Identifier	Thesis 1611
Author	Maragliano, Leslie
Title	Cast-a-spell--the "write" program for second graders in a looping class / Leslie Maragliano
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date of Publication	2000
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Abstract	The purpose of this research project was to examine the effectiveness of the relationship between spelling and writing. As I looped with my first grade class into second grade I wondered how the spelling program, Cast-a-Spell, would impact the students writing skills. From this query came my guiding question, How does Cast-a-Spell enrich a writing program for second grade students in the second year of a looping class? I chose to research this topic due to the fact that as a second grade teacher I was responsible to see that the students receive practice in writing in order to perform successfully on the Connecticut Mastery Test. My school is located in a rural town in the Connecticut River valley. The town has approximately 9,000 residents of which 92% are white. There are four schools in town; mine consists of 400 students Pre-Kindergarten through second grade. This study was done on my class of twenty students, 10 girls and 10 boys. The evaluation design for my first subquestion consisted of collecting timed writing samples from the students each week. I chose samples from five months, created a rubric and tallied the number of phrases, the number of descriptive phrases and the number of correctly spelled Cast-a-Spell words. For my second subquestion I used two pre-tests, one of the 100 most frequently used words and the other of a sample of 32 words chosen from the list of the most commonly misspelled (demon) words. I administered posttests at the end of the study. For the third subquestion, I collected samples of narrative writing from all the students but chose eight students to report on. These were students chosen by their language arts ability in the high range, the mid-high range, the middle range and the low range. I constructed a rubric to collect information on their use of rich language. I used many interventions throughout this study. The length of the interventions was from September to March. Typically eight to twenty students were involved. The main intervention was the Cast-a-Spell program, this was taught daily. The other interventions were a writing workshop approach used three times a week, the everyday reading of good literature to the students, and various lessons regarding good writing skills. I found the Cast-a-Spell program did increase the student's ability to spell correctly in their daily writing assignments. However I found no consistent data to support the premise that Cast-a-Spell would either enhance students' abilities to use more descriptive phrases in writing or enhance students' abilities to use rich language in narrative writing. In conclusion, I believe that even though Cast-a-Spell is a strong strategy-based spelling program it is an independent activity from learning how to write. I do believe it instills a positive attitude in the students to think about their abilities and creates spelling risk-takers. My second graders did show growth in both their spelling and writing abilities, the growth in writing was not always consistent as the growth shown in spelling. The interventions and strategies I used didn't prove to be ineffective but showed me that I need to begin them earlier next year. I would recommend to teachers to use the Cast-a-Spell program, it's a program that encourages students to become "the best spellers in the whole United States of America!" And the students love the success it brings. I would also recommend the use of a writing workshop approach; this creates a classroom environment that fosters independent writers who enjoy writing.
Subject	Spelling games English language -- Orthography and spelling -- Study and teaching (Elementary) English language -- Study and teaching (Elementary) Language arts (Elementary)
Department	Department of Teacher Education
Advisor	Ferrara, Margaret
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	45302538
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Cast-a-spell--the "write" program for second graders in a looping class / Leslie Maragliano

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