How are your vocabulary activities for virtual learning going? Mine had been going OK, with the help of BrainPOPjr. and Flocabulary. But let me back track a bit and get the definition straight just for you. Vocabulary is not just about learning the definition of tier 2 and tier 3 words, but it also includes learning about word parts that contribute to meaning, and developing a core of known words. [Hello core words!]
Word meaning comes from the context of how the word is used in a passage. Students develop word meaning through the book introductions and scaffolding you offer so that
students have the big idea of what the text will be about. During vocabulary virtual learning lessons, your best bet is to carefully select e-books that target the skills that you have in mind. As you model with students, the idea is that they will learn how to self-introduce books.
I like to teach the concept of word parts using magnetic letters by putting words on the board, clapping parts of words, and then demonstrating what to look for when breaking the word. Once the concept has been taught you can model breaking words using
a card to reveal the parts as they occur in the book. I have been using THIS awesome site with digital magnetic letters:
As students begin to read more complex text there will be more opportunities for both you and the students to look for words with parts of different kinds: compound words, words with prefixes and suffixes, and words with open and closed syllable breaks. I try to anticipate challenging words to teach before the reading and leave some for solving by my readers. Learning core words comes both through specific teaching and
through volume of reading. Looking to select books for your intervention groups based on the known and almost known so you will have the opportunity to teach and the students will have the opportunity to use these words in context. Every book on the cutting edge for children will have some element of vocabulary to explore so your preparation for vocabulary teaching is book and student dependent.
The majority of the vocabulary activities that I do with my students come from content area integration using my science close reading brochures, which [most of them] have gone digital!
Leave a Reply