Words Their Way Classroom Supplemental Elementary Reading Program:
Developmental Spelling Stages

Words Their Way Classroom aligns students’ spelling development into the following five research-based stages. This developmental model recognizes the synchronous nature of reading, writing, and spelling, and has identified common characteristics of readers, writers, and spellers along the literacy continuum.

View the examples below to see the five stages and gain a sense of what stage your students will be placed.