Words in tales

Words in tales

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about words that sound the same, but have different spelling and meanings.

Nikki has written some sentences about the stories she has been reading. She has made some spelling mistakes. Read each sentence and draw a circle around all the mistakes Nikki has made. Fix her mistakes by writing the correct word in the space at the start of each line. If you cannot find a mistake, put a tick (tick mark) in the space. The first two lines have been done for you.

Fairytale images
a) some Red Riding Hood stopped and picked sum flowers.
b) tick mark The old lady threw her last fingernail at Maui.
c) ____________ Snow White eight the red apple.
d) ____________ The man called the birds of the ear together.
e) ____________ The prince asked Sleeping Beauty if she wood marry him.
f) ____________ The other ducks maid fun of the ugly duckling.
g) ____________ The eel and the flounder once lived in the see together.
h) ____________ The wolf blue down the houses of the first two pigs.
i) ____________ The which tried to fatten up Hansel and Gretel.
j) ____________ The emperor really could not see his new clothes.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper.
Level:
2
Curriculum info: 
Description of task: 
Students identify spelling errors in common homophones and write the identified errors correctly. Students also identify lines of text without errors.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies
  • apply their knowledge of word families

as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.

Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 

Scoring:

 

Y4 (06/2002)

Given

a)

some

Red Riding Hood stopped and picked sum flowers.

  

Given

b)

The old lady threw her last fingernail at Maui.

  

1 mark
(for correct recognition)
1 mark
(for corrected error)

c)

ate

Snow White eight the red apple.

easy

moderate

1 mark
(for correct recognition)
1 mark
(for corrected error)

d)

air

The man called the birds of the ear together.

moderate

difficult

1 mark
(for correct recognition)
1 mark
(for corrected error)

e)

would

The prince asked Sleeping Beauty if she wood marry him.

easy

moderate

1 mark
(for correct recognition)
1 mark
(for corrected error)

f)

made

The other ducks maid fun of the ugly duckling.

easy

easy

1 mark
(for correct recognition)
1 mark
(for corrected error)

g)

sea

The eel and the flounder once lived in the see together.

moderate

moderate

1 mark
(for correct recognition)
1 mark
(for corrected error)

h)

blew

The wolf blue down the houses of the first two pigs.

easy

difficult

1 mark
(for correct recognition)
1 mark
(for corrected error)

i)

witch

The which tried to fatten up Hansel and Gretel.

difficult

difficult

1 mark
(for correct recognition)

j)

The emperor really could not see his new clothes.

very easy

Recognition (8 marks)
Student recognises correct lines and spelling errors.

  • 1 mark is given to each error-free line identified as correct.
  • 1 mark is given to each error correctly identified.

Production (7 marks)
1 mark is given for each error that has been corrected accurately.

Diagnostic and formative information: 

Common errors

In all cases a greater percentage of students recognised the incorrect homophones in the text than could produce the correct spelling of the words. For example:

  • 45% of students recognised "ear" as the incorrect word, but only 30% produced the correct homophone "air".
  • 60% of students recognised "blue" as the incorrect word, but only 35% produced the correct homophone "blew".
  • 71% of students recognised "eight" as the incorrect word, but only 46% produced the correct homophone "ate".
  • 58% of students recognised "see" as the incorrect word, but only 53% produced the correct homophone "sea".
  • 31% of students recognised "which" as the incorrect word, but only 22% produced the correct homophone "witch".