What does that word mean?

Vocabulary is one of my favorite things to teach. It is also so very important. Vocabulary is an essential aspect of reading comprehension. If students do not know what the words mean, they cannot understand what they are reading. Unfortunately, many of our students struggle with oral language skills. This is due to many reasons, but all in all, most kiddos tend to be lacking in oral language development and vocabulary. 

So, what can we do?

As teachers, we need to be intentional about teaching vocabulary. We have to take the time to teach vocabulary to our students. We cannot just rely on discussing words that we may come across in our read-aloud. While it is essential to discuss unknown words while reading, we also need to explicitly teach vocabulary words to our students daily. Primary students learning academic vocabulary show more significant benefits than starting later when they can already recognize and read the words. It gives me the impression that there is urgent importance to learning words orally to then read and understand them later. To teach big words correctly, it’s vital that we teach them in developmentally appropriate ways to build schema. 

I've developed a well-balanced system that quickly builds my primary students' oral vocabulary.  I'm excited to share all of this with you in this post so that hopefully, you can use ideas that work best for you and your classroom.

Introducing the word

When I teach vocabulary, I often have the kids engage by providing several different versions of a word.

1. Dictionary definition
2. Comparison (it is like____, but different because______.
3. Real-life examples
4. Graphic version (drawings, pictures, representations)
5. Acting it out

Students need “kid-friendly” definitions of vocabulary words. Did you ever have to look up words in a dictionary and write the definition? I know I remember doing that (not in 1st grade, of course). While I know that learning dictionary skills are fundamental, this is not an effective way of teaching new vocabulary to primary students. An example, if I look up the definition of the word physical, it says, “relating to the body as opposed to the mind.” For a first-grader, this definition would only lead to looking up the words relating and opposed. Students need us to provide them with definitions that they are going to understand.

My students sit on the rug next to their Kagan shoulder partner.  

1. The word is presented on the Smartboard (Wonders Vocabulary words) with visuals and student-friendly definitions.

2. Students repeat me as I read the definition and example.  A relatable gesture that I make up that makes sense to kinesthetic learners is added most of the time.

3. A question for students to answer using the word in context- An example, I would ask my students some questions for the word "distinguish": What's one way to distinguish your left hand from your right hand? I give them think time and then have them A/B partners talk about their ideas. As I bring them back- students volunteer their thoughts. I'll then give them my answer/example: I show them to make an L-shape with their pointer fingers and thumbs. The left hand always makes an L, while the right hand makes a backward L.  How can we distinguish whether someone is happy? Sad? (facial expressions are essential for the image)
What distinguishes Mama Bear's chair from Papa Bear's chair? (one is soft and one is hard)
How do you distinguish between yourself and a friend? (personalities, physical characteristics, etc.) Students are given think time for each question and partnered to discuss their responses and then share with the whole class.  

4. Students must have texts read to them to discuss and play with the words.  I love to use the Interactive Read-Aloud Cards that are included in Wonders. All of the vocabulary words are included with examples in the text and relatable real-life examples and questions. These stories are fun and easy to understand. Also, they align with your Essential Question and Genre for the week. 

Please see video below of me teaching a vocabulary word. 

Mrs. Muehlen Vocabulary Instruction

Emergent readers

The vocabulary words I am teaching are for oral comprehension. I want students to listen for the words in context that support where they are developmentally. I also want students to understand the new vocabulary and use it while communicating in class and at home. Nothing makes me happier than when a parent expresses how much their child's vocabulary has grown by the end of first grade. To make this happen, students need multiple exposures to learn new words. It can take a student numerous exposures to learn a new word depending on their previous vocabulary knowledge. We cannot mention a word once and expect students to understand and use the word. It is not enough that kids learn the meaning of the word, but they have to learn to use the vocabulary while speaking. Our daily instruction should create opportunities for kids to use words in all of these ways. For instance, the quick vocabulary conversation described earlier can be done with kids working together to come up with those multiple examples using definitions. This kind of cooperation requires that kids talk with each other about the words. An activity I use is to assign a different word to each group to discuss, illustrate or act out and then have them come together as a whole class to teach each other the word and what they discussed. This emphasizes collaboration while speaking and listening and is a great way to review more than one word at a time. I also reward kids for using the studied vocabulary words while they are speaking. 

Don't Forget to Review.  
It can be challenging to retain vocabulary if you are not given opportunities to use it. We may teach vocabulary because certain words will be included in the texts we were reading that week, but then students might not see them again for a long time. There are many ways to continuously review vocabulary, such as having one day a week when you only work with words that have been taught in the past or making a visible list of vocabulary words and using them as necessary.  

Teach Vocabulary All Day Long
To help develop word mindfulness with our students it is important to stop and identify unknown words from all subjects.  When students become comfortable expressing their lack of knowledge of particular words, they will be more likely to resolve those gaps when reading and comprehending. Students become motivated and confident if they know they can stop me at anytime and ask what a word means.  One of our class mottos is to “Always ask Questions!” In with that being said- What questions do you have? Feel free to email me with any questions ! 

I hope you found this helpful and gets you thinking about how to include academic vocabulary into your everyday teaching.

Positively Teaching,

Randi Muehlen

@positively_teaching