s) as the word card drawn. The first player to reach the end of the path wins.
Play the game 2-3 times, depending on how long it takes to get through the path.
o If Jacob is unable to read the word drawn on his turn, model the word for him,
then model the word compared to each /dr/ and /j/, and ask him what the word

begins with.
After playing the game a couple times, explain to Jacob that you want to do a quick blind
writing sort. Explain that this is not for a grade, that it is simply to check for his
understanding. Tell him to take his time and that it is okay if he doesnt know how to
spell a word, but to try his best. Give him a sheet of paper that has been divided into two
columns, a column with dr written at the top, and a column with j written at the top.

Read each word aloud, say the word in a sentence, and then repeat the word. After each
word, show the word to Jacob so he can see if he put the word in the correct column.
o Words for the blind writing sort: 1. Jack, 2. Drip, 3. Jet, 4. Drop, 5. Drum, 6.
Drag, 7. Jam, 8. Jug, 9. Drug, 10. Job, 11. Dress, 12. Jog

c. Summary Have a brief discussion with Jacob about the lesson. Ask what he liked about the
lesson. Ask if there was anything he did not like about the lesson. Show Jacob the j card, and
ask what sound it makes. Then show him the dr card, and ask what sound it makes. Ask if he
has any questions. If you have time, assist Jacob in pasting the words from the word sort in
columns on a piece of paper. Thank him for participating and actively engaging in the lesson.

Materials:

dr and j writing sort (cut into separate pieces)

dr and j Folder Board Game
Cards for the Folder Board Game
Two Game Pieces (tokens to move around the board game)
Graphic Organizer for Blind Writing Sort
Pencil
Paper
Glue Stick

Evaluation Part A: I will do an informal, formative assessment of Jacobs knowledge during the
board game. I will be able to assess whether or not he knows the words by their beginning
sounds based on which board game space he places his game piece after each turn with a new
word. At the end of the lesson, I will assess Jacobs knowledge from the blind writing sort he
completes. I will assess the writing sort on whether Jacob correctly places each word in the
correct column with the correct beginning letter(s). I will consider Jacob in need of further
instruction on this topic if he scores under 80% on this writing sort. Though my assessment will

not be focused on spelling, I will assess whether or not his spelling of the two features, dr and
j are spelled correctly.

Evaluation Part B:
Did Jacob meet your objective? How do you know?
I wasnt able to complete the blind writing sort because of time limits, so Jacob was only able to
complete 9 of the 12 words. For this reason, I am unable to know if he would have been able to
meet my original objective. However, of the 9 words he did complete, he misspelled a feature on
two of the words. The first missed feature, he wrote jop instead of drop. The second missed
feature, he wrote dag instead of drag. Since he missed 2 out of 9 features, his feature
accuracy was 77%, which means he did not meet my objective. He placed the first misspelled
feature word, jop for drop, in the incorrect column; but he placed the second misspelled
feature word, dag for drag, in the correct column. For all nine words, he only wrote one
word in the incorrect column; which means he had 88% feature column accuracy. Since I was
unable to fully complete the lesson as I had planned, and since he did not meet my full objective,
I will practice this lesson with Jacob again in the coming days.

What were your strengths in teaching this lesson?

My strengths in the lesson were keeping Jacob engaged and focused on the lesson and activities.
I think I was able to make the lesson fun for Jacob, and I was enthusiastic while playing our
board game. I was also good at transitioning between different parts of the lesson and deciding
the right point to move on to the next part of the lesson. I felt my time management was a
strength, because even though the lesson ended up being rushed, I still managed to complete

almost of the activities I had planned for (Jacob and I did not have time to have a discussion
about the lesson, and we did not have time to paste his words on a paper.)
I think I was well-prepared for the lesson. I had all of my supplies together neatly, which made
transitioning from one activity to the next seamless.

What were your weaknesses?

I would say that my main personal weakness during the lesson was not modeling the words
appropriately. I constantly wanted to drag out the r sound in the dr words, even though thats
not how the word would naturally be spoken. I had not anticipated Jacob not being able to tell
the difference between the two sounds just from hearing them, but he did struggle with being
able to tell the sounds apart. I should have spent more time making sure Jacob was able to
distinguish the two sounds from one another before continuing with the other activities, however,
I wanted to make sure we got to all of the activities. I didnt have enough time to practice these
sounds as meticulously as I had planned to. I also planned my lesson as if I would have 45
minutes to do so, but only ended up having 25 minutes to complete it. I would have wanted to
practice each aspect of the lesson with Jacob more than once, but only could do each activity
once because of the time limits.

How well did you manage the lesson?

I think I managed the lesson well. Jacob can be hyperactive sometimes, and likes to move
around. I decided to implement my lesson on the rug so that Jacob would be able to move around
while we worked together. He was actively engaged throughout, and listened to all of my

directions. I think it wasnt a hard lesson to manage because Jacob already enjoys working oneon-one with me and has done so several times already this semester. I came to the lesson well
prepared with all of the materials I would need, so I was able to manage the transitions smoothly.

How would you change the lesson if you could do it again?

If I could do it again, I would definitely make sure I had the full amount of time to complete my
lesson! Unfortunately, Jacob meets with several small groups: his teacher for small-group
instruction, the Title 1 instructor, and a speech pathologist. He is constantly moving from one
group to another, so it was difficult to find the time to do my lesson with him. However, I plan to
bring the word sort and the game in a few more times in the next week or two to practice with
Jacob so that he can get the full benefit of the lesson, even if its spread out over different days!
If I was his teacher, I would have spread this lesson across the course of a week. I would have
introduced the sort in the beginning of the week, played the game along with a few other
activities during the week, and assessed his knowledge with a blind writing sort at the end of the
week.
I think I also would have only included words in the sort, instead of pictures and words. I had not
anticipated how difficult it would be for Jacob to distinguish the two sounds, so having the words
written out may have been more beneficial to him instead of the pictures and words.