Concept of Word

Concept of word includes:  word length, word borders and letters and words

Concept of word refers to the ability of a reader to match spoken words to written words while reading. Students with a concept of word understand that each word is separate, and that words are separated by a space within each sentence. Using strategies to build concept of word in the classroom and at home can also strengthen a child's developing awareness of the individual sounds within words.

Why teach concept of word?

Research suggests that only when a student can point to individual words accurately within a line of text will they be able to learn new words while reading. Incorporating concept of word instruction into daily literacy practice will not only strengthen students’ speech-to-print match, it will also develop students’ alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, and knowledge of words in print.

What is word length?

Word length is how long or short a word is.  Before a child can master this skill, she must first understand what short and long are.  Compare the lengths of different objects using the words, shorter, longer, shortest, and longest.  Once your child understands shortest and longest you can begin to point out words that are shortest or longest. 

1.  Students should be able to identify the longest word when given three choices.

2.  Students should be able to identify the shortest word when given three choices.

What are word borders?

Word border is knowing where a word begins and ends.  An easy way to teach this is to point out the words in books that you are reading to your child.  Point to each word on the page and talk about the  letters that are in each word.  Also, point out that each new sentence begins with an uppercase letter and ends with a punctuation mark.  Then count the number of words in each sentence.

1.  Students should be able to count the number of words in a sentence. 

2.  Students should also realize that the sentence starts with an uppercase letter and ends with a punctuation mark.

What are letter & words?

  To a small child, distinguishing letters, words, and numbers can be a difficult skill.  Children must learn that letters go together to make words.  They also need to understand that words have meaning.  For example, they need to realize that  c - a - t, when put together, mean an animal that meows.  They need to understand that numbers are used to show quantity.

1.  Students should be able to differentiate words from letters. 

2. Students should be able to differentiate words from numbers.