Helping to Make Nonsense Words "Real"

Nonsense words...for a long time I just asked why?  Why do words like wez, tix, pum, or sek need to be a part of my life?  Why do I have to complete assessments to determine if students can read these words?  Why do these fake words frustrate me!?

But as I gained more teaching experience, worked with more and more struggling readers, observed others, had many professional conversations, my outlook changed.  I realized that when using nonsense word assessments, I can analyze how that particular student is decoding.  I started to see that these nonsense words are inside larger words and if they can read these nonsense words, it is going to help them read the multi syllabic words.

I have to admit, this was an important step in my teaching.  FINALLY! There is a purpose!   I understood how these nonsense words related to my teaching.  But that led to another question....how can I make these nonsense words more meaningful to my students?  After some brainstorming sessions, my teaching-mate and I came up with some ways!



Analyzing  how a particular student is decoding during a nonsense word progress monitoring helps me to determine how I need to change my interventions.
Here are some examples:

  • student can say all three sounds but can not blend them together
  • student can say all three sounds but the first sound is left out when blended together
  • student can say the three sounds but when blending, vowel sound is incorrect
  • student consistently says certain sounds incorrectly
  • student can successfully blend all three sounds but it is very slow
  • student can successfully say the nonsense words quickly and accurately

Once the assessment is complete, the student and I have a quick conversation about what we can work on.  Here are some things that have come from those conversations:

  • For one student this year, we noticed that he was getting confused on the letters b and d.  He was using a resource on the wall but needed a quicker reference.  So we put a post-it in front of him at the guided reading table with the letters "Bb   Dd" on it.  After a few weeks, the student no longer needed this resource.
  • Another student could say the three sounds but could not accurately put those together.  So we discussed this and came up with some strategies to help her.  I noticed her using these strategies when she was reading words in isolation and in text.  YES!


It is really important for our students to realize that nonsense words are found in multi syllabic or "bigger" words.  My teaching partner made these cards to help show our students the nonsense words inside the "bigger" word. (I posted more about it HERE)

http://curiousfirsties.blogspot.com/2014/02/wednesday-wow-nonsense-words.html

I also created some sheets to help them look for the nonsense words or "smaller" parts.  They will get the highlighted sheet first so that the nonsense words stand out to their little eyes quickly.  Then I can take this intervention away so they can see those parts on their own.

I also realized that my students needed to understand that these nonsense words or "smaller" parts can belong in more than just one word.  Some of them would read the first part of the word and shout out what they thought it was, such as "comic" even though it was the word "comet."  They were not looking through the whole word.




Because of this I made up more cards (like the ones above) that had several of the same nonsense words embedded in them.  This forced them to look through the whole word. Here are some examples of those words:
Establishing purpose for the lessons, games, and assessments that we do in the classroom has a strong impact on our students.  It helps them to take more ownership over their own learning.  Thankfully, I discovered the purpose in nonsense words and could make my lessons and assessments more meaningful for my students.

If you would like to use these nonsense word sheets, please click on the image below.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3eyEJCd5J5kaXJoZUlCOFJkMG8/edit








20 comments

  1. You are speaking to me................I have found a number of kiddos with whom I work who can say each of the sounds in the NW well, but, not only can they not blend them into a whole NW, they are not transferring their knowledge of these sounds to use as a strategy in decoding 'regular' words in text. I have, as of yet, not been able to think of a clue/stategy/technique/lesson (you get the picture), to help them with this problem. I noticed you said in your post you had a little girl with the same issue and that you discussed this issue with her and came up with some strategies that she then used successfully. Would you mind sharing those strategies?

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    1. Hi Deb! I have had many students with this problem throughout my Title I years. Some have been more successful than others with strategies I give them. The one kid I was speaking of, I working with her on not breaking up the three sounds. We would just slowly blend them together. I did this with her through phonemic awareness exercises. But I also did the nonsense word sheets for one minute with her. Almost like we were chorally reading it together. I was trying to model how to blend those sounds over and over again until she could do some independently. Then I was seeing her try to do it in her books.

