Why Word Quest?

Who: Members of Team 106
What: Word Quest Vocabulary Builders
Where: Done at school and at home
When: Minimum of one word list a week
Why: Attempt to build vocabulary, knowledge of word patterns for spelling, and application into writing

I figured I would interview myself tonight.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with Word Quest?
A: Ideally I would love for students to be motivated to dig deeper into their reading and writing to identify word patterns, learn new words, and become better spellers.  I would like this to be a way for students to have a meaningful conversation with their families and work together to think about how we spell words and use vowel patterns.

Q: What are you looking for in the sentence part of the quest?
A: I am looking for students to write a complete sentence with proper punctuation and capitalization.  I am looking for them to enjoy writing their sentences and creating them.  I would like to see them challenge themselves with difficult words and not fear getting some wrong.  I want to see a variety of sentences and see their writing voice come out.  I am looking for them to use their current skill correctly and especially hold onto past skills.  I am going to be more lenient when I see them choose the wrong pattern for long e by using "ee" instead of "ea" than I will if they don't identify that as a long e sound.  I am also looking for them to attempt to use their dragon words in their sentences.

Q: What are dragon words?
A: It is a fun way to motivate students to learn either words I think they should know how to spell or words or patterns that they have had trouble spelling.  For some it will be fixing common sight words that they can read, but they misspell in their writing.  For others it will be working on a commonly misspelled word list a couple at a time to make sure they are solid in those words.  This is designed to challenge students at all levels.  I would like students practicing their dragon words, writing them on the back page, and even using them in their other pages in their packet.  I then want them to correctly use them in two sentences either on one quest or two.

Q: What is the minimum participation?
A: I will be basing their work in word study on the successful completion of six quests by the end of the marking period.  I made that decision with six weeks to go in the marking period.  We have some students with one completed quest and we have a couple with seven or eight completed quests.  I need to set a minimum level of participation, but I want them to also be motivated to go beyond if they choose.  I will probably set a maximum output of three quests or I would be overwhelmed.

Q: What can parents do to help?
A: This isn't as much about skill and drill spelling as it is about absorbing word patterns.  There is value to old fashioned practice of some words, but their is just as much value as bringing home some words you found during the day and showing your student how they are used at work or the store.  There is value in reading together and finding words that fit patterns.  There is value in using authentic writing assessment to test the development of the skill like writing a letter, a story, a poem, or a comic strip.

Q: Where do we go from here?
A: I am hoping after working through some basic spelling patterns that at least some students will go into Greek and Latin root words as a way to pick up some new vocabulary and skills to decode larger words based on those clues found in root words.

If you have any further questions, please send them to me and I may do question and answer as one of my normal things.  Have a great night!