Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Making Space for Vocabulary in the Daily Learning Diet

I am pleased with the way that attention to vocabulary builds confidence with respect to classroom learning and conversation. The challenge is making time for this addition to daily learning--where does it fit in.

Today students will start the day with a standard math tech program, then we'll break for vocabulary review that includes the seven steps:

1. Teacher says and acts out the word, students repeat and act out--three times
2. Teacher states the word in context from classroom text, assignment. . .
3. Teacher provides dictionary definition.
4. Teacher explains meaning with student-friendly explanation (rhymes work well here)
5. Teacher highlights word features: polysemous, cognate, tense, prefixes. . .
6. Teacher engages students in quick activity to develop word/concept knowledge
7. Teacher reminds students about how the new word will be used.

I'll chart the seven steps on an anchor chart for easy reference as we embed this new activity into daily learning.