sound in a printed word but not the subsequent vowel(s) and consonant(s) (McCandliss, and others
2003). Word building helps move children from partial alphabetic decoding to full alphabetic decoding
(Ehri 2005), which research indicates “plays a central role in the development of effective and efficient
word recognition skills” (McCandliss, and others 2003, 102). Supporting full alphabetic decoding is
crucial in the primary grades; that is, developing readers are taught to attend to all the letters and
letter patterns as they decode previously unencountered words. The words and spellings addressed
in word-building activities progress systematically, but they may vary depending upon each child’s
knowledge and the grade-level standards. Thus, the activity is most appropriately used with individuals
or small groups of children who have the similar skills.
Word building entails the use of selected letter cards or other
manipulatives (e.g., plastic letters or letter tiles), from a small
pool of letter, to build a word. The children are told the word to
form with the letters. After the word is built accurately, the word
is read aloud. Then, the teacher directs the children to insert,
delete, or replace one letter in the word with a specified letter
from the set of cards (e.g., “Replace the letter p at the end of
the word you built with the letter t.”).The children read aloud
the new word. If the word is not read accurately, the teacher
encourages additional attempts and provides scaffolding to
ensure accuracy. The process of changing the word and reading
the resulting new word continues. Letters in different positions
are changed; in other words, sometimes the first letter is changed, sometimes a medial letter is
changed, and sometimes a final letter is changed. In addition, the same letter is used in different
positions in the word building progression; for example, p may be used in the initial position of one
word and in the final position of another in the progression.
McCandliss, and others (2003, 84) share the following example of a progression of word
transformations:
s a t
s a p
t a p
t o p
s t o p
t o p
The sequence continues as follows: tot → pot → pat → sat → spat → pats → past → pat →
pot → top → stop.
Supporting full alphabetic
decoding is crucial in the
primary grades; that is,
developing readers are
taught to attend to all the
letters and letter patterns
as they decode previously
unencountered words.250 | Chapter 3 Grade 1