Vocabulary Activities

What does research tell us about vocabulary?

n *Vocabulary assists students in expanding their knowledge to raise achievement.n *Vocabulary development increases when students have visual images of word

meaning and when the words are categorized into groups.  *In order to understand  spoken or written words a student must know 95% of the words.

n *The creation of labels is a tool for fostering new perceptions and increasing learning.

n *It takes a minimum of 15 encounters with a new word for a student to understand and apply the word independently.  

What are effective vocabulary strategies for exemplary schools?

--Awareness of words n --Wide reading and extensive writing n --Strategies for independently inferring word meanings from context n --Direct instruction of vocabulary and vocabulary related skills  

How are words learned? 

      1.   Connect to Prior Knowledge *Vocabulary Anchors*Picture Walk Word

*ABC Charts*Give One!  Get One!

 *Photographs*Wordless Picture Books

2.   Share Metacognitive Strategies *Fix-Up Strategies

*Teacher Think Alouds

3.   Active Engagement *Vo-back-ulary*Snap and Clap*Songs/Dances

*Total Physical Response (TPR)*Interview a word

*Multiple Meaning Word Toss

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4.   Create a Word Rich Environment *Word Walls

*Reading the Room*Word Jars

*Word Books*Vocabulary Rings

5.   Apply Strategies Across the Curriculum *ABC Books

*Find and Photograph*4-Part Fold-ables

6.   Teach Strategies for Independence *Multiple Meaning Word Draw

*From Here to There (linear arrays)*Vocabulary Cards

*Wordsplashes*Circle Maps

*5-3-1

*Vocabulary Folders (by content) 

7.   Mnemonics *Acrostics and Acronyms

*Memory Paths

 

 

 

How are words taught?

Using Context*Guess the Meaning*Super Word Web*4 Part Foldables

*Predictable/Probable Passages*Word Detectives

*5 Box Word Analysis Matrix

Using Structure*Flipbooks

*Making Words Activities*Making Big Words

*Boggle Boards*Word Sorts

*Prefix/Suffix boxes

Using Games*Pictionary*Scrabble*Boggle

*Hangman

Using Websites*Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun

*Vocabulary Pinball*Vocabulary Games

*Flash Hangman*Little Animals Activity Center

*Internet Picture Dictionary*Easy Vocabulary Quizzes

*Vocabulary Lists