Word Rings

For the past three months, I have been creating and implementing a special project to do with the children in the grade ones and twos that I have been working with.

Upon my first day in this classroom, the teacher and I discussed that there was a major need for literacy development amongst her English Language Learner (ELL) students and those with an Independent Education Plan (IEP) for literacy. Through discussion we came up with the idea to create and implement word rings with these children.

Prior to working with the children, there were several steps that needed to be followed:

1. Research behind Word Rings and Sight Words.

2. Formulate a letter to send home with the children for their parents to read in order to ensure their understanding of this project.

3. Upon receiving the parents approval, I began to put together the word sheets and create personalized word rings for the children.

Once the latter steps were completed, I was able to engage with the children in order to execute my special project. My method of implementation was as follows:

- Initial Assessment: this is where I would sit with the children and go through the list of sight words in order to see which words they were able to pronounce and understand.

- Create the word rings: then I used Cue Cards and wrote the words that the children seemed to struggle with, hole punch them, and add them to the rings.

-Follow Up: once a week I would go through the word rings with the children to see their progress in their reading and comprehension of the words.

- Journals: during literacy periods, the children have time to write in their journals. On days that I would attend placement, I would look through their journals to check if they were using the words in their writing assignments.

- Observations: While communicating with the children and reading their journals, I would also observe them in group and social settings to see if the children were using the words in their daily conversations

Through observing the children and reading their journals, I was also able to understand where their level of comprehension is and if it has increased at all.

My method of evaluation was simple, I would keep track of the students progress through checkmarks.

When the child was able to pronounce the word correctly, they would receive a blue checkmark on the cue card

When the children used the word correctly in a piece of writing, thy would receive a green checkmark on the cue card

When the children used the word in conversation, they would receive a pink checkmark on the cue card

Once the children received all three checkmarks, the word would be removed from their word ring.

Overall I feel that this special project was successful. While I was not able to see much progress with some of the children in one or two areas, they showed headway in another area. Some of the children were excelling in all three areas of their literacy which was really impressive. Through this experience I learned to alter my presentation with each child. Some of the children were receptive to simply reading the words on their own, while some enjoyed reading them together or taking turns. It was through trial and error that I was able to capture all of the students interests and engage with all of them.