Sweet Words of Wisdom is the area of the curriculum where your child will learn about words, spelling, and usage.  This includes "Making Words" and "Working With Words".  It is essential that students are able to understand phonemic patterns in our language so that they are able to read for meaning.  Students learn and use several strategies for decoding new words and determining meaning.  Each week, student words lists are created through the writing process and journal writing.  As words are spelled incorrectly, they are collected and practiced in various ways in the classroom.

Student word wall words include high frequency words that will be learned throughout the school year.  Please ask your child to bring his/her "Sweet Words of Wisdom" notebook home to share with you regularly.  Inside this notebook you will discover many word lists we have built, lessons from class, and activities including "Scrabble" letters that you can use at home for practice. 

Word Detective:  The understanding of new words also takes place through reading.  Students are asked to locate new words that they find difficult while they read.  They are taught how to quote the passage in which the word appears, make an educated "guestimate" at the possible meaning implied by the author, and then check his/her answer by using the dictionary or an on-line source.  Student dictionary use can be "hazardous" if they are unable to connect the passage meaning to the proper dictionary entry.  Using "in text" practice helps students not only to learn new words, but be able to use them as well.