Classroom App - Vocabulary
Gary Obermeyer, Tue November 08, 2005, 07:43 AM
At the conclusion of the Session Four presentation & discussion you selected an instructional strategy or assessment tool (hopefully, one you've not used before) to try in your classroom. Alternatively, you chose a resource from the Early Literacy Portal.
Post a summary of what you learned in this thread.
One of the spelling strategies I tried, was discussing the differences between new words and related words. I put a couple of our vocabulary words on the board, we discussed the meanings and then we talked about some related words and how their meanings are a little different. They did this activity in groups and then we collaborated as a class. It was a lot of fun!
I picked a vocabulary strategy to try with using word parts. i.e. prefixes and suffixes I discussed with the students that combining different parts of words can change their meanings. I did this with a small group of ESL students and they seemed to grasp the main point of the lesson. These students were at a higher level which made the explanation a lot easier for me to do.
I taught my students the activity called "Silly Questions." I found that the students had a lot of fun and it helped to put the vocab word into the correct context. It provided them with synonyms and antonyms of the words.
I thought it was great to be reminded that in order for all stuudents to absorb material, such as vocabulary, it helps to make sure they are hearing the words, saying them, reading, and writing them. I found a lot of great game websites that I know my students will love as soon as I can get the mobile lab in my room. The strategy I decided to try in my room was using their vocabulary words to create a song. They were silly songs that used their vocab. words and their meanings. They had fun doing it and after it was all over I was assured that they knew what each word meant.
I am always looking for new ways to teach vocabulary and to tech it in context. I chose to use the same activity as Sarah did for my upper elementary students. It was a great way, a fun way, to get the students engaged in learning vocabulary. I liked how synonyms and antonyms were provided for the words as well.
I taught my prefix and suffix lesson yesterday, with my Red Cell third graders. I was excited that this past lesson went over teaching prefixes and suffixes. The students picked up right away on the concept and loved "hunting" for the base word. The students then themselves wanted to brainstorm more suffixes and prefixes on their own. The students had a harder time coming up with prefixes but a much easier time coming up with suffixes. I think this is a concept that can be stretched throughout the week, ending with the students making silly words by adding a suffix or prefix on Friday.
I tried the prefix and suffix lesson with our Spelling Words. Most of the words were adding a suffix to make our words into plurals. We had a discussion about how you decide if you just add an -s, ies, etc. They had never really had any idea how to figure this out, and they had fun sorting these words and talking about their parts. We also talked about root words, and synonyms and antonyms.
I chose the vocabulary strategy of having my students use two vocabulary words in the same sentence. This would hopefully make them look for relationships between the words and also show understanding of the words. We also thought of synonyms and antonyms for the vocabulary words. Using two words in the same sentence really got my students to think, it was a great activity.
I chose to use a strategy called Word Knowledge Rating Checklist. I used this with my Soar group. We made a chart and I put the vocabulary words selected by Houghten Mifflin to go over with the students. We had a group discussion, chapter by chapter, which was very interesting.
I choose to use pictures with my guided reading groups. we discussed the words and then i had the students match the words to the picture they thought it went to. it was very helpful. they students were able to see a real life connection to the words which i found helped them remember the meaning better.
I chose to use the hunting for great, juicy expressive words in reading. My literacy coach helped me set this up with a read aloud, hunting for these wonderful words, and then taking them into a writing activity, so that the students were able to apply those words and make them their own. The children have loved it! I am just getting started and so far the students are really engaged, I am in the process of creating a bulletin board using these words. I cannot wait to see how this activity carries on throughout the year.
I am using vocabulary word books for my basal series. It is a good tool to use, then you can transfer it into making a dictionary.
I have eight students that I am teaching new vocabulary words to in the resource room. I divided them into two teams. Each teach had a piece of paper with sentences. The students needed to fill in the missing vocabulary words. They had a great time doing this exercise and they also had lots of discussion while trying to figure out the correct answer.
I decided to browse through the literacy portal. I found a great website, Word City, that allows students to learn Greek and Latin root words at
http://www.vocabulary.com/wordcity.html This would be too difficult for primary, but this would be excellent for third grade and older. I worked with a couple upper grade students on this website. They were immediately engaged.
We wrote sentences using one or more of our current high frequency words and some of them were hilarious so we had to draw pictures to go with them! One of my favorites was: "Some funny fish hide their food away." There was also the chance to explain the right word in the wrong context and why.
One very effective way I have found for students to learn vocabulary words (new and old) is to have students participate in some cooperative learning activities. The one that students absolutely love is the "circle in/ circle out" activity. A small group of students make a circle inside and the rest make a circle outside. Have the students in either circle rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise by counting, spelling things, naming things, etc. When they stop, the students turn to their partner and show them the letter and/or word. Students read the letter/word to their partner and then it is time to rotate again. Students love participating in this activity, because it is fun to learn in this type of environment. You can even take this activity outside (weather permitting). The ideas for learning are infinite with this activity. With the Ks, you can have students read numbers, letters, or high-frequency words. Cooperative learning is one of the most effective learning strategies for our classroom.
