1. Working With Words
What is it?
The elements of Working with Words include the Alphabetical Principle/Phonics, Sight
Words, and Spelling. It is most effective when formal instruction begins in Kindergarten
and informal exposure occurs before Kindergarten.
The Alphabetic Principle/Phonics: The concept that each letter of the
alphabet has one or two sounds associated with it and that these letter-
sound relationships are stable
 Involves knowing the shapes, names and sounds of letters
 Phonics involves encoding and decoding
Sight Words: These are also referred to as High Frequency Words and are
the most commonly seen words in print. They are often words that
cannot be sounded out.
 If a child recognizes a word without decoding it, then that word is a
“sight word” for that child.
Spelling: The ability to translate speech to print using phonemic awareness
and knowledge of letter-sounds.
 Spelling is a thinking process, not a rote learning task
 Spelling is acquired through meaningful practice
The Goals of Working with Words:
 To understand that there are systematic relationships between letters and sounds
 To understand that written words are composed of letter patterns representing the
sounds of spoken words
 To recognize words quickly and accurately in order to obtain meaning from them
 To blend sounds to read words and segment words into sounds to spell
Why do we teach it?
Working with Words is important because:
 Systematic and explicit phonics instruction improves children’s word recognition,
spelling and reading comprehension
 As children participate in phonics and word study activities their understanding of
the conventions that govern language will increase
 Provides key knowledge and skills needed for beginning reading and writing
 When students recognize words easily, they understand text more readily; they
develop both vocabulary and background knowledge; these, in turn, facilitate
understanding and the motivation to want to read more text – possibly more
complex text
 Students who acquire and apply the alphabetic principle early in their reading
careers reap long-term benefits

2. Children lacking skills in Working with Words:
 Experience unrewarding early reading experiences
 Become less involved with reading activities
 Cannot name certain letters and are likely to have trouble mapping sounds to their
corresponding letters
 Do not learn how to decode words quickly and accurately; they will not have
enough mental energy left to understand the meaning of text
Working with Words Developmental Continuum
Strengthening auditory and visual discrimination Emerging
(Alphabetic Principle)
Developing knowledge of letter-sound
Relationships and patterns
Developing
Developing ground work for accuracy and
fluency in decoding
Developing a bank of sight words
Fluent
Establishing a core of strategies to apply to
decoding and spelling
Resources:
http://reading.uoregon.edu/au/index.php
http://www.usu.edu/teachall/text/reading/ReadBySight.htm
Orchestrating Success in Reading. Dawn Reithaug
The Four Blocks Model
Researched-Based Methods of Reading Instruction. Sharon Vaughn