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Reading Lesson Idea: Word Sorts

Description

Word sorts can be used for learning vocabulary in content area reading, or for discovering word patterns. The student sorts a list of words either by given categories or by relationships he must discover himself.

Adapted from Words Their Way by Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, and Francine Johnston.

Materials
  • A list of pertinent new vocabulary words and some known words.
  • You may choose to write each word on a separate 3"x5" index card. The cards can later be put into a student word bank.
Suggestions
  • Give your student the list of words, and a list of categories, either written on separate cards, or at the top of a sheet of paper.
  • Have your student go through each word on the list and place the card, or write the word, under one of the categories.
  • Example:
    • Create word cards with the following words: tools, minerals, water, labor, machinery, trees, wildlife, factories, typewriters, power plants, buildings.
    • Write these categories for the student to use: Natural Resources, Human Resources, Man-made Resources
  • Alternatively, the student comes up with the categories after examining all the words on the list, then sorts them.
  • Example:
    • Create word cards for the following words: tab, gate, that, came, back, lake, lamp, cane, tractor, pail, hand, same, cab, rain.
    • Ask your student to identify the word patterns they see and then sort the words into those categories. In this example, long "a" and short "a" sounds would be a good choice.
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