Why teaching word patterns is important

It is important to teach word patterns because it gives the students the opportunity to understand how words are constructed. They will learn, for example, the difference between a hard "c" an a soft "c" and that a hard c is usually followed by a consonant and the vowels a, o, and u whereas the soft "c" is usually followed by the vowel "I", "e" and "y" (Leipzig, 2000). By studying word patterns the students will begin to identify and build word knowledge that can be applied to reading as well as spelling.

How I will teach word patterns in the classroom

I will determine which words students already know and divide the class by their knowledge. I will then work with groups of students on sets of words that have a particular spelling pattern.

How I...