I chose the four square activity to do with my sixth graders. I gave them vocalary words that were focused on for their last Houghton Mifflin theme. I modeled it, and then I gave a different voc. word to each one in a group of seven. Some had trouble finding the words in the dictionary and choosing the correct definition to go with the voc. used in their text. Some had trouble thinking of examples and non-examples. The lesson took about forty minutes, and it was a little rushed. It is a good activity to use for vocabulary the students will benefit from in their future education.
Most of the strategies in the presentation seemed more appropriate for students above kindergarten. However, I was able to use a form of the "Stop and Think About It" strategy. In our reading program, vocabulary words are always discussed after the reading. For our book, "No, No, Titus!", I picked out the words ahead of time to be discussed. We then engaged in a class discussion about farms. (Cow, planting, milking, farmer, etc.) I then decided that I would continue to use class discussion and questioning techniques to teach these words before, during and after the story was read. I also pointed out to the children the strategy of looking at the illustrations to understand the meanings of words. The "Stop and Think About It" form is a good way to organize and target the exact vocabulary to be taught. The students enjoyed the discussions. Discussing the vocabulary before reading the book improved the comprehension of the whole text.
I had some of my students write sentences usinng their vocabulary words and other students draw pictures that represented each vocabulary word depending on their developmental level.
I tried teaching vocabulary words by relating each of them to an antonym and synonym. The students acted out the antonym of the vocabulary word and we had to guess what it was. They really enjoyed this.
When teaching our new Vocabulary Words today, in addition to having the students guess the words by providing clues, clapping and snapping the words, we had them put the word in a sentence and tell their eyeball partner the sentence. The person with the shortest hair would go then the person with the longest hair. We did this so everyone had a chance and putting the word in a sentence not just the one person called on by the teacher. I think it was a better learning expereince as everyone was engaged.
In Kindergarten it is hard to have a lot of vocabulary in the reading because Harcourt focuses on high-frequency words. I think it is important though to start vocabulary early. In our class we read Warthogs in the Kitchen a Sloppy Counting Book. I took the word yummy and then the students came up with the word "delicious". Then we talked about that word and what it means and then I gave them another word "scrumptious". My students really loved comming up with other words from yummy. I think that this is a good start and then the words are at least introduced and now every time I read that book I can have the students use their new vocabulary for the word yummy.
I tried some new graphic organizers with my class. We focused on context clues and synonyms and tried out some new graphic organizers. I also met with some other teachers to see what they use for organizers to change things up a bit. We have spent more time focusing on our vocabulary wall and word wall as well as using words in their writing and in communicating to other students and to me using the vocabulary that is being taught at the time.
I did the Four Square Vocabulary activity with my benchmark students. I modified it slightly by making the bottom right square a space for writing the word in a sentence. I did this activity in a jigsaw fashion. My students sit 4 to a table, and I gave all of the ones a word, all of the twos a different word, etc. The ones met as a group to discuss the meanings of their words, examples, etc. and then they completed their four squares. They then returned to their normal seats and presented their four squares to the others. They were experts on their own vocabulary words. This activity worked very well for keeping all students interested in the new words for this week's story.
I browsed through the Early Literacy Portal. Under Phonics and Spelling, I found the website "Things to Print". I have applied the word wall game to my intervention group, using words they have become familiar with in the books they have been reading. This is such an easy, yet effective "game" to play that enriches and reinforces vocabulary.
I did the Four-Square Vocabulary Map with my kids this morning with their new vocabulary words for the story. They loved! It was very engaging and it seemed to help their understanding of the words.
I did the 4 square vocabulary map with my intensive students. They had a hard time coming up with examples, but after working through this together I can tell they seemed to really understand the words much better.
I did the Four Square Activity with my Kindergartners, but I modified it to their level. We are working on the letter "Hh", so I put "h" on the first square and the children drew pictures of things that begin with "h": horse, helicopter, house, hose, etc. They loved the activity and it reinforced their knowledge of letter "h" and its sound.
My students are already creating their own dictionaries of their vocabulary words, but I noticed that the students were not understanding how to put a definition for the word in their own words. So we practiced this in small groups and those students who still weren't getting it, I paired them with a vocabulary dictionary expert and they work on the definitions together, helping each other put the definitions in their own words.
I had my students write in words they did not know from the story we are reading and look them up in the dictionary. When we came together as a group I divided students onto teams. One group write the word they didn't know and looked up dictionary on the board. They would give the definition and would then call on a peer to give an example of what the word ment- they could use their own words or share an experience. If the student got it correct their team would get a point if not someone else would get a chance. It was fun.
I used more strategies using paper folding and graphic organizers in my centers during my literacy block. The children especially loved the paper folding, and have used it for a number of things such as summaries, character, setting, and plot, and of course vocabulary. I have also used word sorts for phonics and more opportunities to create their own definitions of words.
