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Case Study:
Making Words

Nicholas Anderson

College of Education, Baker College

EDU 3210: Theories and Principles of

Reading Instruction

Dr. Angela Leuchtmann

October 13, 2021

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Lesson Plan: Making Words

Text needed: Words Their Way: Word Sorts for Within Word Pattern Spellers
Materials: Common Long-Vowel Patterns (CVCe and CVVC): Assessing the CVVC Long-Vowel Pattern
for A, Sort 13, scissors, and glue **Optional Sorts 14-17 (Vowels, E, O, and U).
Common Core State Standard (need both number AND standard written out):

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.A
Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

Key Points: Work with the magic e, long and short vowel sounds.
Reading Skill or Strategy:
Before Reading
Anticipatory Using the Assessing the CVVC Long-Vowel Pattern for A, E, O, and U we will discuss
Set/Hook what each item is on the list. This will enable me to assess which vowel should be
the focus of our lesson and will give my friend an opportunity to practice a little bit
of writing if he chooses to do so. All items on the list are common items that are
seen every day and items he should be familiar with for the scope of this lesson.

Learning Target I can: identify short CVC vowels

I can: identify long CVCE and CVVC vowels

I can: sort the correct words into the appropriate CVC, CVCe, and CVVC categories.

During Reading

During this lesson, we will be identifying short and long vowel sounds. The student and evaluator will
both talk about the sounds that we need to find. The first three words will be done by the evaluator
while the student may or may not identify where the words belong in the sort. The student will be given
the option for assistance on lines two and three but should be able to do 4-7 on their own.

After Reading
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Same as above for the during portion. Discuss the long a, the short a, and the long a with the
magic e. Discuss the results of the activity.

Check for understanding: Evaluating the student’s ability to distinguish the vowel sounds based on CVC
combinations that are determinants of long and short vowel sounds that also include the magic e.

Closure: Discuss the results of the students work. There may have been a promised Chuck-E-Cheese
reward for making it through three projects already.

Next Steps:
Work with
Dylan on the E,
O, and U short
and long
vowels.
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Stage 1: Assessing the CVVC Long-Vowel Pattern for A, E, O, and U.

There would have been a written version of this but Dylan made it pretty clear what the items
were but he would not be writing them. To keep the peace we compromised and I just let him name the
items on the page.

Stage 2: Selecting the Word Sort.

I decided that based on his previous spelling assessment and that when he spelled “train” as
“tran” that we could start with the long-short vowel sounds for A. This is the sort that I printed off and I
cut all of
the words
out for
him and
made our
own CVC
board
based on
the
headers
you see in
the
picture
below.
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Stage 3: The Activity

The following is the result of the activity that Dylan worked out. He did a phenomenal job on
naming the words, with a small hiccup in identifying where “train” went. We are unsure of it was the
beginning of fatigue but after he calmed down he continued with no problems. Train was the 7 th word
he still had to finish. An error on my instruction put “want” into the short a category when it should
have been labeled as an oddball. Dylan was humored by the oddball category.
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Reflection: What went well? What surprised you about the lesson? What changes can you make for
next time? Who needs what reinforcement?

I felt this was an appropriate level to start Dylan. What surprised me most about this activity is

his knowledge with word sorts in his classroom. Dylan stated that he was working with picture word

sorts, and I felt bad that I didn’t do a picture sort for the vowel a instead of the words. What also

surprised me is based on his previous spelling assessment how well he did with identifying some of the

words in this sort. He took his time to sound words out and after sounding them out said them like he

has known them his whole life. As this was a last-minute decision to work with him based on scheduling

conflicts, I was disappointed that I did not get a chance to submit my lesson plan for review before doing

this lesson. I think as you can see in the result from Dylan’s work that this lesson went well. The only

change I would make is doing pictures or perhaps an assortment between pictures and words.

One thing of note I wanted to mention is that during the lesson he got upset because he put

train in the wrong category. Even after consoling him that it was ok, he commented that he didn’t know

any of this stuff. It was alarming for me because I was concerned that I pushed him too hard or that this

was above his level of knowledge. My sister and I talked to him for a bit and told him it was ok to make

mistakes and that mistakes are how we learn. Five minutes later after he calmed down, he continued.

My approach to teaching this lesson was to talk to him about the long and short vowel sounds. I

went through all the words with him, and then he said the words. I didn’t give anything away because he

had to sound the words out when it was his turn. While putting the pieces in the categories I said the

word, and then said the short vowel sound, followed by the long vowel sound. Part of our discussion

was the easy element for the magic e. I think he was impressed with that.