Words their way
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  • Assessments
  • Words Their Way Stages
    • Emergent Stage >
      • Activities for Emergent Stage
    • Letter Name-Alphabetic Stage>
      • Activities for Letter Name-Alphabetic Stage
    • Within Word Pattern Stage >
      • Activities for Within Word Pattern Stage
    • Syllables and Affixes Stage >
      • Activities for Syllables and Affixes
    • Derivational Relations Stage >
      • Activities for Derivational Relations Stage
Getting Started

To get started, you will first need to give your students a spelling inventory. This inventory assess their ability to write letters to represent the sounds they hear. There are three spelling inventories that Words Their Way recommends (Primary, Elementary, and Upper Elementary Spelling Inventories.)


Each of these inventories has a list of words that increase in complexity of spelling skills. Once the spelling inventory is given, then you can use the Feature Guide to score and identify the student's developmental level. Take a look at our pages for each level of spelling development, there you'll find resources to help you get started! 

Feature guides for scoring spelling inventories 

Instructions for Administering Inventories (from Pearson)
File Size: 62 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Primary Spelling Inventory Feature Guide
File Size: 84 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Elementary Spelling Inventory Feature Guide
File Size: 159 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Upper Elementary Spelling Inventory Feature Guide
File Size: 89 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Example Feature Guide (for Elementary Spelling Inventories) 
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Sample of an Elementary Spelling Inventory retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/a/orange.k12.nc.us/zatt/word-study-in-our-classroom
Other Resources: 
Podcast Interview with Donald Bear, one of the authors of "Words Their Way"

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