Stages of Word Solvers

Have you wondered just how well your students are able to decode and understand words? Below is a chart that might help you understand the levels of your students' decoding skills along with activities to help them advance to the next level.

Stages of Word Solvers:

Levels:	Beginning	Emergent	Transitional	Advanced
Descriptions:	The beginning word solver is becoming aware of the sounds (phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle) in words and some visual features of print, usually a letter in his/her name, developmental or invented spelling. This is when children start to begin to think about and learn about print.  Beginning word solvers: ●      Repeat words and identifies a few sounds ●      Recognizes own name (or part of it) in writing ●      Notices print in the environment ●      Responds to stories and sometimes notices print.	The emergent word solver knows many sound-letter relationships and  writes patterns and reads using  the letter-sound relationship. Can write most letters. Write words based on sound and easy to hear vowels Knows the names of the alphabet and related sounds. The emergent word solver: ●      Notices and can identify some sounds in words.  ●      Recognizes a few easy high-frequency words. ●      Knows the names and/or sounds of some letters - mostly consonants and some dominant vowels.	Transitional word solvers know consonant and vowel patterns. Transition from reliance on regular letter-sound to spelling patterns. Understand that there is a sound in each syllable. Hear most sounds, even harder-to-hear vowel sounds. The transitional word solver: ·       Reads and writes some easy two or three-syllable words, and  ·       words with simple endings Uses simple word patterns.	The advanced word solver comprehends the different rules and principles of how words work, they use their roots to figure out its meaning.  They also have an in depth knowledge of words, which includes: base words, root, inflections, and their meanings. The advanced word solver: ●      Demonstrates understanding of rules and principles of how words work by categorizing words and finding examples. ●      Reads accurately with fluency and smooth, usually unobservable, word solving.
Activities that they would use are:	●      Rhymes, songs, chants ●      Work with names (charts, songs, poems) ●      Shared Reading ●      Reading aloud ●      Interactive writing ●      Language experience/shared writing ●      Independent writing ●      Code-based instruction on their deep knowledge of language learning ●      Take advantage of natural relationship between oral and written language	●      Word study System ●      Use of Word Wall ●      Guided reading and independent reading with more complex texts ●      Word study of more complex words ●      Writing workshops activities	●      Word study System ●      Use of Word Wall ●      Guided reading and independent reading with more complex texts ●      Word study of more complex words ●      Writing workshops activities ●      Provide practice with multisyllabic words for both writing and reading	●      Use of Word Walls  ●      Writing Workshop with more emphasis on composition, editing, proofreading, and publishing ●      Retelling story along with retelling from a different prospective