The first activity in the words block each day is the Word Wall. Next, we do an activity to help children learn to use phonics to read new words. In the words block, children learn to read and spell high-frequency words and learn the patterns which allow them to decode and spell lots of words. The first ten minutes of this block are usually given to reviewing the word wall words.
Word wall is a display of high frequency words above or below an alphabet.
The words are written with thick black marker on colored construction paper and are located by first letter only. The teacher adds 5 words a week. Students practice new and old words daily by looking at them, saying them, clapping or snapping the letters, writing the words an paper, and self-correcting the words with the teacher. The remaining 20-25 minutes of words time is given to an activity which helps children learn spelling patterns. A variety of activities are included in this block each day the most popular of which is Making Words.