371: Phonics Based Reading & Decoding week 1 Dq 1

Clay Observation Survey Writing Vocabulary The child is allowed ten minutes to complete this task. Give the child a blank piece of paper and a pencil.

Say : I want to see how many words you can write. Can you write your name?\ (Start the ten minute timing here).

If the child says “Yes” If the child says “No” Say: Write your name for me. When the child finishes say: Good. Now think of all the words you know how to write and write them all down for me. Give the child up to 10 minutes to write the words he/she knows. When he/she stops writing, or need prompting, suggest words that she/she might know how to write.

Do you know how to write is (pause), to (pause), I (pause)? and then suggest other words that he/she may know how to write (see below). Ask him if he knows any single-letter or two letter words. Say: Do you know how to write i s (pause), to (pause), I (pause)? and then suggest other words that he/she may know how to write (see below). Prompts: Go through a list of words that th e child might have met in reading books or might be able to work out how to write: the child’s name, I, a, is, \ in, am, to, come, like, see, the, my, we, and, at, here, on, up, look, go, this, it, me.

Continue for 10 minutes or until the child’s wr iting vocabulary is exhausted. Prompt the child as much as you like with words he migh t be able to write. Be careful not to interfere with his thinking and his searching of his own repertoire. Very able children need little prompting but sometimes it is n ecessary to suggest a category of words. The following questions suggest some examples:

Do you know how to write any children’s names?

Do you know how to write things you do? Do you know how to write about things in your house? Do you know how to write the names of things you ride in (or on)? Do you know how to write about things you eat? It is not a requirement that the child be able to read the words he has \ written. Scoring Correct Spelling Each completed word scores one point if it is correctly spelled, • but not if the child accidentally writes a word that is correct but tell\ s you that it is another word. For example, he writes “am” and says without prompting that it is “on.” • and not when the observer realizes that he does not know what word he has written.

Reversed Letters Reversed letters are not correct if they coul d represent a different letter. If the letter used never makes the sound(s) being recorde d, the substitutions used count as errors, as in dig/big or bog/dog.

Words Written Right to Left These are scored as correct only is the child ac tually write the letters from right to left. Individual letters may or may not be reve rsed which means that words scored as correct may have a mixture of revers ed and correctly oriented letters.

Series of Words Each word is counted in a derived series like “ look, looks, looking ” or in a rhyming set or spelling pattern group like “ sat, fat, mat, hat ”.

Capital letters Capital letters are acceptable substitutions for lower case letters and vice versa.

Writing Vocabulary Score Sheet Name:____________________________ Date :_________________ Test Score ( Fold heading under before child uses sheet) ---------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------