I was interested when I read about "List-Group-Label". Because of the ages of my students (three, four, and five) I would choose to use picture and other visual supports in an activity like this. Brainstorming is a great component of ths strategy because it gets kids talking and I can assess prior knowledge and scaffold as needed. Grouping and labeling we work on as noting characteristics as "same" or "different".
Again I am not able to do this.
I chose to use the, Words I know/Words I Don't Know strategy. It's been fun for them and me and a very positive approach to our wkly spelling & vocab list. I open the session with a "Challenge" on the white board..ie list words you know or compare/contrast two words or write these words using word boxes. I always remind my students that there are reading,speaking,writing and listening vocabulary words and try to pt that out when we come upon a new reading word such as "ponder"...I hope it is planting another word inside them or I will encourage them to use a new word such as "confusion" at home rather than "loud or noisy"..I have to act out and use alot of realia with my ELL students and don't assume they understand background settings as easily as an English first student. Vocabulary building is my focus this year.
I used a word web (Thinking Map)for my 3rd and 4th grade EL kids. We construct the web to reinforce selected vocabulary. Where appropriate, synonyms, antonyms and homophones are included beside re-stating the definition in simpler language. Context clues are always emphasized and relate back to the reading text. The kids also verbally make sentences using the words, or describe a scenario to illustrate the meaning. What I will like to include is "what the word is not."
In my 5th grade classroom earlier this year I used the GLAD strategy called the Cognitive Content Dictionary. You give the new vocabulary word and, in teams, the students have to come up with a definition and reason for making that guess. Later that day or the next morning you give the correct definition and the origins of the word. We did this every day, first thing. The kids became very skilled at looking within the word for meaning and coming up with words they wanted to add to the running dictionary on Fridays which were the "choice days" when teams could nominte interesting words to be chosen for the next day. Many kids were looking words up at night so they could stump us or find the origins of the word for the next day!
I used the Stop and Think About It strategy in my guided reading groups. I had to really think about what words my students would know and what they had never heard before. A lot of the Phonics Decodable books we read in the Houghton-Mifflin series have unfamiliar words for the students such as "shack" and even "hut" or "bin." This organizer really helped me focus on specific words to teach the students so they had a much better understanding of what they had just read.
I went to the Early Literacy Portal for vocabulary and I found an easy matching rhyme game. We read the words together as a small group and did a couple of matching examples together. The next day we played concentration and they did fine with the matching. It seemed that they were able to match because of the vowel and not the sound so I made sure they said the word before they picked up another card. We all had fun!!!!!
I used the four-square vocabulary map with my 1st graders. I did, however, modify it to meed their needs. We began by doing this activity as a whole group. I created a large four square on chart paper. We then proceeded to fill in one of our story vocabulary words for the week in the top left corner. We then talked about what kind of word it was. (We used words such as describing word, action word, etc.) We wrote this description in the bottom left corner. In the top right corner we wrote some words that mean the same or almost the same thing. We then illustrated the word in the bottom right corner. Later I had my challenge students create a four square vocabulary map for several more of our vocabulary words.
I visited the Early Literacy Portal. I liked the stratgey “List-Group-Label”. Not only is this a great vocabulary activity, it is also a good way to learn about and access students’ prior knowledge. For my younger students this activity facilitates discussion centered on a theme, which is a very valuable experience for them. We support the words with simple illustrations.
We read a book called HUGS I wrote all of the vocabulary words on the white board: terrible, rotten, miserable, horrible, bad, very bad and big, very big, huge, giant, enormous, bunch of big. Then I had students take two different colored markers since there were two sets, and draw lines to the words that were synonyms. One set in Red and the other set in Blue. They enjoyed it and they leared lots of new words.
While working in a first grade classroom I took the Harcourt Spelling words and created a center where students had to build the words with magnetic letters, then rewrite the words on a large piece of paper. The students then traced over the words with different colored markers, making Rainbow Words. The tracing over the word with marker was a big hit for first graders, they loved the novelty of the marker. An extension could have been to have them use the spelling word in a sentence.
I used the word web in my classroom. I found this helped the students expand their thinking. For visual learners they were able to participate more in our disscussion. I had often used a Venn Diagram to compare but I got other students responding to the word web.
Because of this session, I to am having the students do, Words I Know, Words I Don't Know. We are using the Harcourt, Pre-decodable Books. At a table center, the students copy the words in two separate collumns, and if possible draw for meaning. The students enjoy the activity. They also enjoy helping each other with the vocabulary. We have also made flash cards, and have been able to move the Don't into the Do.
I started a new vocabulary workbook. When we are unfamilar with a word we put it into the workbooks. The students are required to draw a picture of what helps remind them of what the word means and then they need to use the word in a sentence that has something to do with their life. If a student comes across a word that they don't know in their own reaidng then they get out the workbook and put it in. Some students have been referring back to these books when they are writing a stoy.
I used the word web in my classroom. It helped students expand their thinking. WHat ever they offer, I write it down. This is great for visual leaners. My kids like it, and really liked getting to do thier own during centers.