Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases Supplemental Spanish Literacy Program for Grades K-5

Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases is a Spanish word study program from the authors of the Words Their Way series. This supplemental Spanish program builds and expands on phonics, vocabulary, and spelling skills, giving students a solid foundation to master the Spanish language.

  • Developmental model of Spanish, based on Spanish orthographic principles
  • Teach Spanish word study at students’ developmental spelling stages
  • Build Spanish word knowledge through hands-on sorts and interactive digital activities
  • Implement in just 15-20 minutes per day using easy, step-by-step lesson plans
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Word Study: An Interactive Approach for Teaching Word Knowledge

  • What is Word Study?
  • How Do Word Sorts Work?
  • Palabras a Su Paso
  • Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary in Spanish

Word Knowledge, Not Memorization


Word study teaches students how to organize, analyze, and compare words and their features — moving them beyond rote memorization and into true word knowledge. One of the most powerful word study techniques is the word sort, which has students explore, compare, and categorize word patterns and relationships.



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Word Sorts: Actively Engaging Students in Word Study


At the heart of every word sort is the same process: First, students identify the meaning and properties of each word, sound, or picture. Second, students sort the words (or sounds or pictures) into collections with similar features. Words may be sorted by meaning, sounds, spelling pattern, or other properties. Word sorts can be done as fun, hands-on activities using print resources or as interactive online practice using digital materials.

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How Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases Teaches Word Study


At the heart of Palabras a Su Paso is the hands-on or interactive sort. The sort invites students to group words or pictures representing specific sounds into categories. Most sorts begin with teacher-directed instruction along with questions to guide student learning and generalizations.

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How Word Study Grows Spanish Literacy Skills


Word study is an effective, engaging way to build students’ Spanish phonics, spelling, and vocabulary skills. Students are encouraged to think deeply about the sounds and letters that form each word, helping to strengthen their phonics and spelling skills. In addition, the word sort process links students’ prior knowledge to the new vocabulary they learn and use as they sort words, building their Spanish word knowledge.

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Teach Spanish Word Study with Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases

Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases uses a personalized, hands-on approach to build Spanish literacy skills.

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Personalized Instruction and Practice

The program personalizes word study instruction and practice based on the five developmental spelling stages, making it easy to meet students’ diverse learning needs and grow their literacy skills.

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Engaging, Hands-on Word Study

Students actively explore, compare, and categorize word patterns and relationships through hands-on and interactive word sorts, helping them build true Spanish word knowledge.

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Easy, Manageable Instructional Routine

Teachers only need 15 to 20 minutes per day to provide students with engaging, effective word study. Each lesson provides strategies to model the sort, practice it, and apply and assess learning.

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Interactive Word Sorts and Digital Resources

Every lesson has an associated digital word sort where students can click-and-drag pictures, words, and/or spelling patterns. Printable games and other resources add extra practice options.

Strengthen Spanish Literacy Skills with Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases

  • How the Program Personalizes Word Study
  • Fun and Engaging Word Study for Students
  • Easy and Manageable Word Study for Teachers
  • The 5-Day Weekly Word Study Routine
  • The 5 Developmental Spelling Stages in Spanish

How the Program Personalizes Word Study

  • Developmental Spelling Stages
  • Small-Group Instruction
  • Meeting Individual Needs
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Fun and Engaging Word Study for Students

  • Hands-on Practice
  • Digital Interactivity
  • Gran libro de rimas
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Easy and Manageable Word Study for Teachers

  • Everything Needed for Word Study
  • Easy, Step-by-Step Lessons
  • Group Students
  • Monitor Progress
  • Additional Teacher Resources
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The 5-Day Weekly Word Study Routine

  • 15-20 Minutes Per Day
  • Day 1: Introduce & Model
  • Day 2: Practice the Sort
  • Day 3: Practice Writing Sorts
  • Day 4: Word Hunts
  • Day 5: Word Sorting Games
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The 5 Developmental Spelling Stages in Spanish

  • Five Research-Based Stages
  • Etapas emergente y alfabética temprana
  • Etapa alfabética
  • Patrones
  • Acentos y afijos
  • Derivaciones
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Take a Closer Look at Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases

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Program Overview

Get a quick overview of Palabras a Su Paso

Try a Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases Lesson

  • Etapas emergente y alfabética temprana
  • Etapa alfabética
  • Patrones
  • Acentos y afijos
  • Derivaciones

Sonido inicial de las vocales Ii y Aa


Through most of this stage, children sort pictures by concept, rhyme, and beginning sounds. By the end of this period, children begin to work with open syllables and match picture cards to the words that represent their names.

View Sample Lesson
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Sonidos intermedios de ll, ñ


In this level, students sort pictures and/or words by beginning syllables, digraphs, blends, and by word families. Students learn to create most two-syllable words, including words with closed syllables, consonant digraphs, and consonant blends.

View Sample Lesson
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Diptongos ia, ie, io, iu


In this level, students sort words by comparing the spelling patterns of like-sounding consonants and vowel clusters. Students spell more complex vowel patterns such as a variety of diphthongs and accurately spell homophone word variations.

View Sample Lesson
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Palabras compuestas

Sonidos intermedios de ll, ñ


At this stage, the focus of instruction shifts to marking the stress in words and adding affixes to base words. Students sort by inflected endings and the use of accent marks for words that stray from natural accentuation guidelines.

View Sample Lesson
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Raíces rupt, tract, mot


In this level, instruction shifts to the meaning of roots and affixes that support Spanish vocabulary development. Students sort words by meaning, with an emphasis on word parts that connect related words.

View Sample Lesson
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Enhance Spanish Word Study with Interactive Digital Resources

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The digital components of Palabras a Su Paso – Salón de Clases are all hosted on the award-winning Savvas Realize® digital platform. Realize integrates with a wide variety of digital tools and systems, such as Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, OneDrive, and many more!

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Digital components include drag-and-drop word sorts with audio support, an interactive Guía del maestro, printable PDFs of word lists and word study games, and more!

Spanish Word Study Resources for Educators

  • Word Study in English
  • Scope and Sequence
  • Word Study with Emergent Bilinguals

Word Study in English

Teach students English-language word study at their developmental spelling stages with the Words Their Way Classroom®! Enjoy all the same features and benefits of Palabras a Su Paso — step-by-step lessons, hands-on sorts, and interactive digital activities — for English literacy skills.

Explore the Program
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Scope and Sequence for Grades K-5

See the full list of sorts for each developmental spelling stage for Palabras a Su Paso. Sorts are sequenced to progressively build students' phonics, vocabulary, and spelling skills in Spanish as they move from grade to grade and from stage to stage.

View the Scope and Sequence
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Dr. Lori Helman: Word Study with Emergent Bilinguals

Word study instruction involves helping students understand how words work in a given language. This whitepaper shares  what can be done to tailor word study instruction to be most effective for emergent bilinguals and empower students to build on the resources that they bring with them to the classroom. 

Get the Guide
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