English Language Development

by the teacher or other adult. (See the detailed description of word building and an example provided
in the grade-one section of chapter 3 of this ELA/ELD Framework.) What follows is an example of a
variation of a word building progression appropriate for grade two.

The teacher clearly pronounces a target word (in
this case, found) and the students select letters from a
manageable size group of letters to build the word. The
teacher provides guidance as needed for success. After
ensuring accuracy and encouraging the students to read
the word aloud, the teacher announces a second word
and students add, remove, or change one or two letters
in their first word to form the second word, and so on.
Prompts may be given, such as “Listen closely for the
final sound; watch my mouth as I say the word,” “You will
be using the new vowel team we learned for this word,”
and “The spelling of the vowel sound we heard in the last
word will be different in this next word due to the change
in the neighboring letter—same vowel sound, different
spelling.” The type, amount, and complexity of the
changes in a progression will vary based on participants’
skills.

f o u n d

p o u n d

s o u n d

s o u t h

m o u t h

m o u n d

r o u n d

g r o u n d

g r o w l

p r o w l

As noted in chapter 3, it is not uncommon for children who experience difficulty with decoding

to demonstrate only partial alphabetic decoding; often they accurately decode the initial sound in a

printed word but not the subsequent vowel(s) and consonant(s) (McCandliss, and others 2003). Word

One technique for teaching

students to decode words is to

engage them in building words

using the letter-sound and

spelling-sound correspondences

they have learned. Students

manipulate ceramic or magnetic

letter tiles or move letters on

an interactive white board to

construct words as directed by the

teacher or other adult.

328 | Chapter 4 Grade 2