How to Teach Red Words
There can be a lot of confusion around Red Words -
What on earth are Red Words anyway? Sight words? High-frequency words?
For us, Red Words are phonetically irregular words.
They are quite simply words that can't be sounded out. If you sound them out they come out all wrong. "Was," for example, is a Red Word. If we sounded this word out based on syllable type (extra points for you if you knew it would be a closed syllable) you would get /w/ /a/ /s/ which would rhyme with gas. Makes sense right? But instead, we get a lazy/schwa vowel in there and get a short /u/ sound. So we just have to memorize these words for both reading and spelling.
This can be really frustrating for our students because we spend a lot of time talking about the strategies for phonetically decoding but even though we can account for most reading and spelling patterns through the study of phonology and morphology, there are some words that just don't make sense!!! So we go through a quick and simple process (that takes no more than 3-5 minutes max) to practice these words.
Here’s how we teach Red Words in person -
When working with students on Red Words, we use the following process (you can also see it in action in the video below!)
We always start with our red grid and place it underneath our square box.
Have the student practice tracing the red word while saying the LETTER (not the sound).
After all of the letters have been traced we underline the entire word and say the word.
Have the student trace the bumpy word with his or her finger while saying the LETTER and word.
Have the student write the word on the next boxes while saying the LETTER, then underline and say the word.
Pick an activity, you can sky write, arm tap, or use glitter paper or another sensory tool to practice spelling the word (or mix it up and try all three).
Fold the paper and see if the student can remember how to spell it (sometimes we set this aside and do it after the word is less fresh).
Have the student use the word in a sentence and then edit their sentence!
Bonus points if you have students identify the letter/letters that make the word irregular (i.e. the ‘a’ in was).
How we teach Red Words Online
When we teach red words virtually, we follow the same process outlined above, with a few modifications.
We suggest using an interactive option if possible. It helps keep students engaged when they can move pieces around on their screens.
Students can type their word instead of spelling it, but you can also have them write it on paper or a whiteboard and hold it up to the camera to show you!
Whether in-person or virtual, students LOVE working through their Red Words when the activity is set up this way. For our FULL Red Words Bundle (both the print AND digital activities) check out our Best Seller at TeachersPayTeachers.
For hundreds of other science-of-reading aligned resources, head over to the 5CCL Activity Library, where you’ll find activities to support all 5 core components of literacy + writing!