Chapter 7 in Literacy for the 21st Century focuses on building student’s vocabulary. As an early childhood teacher, this is an extremely important part of our daily learning. I really enjoyed learning about some of the different ways to teach students vocabulary. In my class, I have used word posters on a regular basis. I found that asking the student to define the word, draw the word, and then use it in a sentence really helps the student master the word. When I first introduced word posters last year, the students groaned and said it was too hard. After completing the word posters for a few weeks, the kids really enjoyed them and started to look forward to completing them.
One strategy that I haven’t tried yet is dramatizing the words. I think this sounds like a really fun way to teach young kids about new words. Some of the kids in my class this year are real hams and I think they would get a kick out of this. This would also appeal to the bodily kinesthetic learners in my class.
I think word chains would be a good way to teach my students social studies and science words. In using a word chain, a student writes words that would come before and after the specified word in a chain. I think this is a great way for students to make connections between words and help them have more meaning. This is yet another strategey that points to the benefits of an integrated curriculum.
I’m excited about trying new ways to expand the vocabulary of my first grade class. They are learning so much, so fast, it is really amazing to see their progress in just one quarter of school.
References:
Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteThis is Kristen A. responding to your post. Your blog posts are always nice to read, as you so colorfully describe your students and classroom!
I found an interesting textbook chapter entitled "Activities to Build Vocabulary Knowledge and Word Skills" (Athans and Devine, 2010), who point out that the best way to engage young students in vocabulary games is to keep the atmosphere light and make sure kids don't get too frustrated while interacting. It sounds like you do this in your classroom, and that your students really enjoy learning new words.
In one word game mentioned in this chapter, students take turns pretending they are a comedic character and sound out more difficult words. It makes kids feel less embarrassed when they have trouble pronouncing a new word.
There is also a fun idea that involves kids making word cards with pictures and trading them with other students.
Thank you for your post.
link to
http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=bk476-4-Athans.pdf&mode=retrieve&D=10.1598/9780872074767.4&F=bk476-4-Athans.pdf&key=23BBB1ED-9EE2-485B-99CF-DF802D3C4EA3
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI am also interested in engaging ways to teach vocabulary, as it can be a somewhat boring task at times. I too liked the variety of teaching methods provided by the text and set out to find some other ways to engage students in learning vocabulary. I came across lesson plans from the International Reading Association that are fun, interactive, and appeal to a variety of learning styles. The lesson uses the popular children's song "Down by the Bay" in a series of vocabulary lessons. The lesson focuses on helping K-1 grade students recognize high-frequency words. It can be found at http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/learning-vocabulary-down-301.html .