Spelling City for Differentiation?

This year, our school is both Title I and a focus school.  So that means that we need to keep flawless records of differentiation methods that cover all the state standards and meet the needs of all students in math and reading.  Then I came across an email reminder that Spelling City links state standards to their activities, making it easier to find differentiation activities. 

I played around with the free activities they offer and found several that link up nicely with Virginia's Language Arts standards.  You can access the activities that match your state's standards by clicking here.  Below is an example of what the screen will look like.  The blue words take you to the activities when you click on them.

I have played around with Spelling City before, but not for a couple of years, and I've never purchased the premium membership.  I've also never put in spelling or vocabulary lists.  I'm wondering if it's worth the extra money.

Have you used Spelling City before?  If so, have you purchased the membership or just used the free services?  Do you think the paid membership is worth it? 

I'm looking for new ways to use this site for differentiation.  I'd love some advice!

Developmental Word Study

My school uses the Words Their Way program by Marcia R. Invernizzi, Francine R. Johnston, Donald R. Bear, and Shane Templeton. 

Since I am 4th Grade, these are the editions that I use so that the wide range of needs of my readers/spellers are met.

Last year, we also started using Mindful of Words: Spelling and Vocabulary Explorations 4-8 (Solving Problems in the Teaching of Literacy) by Kathy Ganske.  This adds a little more of the "word study/vocabulary" piece to the spelling.

I spent the last couple of years tweaking my small group word study and word study packets for independent learning.  Basically, I usually end up with 3-4 spelling groups after I give the beginning of the year pretest. 

Some things I found that do NOT work for my students:

• Weekly spelling tests: Students were "memorizing" words just long enough to pass the test and them misspelling the same words in their writing.  Plus, it takes a lot of class time to give a spelling test.
• Assigning spelling packets for homework. 

Some things I found that DO work:

• Have a packet that explicitly tells students what to do each day during independent word study time.
• Keeping one plastic baggy for "this week's words" and one for "old words"
• Pulling words from the "old words" baggy randomly to see which words need to be practiced
• Holding students accountable for words learned during word study in their writing

This is a sample weekly independent word study packet and the small group rotation schedule.

The packet includes 5 days of activities to be done independently after all the words have been introduced in small group. The rotation schedule is meant to keep the groups "flowing" so that not all students are doing the same activity and thus, have access to all materials as needed.

The packet addresses the vocabulary/writing, as well as the spelling practice components of word study.




This is the basic weekly schedule:

Day 1

Group 1: (lowest group): Introduction of sort and activities in packet (15 minutes)

Group 2: (2^nd lowest group): Introduction of sort and activities in packet (15 minutes)

Day 2

Group 3: (middle group): Introduction of sort and activities in packet (15 minutes)

Group 4: (highest group): Introduction of sort and activities in packet (15 minutes)

Day 3

Group 1: Check-in: clarification of sort, meaning of words, activity expectations (5-10 minutes)

Group 2: Check-in: clarification of sort, meaning of words, activity expectations (5-10 minutes)

Day 4

Group 3: Check-in: clarification of sort, meaning of words, activity expectations (5-10 minutes)

Group 4: Check-in: clarification of sort, meaning of words, activity expectations (5-10 minutes)

Day 5

All groups: open agenda (usually answering questions as a whole group)

Packet collection schedule (provided there was a full 5 days for them to complete the activities):

Groups 1 & 2: Mondays

Groups 3 & 4: Tuesdays

 

You can pick up a FREE copy by clicking here.

 

What about you?  Do you use anything similar to this?  How do you run it?