Rainbow spelling: A kinesthetic approach to encoding

The following lesson requires the students to spell words containing learned phonemes using a visual and kinesthetic learning approach.

A lesson plan for grade 2 English Language Arts

By Wendy Parton

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Related topics

• Learn more about hands-on, kinesthetic learners, language arts, phonemic awareness, and spelling.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• demonstrate their encoding skills by spelling words using color coded paper.
• match correct letters with the colored paper to spell the words in standard form.
• self correct any errors made in the spelling with colored paper after spelling the traditional way.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

60 Minutes

Materials/resources

• Red, blue, green, yellow and orange pieces of 9″ x 11″construction paper.
• Teacher word list with a collection of words to dictate that follow the phonemes being studied(ex. short vowels, blends, digraphs, etc.).
• Individual letter cards to be used to pair with the colored pieces when checking spelling.
• A reference chart for the colors and the phonemes they represent (see attachment)

Pre-activities

• The students must have had ample instructional time acquiring the phonemes that will be practiced. They should have had time to learn the phoneme sounds, practiced them in words, sentences, and stories, and had lots of practice spelling with letters.
• The teacher must have pre-selected the words to be dictated to the students.
• Practice spelling words using a tactile approach with colored cubes that correspond with the construction paper codes should have occurred.

Activities

1. Clear a spot on the floor large enough for your group of students to have space and room for the construction paper pieces.
2. Have a class set of construction paper pieces laid out for easy access by the students.
3. The teacher will refer to the pre-determined list of words and dictate the word to be spelled with the color coded paper.
4. Either call on individual students or let the group collectively spell (using the coded paper pieces) a dictated word that only has phonemes in it that they have mastered.
5. Each student will tap out the sounds in the word using his/her fingers and decide what phonemes are heard.
6. The student will choose the colored sheets that he/she needs that match the phonemes heard and lay them out on the floor to spell the word.
7. The students will then name the letter(s) heard and place them on top of the colored paper.
8. The teacher will verify accuracy and help the students correct problems if they have occurred.

Assessment

Assessment will be based on the successful spelling of the words with the colored paper. The correct representation of a word with the color coded paper shows that the student has internalized the phoneme segmentation skills that are critical for success with spelling the learned phonemes.

Supplemental information

Books:

• Cunningham, Patricia and Richard Allington, (1999), Classrooms that Work, 2nd.ed, Longham Publishing Company, ISBN 0-321-01339-5
• Cunningham, Patricia and Dorothy Hall, (1994): Making Words, ISBN0-86653-806-2
  Making Big Words, (1994) ISBN 0866-538062
  Making More Words (1997) ISBN 1-56417-900-1
  Making More Big Words (1997)ISBN 1-56417-899-4 (all by Good Apple Publishers)
• Bolton, Faye and Diane Snowball, (1993), Ideas For Spelling, HeinemannPublishers (1-800-772-7165), ISBN 9-780435-088019

Comments

This activity was adapted from an idea taken from Wilson Reading System by Barbara A. Wilson. This idea was implemented to help those students who learn best with a kinestetic approach to learning. It is a floor game and allows the students to use their entire body to complete the task. The students must have had a lot of repetition with the phonemes prior to this lesson in order to be successful. This is the final step in mastery of the use of the learned phonemes.