ICDP: Word Study and Phonics - Jan Richardson Style

By: Jill Adams - 2nd Grade

My Why:

English is a hard language to figure out with all of the rules and then so many of our words that don't follow those rules.  This makes word study and phonics skills so hard to master as lower elementary students learning to read and write. This is why I chose to do my ICDP on Jan Richardson's new method of teaching these skills with her The Next Steps Forward in Word Study and Phonics.  It was an easy fit into what we were already doing with our guided reading lessons and a more repetitive way for students to have opportunities to learn and practice the skills throughout the week. 

I started off my journey working with a group of teachers in my building.  We did research by reading the book, watching videos on the book's website, and the processed through them on what we think would work well and how it could be implemented into our classrooms.  We then divided our group up into smaller groups based on classroom needs.  I then worked with one other colleague to develop lesson spelling lists based off of the lessons that Jan provided through her book. (Because of our work together, we did a lot of reflecting together.  This is why there will be pieces of our work that is the same.)

Research findings:

After digging into the Next Steps Forward in Word Study and Phonics book and using the videos on the website, we found there were several components that we are already implementing into our instruction.  However, there are also new learnings and components that we will be able to implement into our guided reading structure.  This will allow us to integrate our word study into guided reading groups rather than opposed to a separate time during our literacy block.  By integrating this component, we will have more time to dedicate to the specific needs of each student.

Implementation:

We have noticed there is a gap between where kids are reading and where they fall out for their word study level. We are systematically going through the book and teaching the lessons that go with each guided reading level to fill in gaps in the word study skills as we see fit.  We have gotten through list I as of now and compiled word study words for each lesson to use as weekly spelling lists.  We are using Jan's word study as spelling instead of Words Their Way as we found it to be a great connection with guided reading.  Their words are used all week during word work with guided reading and during independent centers.  These are patterned word lists will be in place for next year and other groups that may need them this year, we will just have to change the sight words depending on where the students are at and what they need.

We noticed the assessment doesn't align completely with the lessons.  We have been adding to those lessons to fill in some skills areas that Jan missed and combining some lesson that don't need two separate weeks of intensive study.  We would like to modify the assessment because some words are not kid friendly, such as changing brute to flute. 

We are excited to see if the gap closes a little when they move on to the next grade.

Overview Video: