Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom

This book is a great resource for teachers of students in elementary school or for those struggling in upper grades. It offers ideas about classroom set-up, classwork, scheduling, and has lots of resources in the back of the book. I really enjoy using this as a resource to help me teach language and reading.

One of the best references on word study; making it relevant, easy to implement and a fun way to learn words, their characteristics and patterns. My Third Grade class looks forward to the variety of activities and their use of the high frequency words and the word wall has increased.

Words are part of our language and students must be given the opportunity to play and experiment with words in different contexts. This book is a great resource for the primary grades. It provides useful word study activities that can be implemented in the classroom such as, making new words, word sorts, word ladders, and webs. The text offers an array of appendixes that teachers can use in their classroom. The ends of the chapters are dedicated with professional development ideas to help teachers grow as learners.

This book is a must-have resource for teachers in the primary grades. It is clearly written and full of useful ideas. The importance of learning about words is clear, but it can be boring. This book presents the concept of "word study" and describes children as "word solvers" in a most appealing way, and takes the drudgery out of phonics instruction. The lists in the back (e.g., phonograms) are very handy for a busy reading teacher. I teach college students--both preservice and practicing teachers--and I require this book every year. Students tell me that it is one of the few textbooks that they intend to keep and use regularly.

Clear, to-the-point, and full of great ideas to help those who work with elementary children learning to read. The feature I like best is the built in professional development suggestions to use the book within a building, a grade or a district as an inservice tool. Don't miss this one!