During my practicum with 3rd graders from Glen Alpine Elementary I was able to give a spelling assessment.  Mr. Tanner directed my practicum partner (Lila) and myself to give the spelling assessment to the whole class.  This assessment was given on our 5th day of class.  Since, the class was 3rd grade, we gave them list 1, 2, and 3 of the Qualitative Inventory of Word Knowledge assessment.  Mr. Tanner allowed us to administer the test ourselves.  Lila and I chose to give the students their test at their desks.  We felt that it was important to give the test the way Mr. Tanner would normally.  The assessment was given during Spelling centers, which is right before lunch.

We told the students how important it was for them to do their very best but that it would not be counted as a grade.  I think this made them feel more comfortable.  Lila and I shared reading the words aloud by her reading the first half and I read the second half.  Each word was said aloud, then in a sentence, then repeated once more. 

I decided on two of the children to evaluate more closely.  While looking over the assessments; I noticed several different things.  Some of the mistakes made by the two were the same.  I also noticed that both would use word rules when it wasn't necessary and sometimes not use the word rules when it was necessary. 

Sandy had the highest grade out of the two children.  On list 1, Sandy missed none so, she scored an independent level.  On list 2, she missed 3 of them, so she scored an instructional level.  On list 3, she also scored an instructional level by missing 3 once again.  I noticed that on list 2 that Sandy missed the words queen, shopping, and trapped.  Sandy also missed stepping, chasing, and batter on list 3. 

I feel that Sandy is forgetting to apply spelling rules in the words trapped, shopping, stepping, batter, and chasing.  In the words trapped, shopping, stepping, and batter; Sandy forgot to double the consonants.  I think that word sorts would really help her remember to double the consonant in certain words.  It would probably benefit the whole class to have an activity on when to double the consonants after adding an ending to a word.  I would explain that when there's a single consonant at the end of a word, you usually have to double it before adding the ending.  The students should be reminded that there are usually two consonants before adding the ing or ed endings to a word. 

Here is a list of words that can be used within the word sort:

Words ending with ing- grabbing, bobbing, running, tipping, skipping, swimming, flipping, ripping, topping, stopping.

Words ending with ed-  propped, dropped, shopped, stopped, whipped, grinned, snapped, planned, scanned.

I would also make word cards for those having trouble in this area.  The students could play the game together with a partner.  One partner could hold up a card with the single word on it and the other could guess whether to double the consonants before adding the ending ed or ing.  Each card could be labeled with the correct answer on the back.  Word pyramids would also be a great way of helping the students become familiar with applying this word rule.

Sandy also missed the word queen.  She spelled the word "qween".  I feel that Sandy is spelling the word phonetically correct.  She probably only needs a review on words that are spelled differently than how they are pronounced.  Words that could be used for this activity would be: threw, rough, queen, shoe, thought, enough, etc.  I could also have these words on a word wall in the room with a picture located beside of the word.  There are a lot of words that could apply to this. I could a put different words up weekly and have a review of them at the end of each week. 

For the last word that Sandy missed, I feel that she would benefit by a word review on when to drop the e before adding ing to the word.  The word she missed was chasing.  She wrote the word as "chaseing".  It would probably be a good idea to just have another whole class review.  I feel that all students can benefit from spelling rule reviews.  A fun way to do this would be by printing out these words on a sheet of paper and letting the children cut out their own cards for the word sort.  The student(s) would also benefit from having a word wall with the below words listed on it.  A word wall is a great way to help children remember spelling rules.  Extra attention in these areas would be very beneficial to Sandy.  I could also send home the word sort cards for her parents to help her out with at home.  I could even make up a song to go with the rhyme drop the e before adding ing.  Songs can be very beneficial in teaching concepts such as this.

Words to use for the word sort- removing, sharing, adoring, making, smiling, shaping, arranging, living, using, etc.

For Ben, my second student, he is considered independent on the first list because he didn't miss any of the words.  On list 2, Ben missed 5 and on list 3, he missed 6.  So, on these two lists, he is considered instructional.  On the second list, Ben missed thick, trapped, queen, shopping, and stuff.  On the third list, he missed the words scream, stepping, caught, and thirsty. Ben would also benefit from the word sort on becoming more familiar with doubling consonants before adding the ending ing and ed. (shopping, trapped, batter and stepping)  Another idea would be for Ben to practice these words at home by writing the consonants in blue and the vowels in red.  This would help Ben greatly in distinguishing between the consonants and vowels in the word.   

For the words queen and thick; Ben spelled them "qween and thik".  He also spelled the words thirsty "therstey", scream "screem", and caught "calt".  He is phonetically spelling them correct.  He would benefit from a word wall with these words listed on it and words like threw, rough, queen, shoe, thought, caught, taught, and enough.  Ben just needs to become more familiarized with these words and more practice using them.  It would also help him to have a card game that has the picture with the matching word.  Two could play the game.  One student could hold up the picture and the other student could find the correct card to go with it. For the word caught, Ben would probably would benefit greatly with the use of a word sort.  I could use words like caught, thought, taught, sought, although, dough, and sought. 

After speaking with Mr. Tanner and showing him the spelling assessments of these students; I feel that the assessment did coincide with the reading levels of the students.  Ben is a 3rd grade 1st month reader and Sandy is a 3rd grade 7th month reader.  They both scored instructional.  Although, Sandy's assessment was higher than Ben's it did show a difference between their levels. This is an effective tool to use in assessing my future students.