Editing Word Families

Overview

In this lesson (Lesson 15 of 15) you will help students strengthen procedure writing by editing for accurate spelling in word families and correct writing of letters. Students will explicitly learn about common grammatical morphemes (for example, play → plays/playing/played) and use this knowledge to revise their own writing.

Learning intentions

• WALT recognise grammatical morphemes that create word families.
• WALT use morphemes to read and spell words correctly in our writing.
• WALT edit our procedure writing by checking for correct word spellings we have practised.
• WALT write words using unjoined lower-case and upper-case letters neatly.

Success criteria

• I can notice a word family (base word and its changed forms).
• I can read and spell a small set of word-family words (e.g. play, played, playing, plays).
• I can use capitals and lower-case correctly in my writing.
• I can revise my procedure to fix spelling mistakes I can identify.

Curriculum links

• Literacy — recognise and know how to use grammatical morphemes to create word families.
• Literacy — write words using unjoined lower-case and upper-case letters.
• Literacy — use short vowels, common long vowels, consonant blends and digraphs to write and blend one- and two-syllable words.
• Language — explore how repetition, rhyme and rhythm create cohesion in simple poems, chants and songs (used to support consistent procedure wording through a repeated chant).

Lesson structure (30 minutes)

1. 0–4 min · Warm-up chant (repetition). Teacher leads a quick “Procedure Chant” with repeated frames (e.g. “First…, Next…, Then…, Finally…”), and models smooth oral rhythm. Students join in chorally, using fingers to track each repeated step word.

2. 4–10 min · Explicit mini-lesson: word families (morphemes). Teacher displays a word-family chart and explicitly shows base word + morpheme change (example set: play → plays, playing, played), pointing out how only the ending changes. Students repeat and sort the example cards into “base” and “changed” groups using a quick show-of-hands check.

3. 10–14 min · Read-to-edit model (teacher think-aloud). Teacher chooses one sentence from a model procedure and “edits in the air”: underline a target word-family word, read it, then point to the correct morpheme ending, and rewrite the fixed word neatly. Students practise with a partner by reading two word-family options and choosing the correct one for a sentence frame.

4. 14–22 min · Hands-on editing rotation (3 short tasks). Teacher groups the class into three rotating tables; each group spends ~2–3 minutes per task, then rotates.

• Task A (Editing spotlight): Students find one target word in their own procedure (teacher-selected focus words) and correct the ending using the word-family cards as reference.
• Task B (Letter-form check): Students trace one corrected word on wipe-clean cards, then copy it in their book with unjoined lower-case/upper-case.
• Task C (Sound-to-spell support): Students blend and write one missing or corrected word (one- or two-syllable) using a teacher-provided word list with practiced vowel/consonant patterns. Teacher circulates, giving immediate feedback on accuracy and neatness.

5. 22–27 min · Quick peer feedback (success criteria checklist). Teacher gives each student a simple checklist with tick boxes for: (1) correct capital/lower-case, (2) edited word-family spelling, (3) procedure step words present. Students swap books with a buddy and provide one “I can see…” comment and one “Try…” suggestion.

6. 27–30 min · Exit ticket (rapid assessment). Students complete a short “Fix the words” sheet: choose the correct word-family form for two sentence starters and write one word neatly. Teacher collects to inform the next lesson or intervention.

Resources

• Word-family card set (example: play/plays/playing/played plus teacher’s procedure-related verbs)
• Procedure chant chart with repeated step frames (First/Next/Then/Finally)
• Student procedure drafts (from previous lessons)
• Wipe-clean boards/cards and markers
• Letter practice sheet for unjoined lower-case and upper-case
• Target word list for blending (including short vowels and common long vowels; consonant blends/digraphs you’ve taught)
• Simple peer checklist (3 tick boxes)
• “Fix the words” exit ticket sheets

Assessment

• Teacher observation during editing rotation: correct morpheme choice and neat, unjoined letter writing.
• Peer checklist check: evidence of one edit made and one capital/lower-case correction.
• Exit ticket: selecting correct word-family forms and correctly writing one targeted word.

Differentiation

• Support:
• Provide a word-family “sound and spelling” strip for students who need visual cues to choose the right ending.
• Offer sentence starters with blanks and a word bank (base and changed forms).
• Use guided tracing first, then copying, for letter formation.
• Extension (advanced learners):
• Add a new word family for the student to apply (teacher provides another base word and its endings).
• Ask students to edit two different word-family words in their draft and explain the change aloud using “Base word + ending”.
• EAL/SEN considerations:
• Pre-teach or review key procedure step words and target verbs orally before writing.
• Allow oral rehearsal of the sentence before choosing which word-family form to write.

Dyslexia-friendly reading options

• Use larger font word cards and high-contrast backgrounds for word-family and word list materials.
• Offer audio read-aloud of the model sentence and sentence frames (teacher voice) before students edit.
• Provide tracking support: students follow along with a finger or pointer during teacher reading and when locating target words in their drafts.