As the late great Johnny Nash song says
Even though it feels like change is the only constant this year, remember that we are almost there. In less than a month we will have Spring Break and then we will just have our sprint to the end of the school year!
Thank you once again to Lissy and Fran for their work to help us understand and use our Istation data. As we noticed the only skill that goes across all grade levels is vocabulary. As you know, vocabulary is a very important part of making our students better readers and writers. I know that we went from using a program- Wordly Wise as a school, to either using the activities in ALL block in EL or coming up with our own ways of teaching vocabulary. There are many high yield strategies that can be incorporated into your day to increase student vocabulary.
I came across a couple of basic ideas of things that can be done to increase vocabulary.
Have students preview something they are about to read or learn about and pick their own words to learn. They can indicate whether they have no idea what the word means or roughly what they think it means. From this, you will get a good formative look at what they know about a topic.
More interactions with a word means students will truly make it a part of their vocabulary. Students can write a word and then draw a picture of that word and then decide how they will remember that word, and then use it in a sentence that truly shows its meaning.
Remember that unless they grow up to become teachers( which would be great!) students will rarely read about reading. They will read about art and science and many other topics. So understanding vocabulary across disciplines is important, and can assist in a student's overall reading efficacy.
PLEASE SHARE :
In the comments below, please share what are you doing to increase student vocabulary in your classroom.
Here is a link to an Istation Facebook video on how parents can work on vocabulary at home with their students.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=233566974717447
In Kindergarten, when introducing new content vocabulary we use multiple methods such as pictures, actions, drawings, etc. Also, students don't just learn what the word means, they practice USING it in class discussions and when they explain their thinking or learning process.
ReplyDeleteThat is great! Thank you for sharing.
DeleteIn PE, we are using vocabulary to demonstrate locomotor movements, manipulative skills and verbs showing actions that we are doing in class. It is wonderful that the students hear the vocabulary and can show us the meaning of that word through movement!
ReplyDeleteI love that Coach G!
DeleteNow that we are meeting for reading groups, I can incorporate introducing new vocabulary to my students by choosing specific books. We have some great discussions around the new words, as well as how to use them in our everyday lives. We also encourage students to use the new vocabulary in their writing. The writing that the children just finished, the How-To Books, as well as the writing they are doing now, the All About books, lend itself to them having to think about new vocabulary to use in order to support what they are writing. Letterland is another great way for the children to be exposed to new vocabulary. The introduce the new words in such a way that the children are able to make a connection with it, connect it to something else that is familiar to them, and then have them use the vocabulary when they are building sentences and reading in the Letterland readers.
ReplyDeleteThat is great to hear! Thank you!
DeleteIn the art room, I have a word wall (similar to the classroom) with common art words. We often play a game where I describe the word and the students have to pick the word I'm talking about from the word wall.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome!! Thank you!
DeleteIn Science, specifically introducing words at the beginning of a lesson and having students give a thumbs up, out, or down to indicate how well they already know the word. They listen for these words during the lesson and then reevaluate at the end of the lesson. Also put these words on a word wall to come back to throughout the unit. In some written assignments, give a word bank or sentence starters where students should use these words in their explanation.
ReplyDeleteThat is great Julie! Thank you for sharing! I came across the sentence starters too and I thought that was a great way to help them use the words in a meaningful sentence.
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