Week 4:3

1. Explain the three levels of words and how you can use word levels to decide which words to teach.The three levels of words are familiar, second level and technical words. Familiar words are words that are used in everyday life that aren't needed to identify in the lesson because they are common words that everyone knows, i.e. bed. Second level words are words that we hear on the news or see in books that would need a lesson to explain, i.e. reassuring and highway. Finally technical words are typically words that used in a specific subjects such as chemistry and history.

2. How do you teach your students to "chunk" words as a strategy for decoding unfamiliar words? When do you provide this instruction?

       Chunk words enforce students to pronounce words in groups, for example, students will pronounce words by dissecting each part of the word. For example, if a student sound out im-por-tant, they are chunking it instead of going by each letter to sound it out which is common amongst second graders and lower.

3. Based on Professor Allington's comments and the classroom examples, what are some ways you might foster word study in your classroom?

      One feature would be to include books that student may have some correlation to their experience or what they may be familiar with. Fostering word study would be easier if students have access to books that they may have based on their reading level. According to Professor Allington, 25 copies of one book isn't more expensive than 25 copies of different books. In addition, Professor Allington also suggests that we allow students to read a complete sentence before we correct their reading and allowing them to read fluently.