Week 5

Spelling Inventory- Assessments that ask students to spell a series of increasingly difficult words used to determine what features students know or use but confuse, as well as a specific developmental stage of spelling. (Words Their Way, 6th Ed.)

Teachers use spelling inventories to determine students spelling abilities based on specific spelling features.  This allows them to place students in a specific stage and better teach to the students' abilities.








Static Reversal- A handwriting error that is the mirror image of the intended letter. (Words Their Way, 6th Ed.)

Examples of Static reversal are b for d and p for q.













Kinetic Reversal- An error of letter order (Words Their Way, 6th Ed.)

Examples of Kinetic reversal are: PTE for PET, or CRA for CAR










Feature Guide-  A tool used to classify students' errors within a hierarchy of orthographic features. Used to score spelling inventories to assess students' knowledge of specific spelling features at their particular stage of spelling development, and to plan word study instruction to meet individual needs.(Words Their Way, 6th Ed.)

The feature guide is useful to teachers because it shows specific errors students make in their spelling. For example, are they using but confusing particular vowel sounds, such as ay and ai? Or are they missing endings such as -ed, -es, or -ies?