Word Banks

. . . are a wonderful thing.

They are simple.

They are individual.

They are essential, to my way of thinking.

A Word Bank is just a piece of notebook paper entitled "Word Bank" that remains blank until the child needs to know how to spell a word that he/she is writing.  They ask the teacher for the spelling and the teacher writes the word in the Word Bank.  From that time forward, the child is responsible for knowing the spelling of that particular word.

Some call this a portable word wall.

I also fill in the Word Bank if I see a misspelled word in a piece of writing when I am conferencing with a child.

The Word Bank has allowed children in my writing class to be freed of their inhibitions -- the "I don't know how to spell that long word" has left their thinking, and has allowed them to use much "bigger" words in their stories.  I've been very pleased at the vocabulary I'm seeing as I'm filling in Word Banks and conferencing with my writers.