When I read the word wall section in the overview of Four Blocks one area I was interested in was the idea of adding five words to the word wall each week. I don’t know if Four Blocks started this idea, but I’ve heard it a lot, especially when I was teaching first grade. One school I worked at used “buddy study” as the method for spelling instruction during the second half of first grade. As I learned about it there was a lot about buddy study I really liked, but one of the things I found interesting was that, like Four Blocks, students focused on five words a week. Unlike Four Blocks, though, buddy study allowed each child to focus on five words at their level while in Four Blocks all students work on the same five words a week. I also wondered if in Four Blocks the five word wall words were considered the spelling words for the week (like in buddy study) or if these were separate from the spelling principle or word list.
In the Four Blocks overview I liked how the teacher reviewed ideas like why the words are placed by their first letter or why they are on different colors. I loved the gold star idea and can’t wait to try that out to support spelling patterns connection. How the gold star idea words is that when a word is placed on the word wall (for example: make), that has many words that rhyme with it and a consistent spelling pattern (bake, cake, fake, rake, sake, take, etc.) a gold star is placed on the word. This can help students if they are trying to spell an unfamiliar word but find a word that rhymes with in on the word wall. In most classrooms, ‘cake’ is not going to be a word wall word, but if a child can find ‘make’ or ‘take’ they can use that knowledge to help them spell ‘cake.’
Another idea I liked from the overview was the idea of developing a take-home word wall sheet for students to use during writing at home or homework. The only part I didn’t like about that was the idea of students ending up with 20-30 sheets of paper with five words on them that they would have to sort through to find the word they wanted to spell. I thought about how you could have a take home word wall that continually grew – for example having a student word wall spread across the inside of a manilla or two-pocket folder and then printing the words on small return address labels. Students could then peel their words and stick them in the letter box inside their personal word wall. Realistically, I’m not sure how much time, money, or energy would go into printing and sticking 100 new words in personal word walls each week, but maybe some students could complete it as a morning activity or as part of the afternoon wrap up.
One thing I consistently found as a barrier to my own work with students in writing was the fact that as soon as they went home and wanted to spell something their parents told them how to spell it. Then when they came to school they were frustrated that I actually wanted them to think for themselves. By sending a portable word wall home with kids, I think this could help parents learn how to facilitate and continue the learning process at home instead of just giving them the answer. Although I think it may take some time to work out a smooth routine, this is definitely something I want to try in the future to extend and enhance writing and learning at home. 
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