The Fun of Word Sorts
I love word sorts. They’re easy and fun to do with kids. They improve reading skills and build confidence at any grade level. Here’s what you do:
Choose a list of words. They can be a list of 100 high frequency words (words that kids see and use a lot), words based upon a certain subject (click here for some math words) or random words that they find on their own. Write these words down on index cards. It’s important that the words are written correctly, so if you child is at an age where this is a struggle, you should write the words for them.
Now have your child sort them. How should they sort them? Here’s where the fun begins.
There are many ways to sort words. If your child is just learning to read, have them sort words by the first letter. For example, they can put all the words that start with, for example, “s”, in a row.
They can also sort by the first and second letter, or the last letters. More advanced readers can sort by word blends (sh, th, wh) and eventually, kids in upper grades can sort by meaning or parts of speech.
What does a word sort do? It gets kids to look at words carefully and think about them. And this encourages reading.
Most kids will be able to successfully complete a simple word sort. You can color code cards for different types of words, wrap them in rubber bands and have your kid do a word sort at the kitchen table while your cooking dinner. Word sorts are the precursor to scrabble games, anagrams and endless hours of fun.
December 1st, 2009
