DescriptionWord sorts are a strategy within Combining Phonics and Meaning. Word sorts helps students become aware of the different letter-sound combinations in words. They are helpful for tying together word pronunciation to word meaning. A word sort is when a student sorts a list of words into different categories. This demonstrates to students that every word carries a meaning or multiple meanings. The words can be sorted in multiple ways. Such as touch, see, hear, taste, buy, sell, own, make, animal, machine, found in a house, school, park, and so on. The possibility for word sorts can be endless. Anything from an object to a type of word. This can be done by printing a list of words off of the internet, making notecards for your students, etcetera.
Video: The video located in the right-hand column is an example of what a word sort looks in action. The students in the video explain how to do a word sort, and then show the viewer what a word sort should look like. Pictures: The pictures on the right are examples of what a word sort looks like upon completion, as well as a word sort that can be done with your students. You would take the words from the worksheet in the second picture, cut the words out, and then glue and paste them down on a sheet of paper as located in the first picture. |
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Content Area Examples1. Literacy: Word sorts can take place using a list of common words. Students will cut the words out, and place them into the correct categories. For example, students will have a list of items that belong in the categories: house, park, school, and nature. They will then determine which item on the list belongs in which category and then glue them down into the categories.
2. Science: Students will take a list of words based off of living and nonliving categories. They will begin by learning about living and nonliving things, and then determine which items in the list belong to which category. 3. Mathematics: Students will get a list of math based words. The students will have to sort out which words are shapes and which words are number values. The students will sort their words out into the categories and then glue them down into their notebooks. 4. Health: Students will get a list of health based words. They will be sorting the words into lists of bones, muscles, and body systems. This can be an activity that students do in older grades when they are learning about the different bones in the system, the different muscles, and the different types of systems. |
Resources1. Jennings, J., Caldwell, J., & Lerner, J. (2014). Improving Word Knowledge: Word Recognition. In Reading Problems: Assessment and Teaching Strategies (7th ed., p. 186). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson.
2. Word Sorts What Do We Do. (2013, October 30). Retrieved November 5, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAoHriJ6_1Y |