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    2. ......so, if I am understanding this correctly, blending from the start without segmenting into individual phonemes..................as her difficulty was blending after segmentation............so, perhaps, stretching out the sounds (since you said, slowly) as in................ttttttteeeeeeemmmmmm. did you say it as a 'complete' word (tem) after the blending? I have often thought of chorally reading the NWF sheets, but (I know, sorry to admit this) I was fearful of engaging in that activity as I thought an administrator, if popping in for a walkthrough, would think this a less- than-academically-rigorous task, or a time waster, or superfluous, etc. etc. But, now I feel empowered to give it a go...........and point to my lesson plan objective and/or standard if questioned.

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    3. Yes, they do say the "complete" word after blending. And they know the goal is to read the word without blending. At the beginning of first grade, we do chorally read some nonsense words but then we move on to them reading a sheet for just one minute. I listen to them and make decisions from there. My principal has observed me and seen me do these sheets. My students can explain exactly why they need to read nonsense words and how it connects to "bigger" words. As long as my purpose is established, I think my principal is happy.

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  2. Thank you for sharing the nonsense word sheets. Just what I need right now.

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    1. Thanks so much for reading Rosemary!! It is exactly what we are working on in our small groups!

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  3. Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea! I am a K-6 reading specialist and this will come in handy. I especially like your "realization" that nonsense words really do have a purpose. I have been trying to help some of our teachers understand this. I will be using some of what you said and shared to further explain it.

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    1. It was a really important realization for me. I hope that this can help others! Thanks so much for reading.

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  4. I love this, and we just assigned a third grader to Tier 3 tutoring. His struggle is with word study. I know this will be part of the sessions to come!

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    1. I am so glad Carla!! I will pass along more sheets that I make for this skill.

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  5. Love those! I totally didn't get the connection between nonsense words and reading multisyllabic words until now. Great post!

    What I Have Learned

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    1. Thanks so much for reading! I hope that these sheets can help :)

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  6. This is so very helpful, I have several second graders still struggling with this. I think this will help tremendously. Thanks so much!

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    1. I am so glad that this can help your students! I was using some of these sheets today and it was really exciting to hear them reading the syllables and not "freezing" on the bigger word. I would love to hear how it goes!

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  7. Loved this post, Em! Ready to print off the example sheets and use them next week! Thanks so much! :)

    Kate
    EduKate and Inspire

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  8. Em , I was just like you, I kept wondering what in the world was the purpose for having the kids read nonsense words. I really hated having my kinders practice them at home because I wanted them to learn real words instead of nonsense words, so I would give them a Sounding Out practice with real words. Then I read an article about nonsense words and had a better understanding of why we were testing the kids on them. Our district doesn't use DIBELs anymore, but after reading your post, I think I am going to dig out my old DIBELs materials and start checking my firsties on Nonsense words from time to time. I LOVE all of your activities. Thanks for sharing, you're the best!
    Kelly
    I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher

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  9. Thank you! I am finding several of my first graders need this so much right now! Andrea pointed me in your direction!

    Blessings,
    Sarah
    smbhankinson@gmail.com
    Learning is for Superstars
    follow on Facebook

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    1. Thanks so much for reading Sarah! I posted a product on my TPT store that is free that has more sheets like the ones above. I hope it helps!!
      Em

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  10. Your post does three things exceptionally well: 1) explains how using nonsense words shows the educator exactly what the child knows about decoding, 2) explains how an understanding of nonsense words allows children to see "chunks" or syllables within multi-syllabic words and 3) provides a easy-to-use classroom tool (the nonsense word sheets). Children with poor decoding skills benefit greatly from working with nonsense words because they cannot rely on sight word knowledge to read. They must use and improve their decoding skills. I also find that children are much less likely to guess with nonsense words because they are certainly not going to be words that they know.

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    1. Wow! Thanks so much for the detailed comment, Kate. It really helped me to feel that what I am doing is helping my students! I appreciate that! I hope you find success with this also!

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