Visual Aid 5 - Chapter 5

Visual Aid 5

Chapter 5 Herrera, Perez & Escamilla

Levels of Vocabulary Learning

TIER 3

Words that are specific to a particular subject or field of study.

TIER 1

Common words used in everyday conversation that don't require instruction.

TIER 2

Words that are common in written and academic text and found across many subject areas.

by Peter H. Reynolds

The Word Collector

For the vocabulary lesson, we are going to use the book The Word Collector, by Peter H. Reynolds. We can identify all tiers of vocabulary in this book: Tier 1 words: big, small, sweet Tier 2 words: eagerly, marvelous, transform Tier 3 words: kaleidoscope, effervescent, onomatopoeia

Before-the-lesson strategies

Word Splash

A Word Splash is a quick visual activity used to activate prior knowledge related to the book's theme and some of its key vocabulary before reading. Its goal To get students thinking about words, their favorite words, and where they encounter words. I will write several Tier 2 words from the book, for example: marvelous, powerful, whisper, on the board. I will ask students to look for a quick connection or about three of the words, using questions suchh as "What might the book be about, based on these words?" This will get them thinking about the vocabulary and the concept of "collecting words" before we are introduced to the main character, Jerome.

Before-the-lesson strategies

Graphic organizers

A KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) will prompt students to identify words they already know and to set a purpose for seeking new words. Students will draw a three-column chart on their notebooks and label them like this:I Know a Word (My favorite word is...) / I Wonder About a Word (What does "......." mean?) / I Hope to Find a New Word (A word that describes a good feeling). For the 1st column I will ask them to write down one word they think is interesting, funny, or important (e.g., super, zoom, happy). For the 2nd, I will ask them to write down I Wonder a word they have heard but don't know or don't fully understand (e.g., universe, secret). I will the students that when they read The Word Collector, they should be listening to see if Jerome collects any of the words they wonder about. This strategy will build anticipation for finding the new vocabulary words that Jerome, and they will collect from the story.

This article Colorín Colorado on "Using Graphic Organizers with ELLs" emphasizes that these visual tools are highly effective for teaching ELLs by supporting both content comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Graphic organizers are essential for learning important vocabulary and introducing students to new technical terms by providing a visual summary and reinforcing decoding skills. To ensure ELLs benefit, teachers should start by using an organizer (like a K-W-L chart) to introduce a new topic while verbalizing the relationship between the new ideas. They could also use the organizers to connect new material to students' existing knowledge, guiding them to recollect earlier taught content to better retain new information.

During-the-lesson strategies

Vocabulary cue cards

This is a simple strategy that can focus on just 3-4 key Tier 2 words per reading session.When the students read a target Tier 2 word (e.g., marvelous, connect, empower), I will make them stop and say, "Jerome found a great word! Let's collect it." To create the cards, the students will fold an index card or construction paper in half to create a two-sided cue card. On the outside front part they will write the new word. On the outside back part, they will write the simple definition. Then, they will open the card and draw a quick, memorable sketch to represent the word's meaning. For example, for empower, they might draw a child with a lightbulb above their head or a superhero cape. As we continue reading, whenever the word appears again or I see an opportunity to use it, I will have the students hold up their card, say the word, and show their sketch.

In this article from the Virtual Writing Tutor they discuss the effectiveness of flashcards as a fast, fun, and efficient strategy for CLD students to acquire new vocabulary, which is essential for effective communication. Studies show that students using flashcards perform significantly better in vocabulary acquisition than those using traditional classroom methods. Despite the evidence, flashcards are often underutilized in the classroom because teachers lack the time to create them..

During-the-lesson strategies

Vocabulary flip books

The use of vocabulary flip books is a strategy that promotes deeper, more challenging vocabulary learning by requiring students to find key descriptors and visuals for each term. This tool encourages students to verbalize definitions and is fully adaptable to the language proficiency and needs of CLD students. Using their creativity, students will put paper sheets together and make their own flip books and label them with their names. As we read the book, they will identify at least 3 words they don't know the meaning of by section. After, they will identify prefixes and suffixes of those words, as well as their own definitions or example.

After-the-lesson strategies

Writing Stories with Vocabulary Words

This strategy is about applying the new words in a meaningful, creative context, moving them from passive understanding to active use. Choose 4-5 of the Tier 2 words (e.g., marvelous, powerful, whispered, transform, connect) that Jerome collected and the class worked on. Challenge the students to write a mini-story or a few related sentences that successfully use at least three of the target vocabulary words. I willl provide a prompt, such as: "Write a story about a time you felt powerful and connected with a friend, and what marvelous thing you did together." When students finish, they will highlight or underline the vocabulary words they used.

After-the-lesson strategies

Structural Vocabulary Indexing

This strategy is a formal way to review the words by their structure (part of speech), helping students understand how words function in a sentence—a key step toward fluency. Students will create a simple two-column index on a chart or board labeled "Nouns" and "Action/Describing Words" (for verbs and adjectives). As a class, we will review the 8-10 target words collected throughout the reading and discussion. Students will take the word strips from the "Word Jar" and physically sort or index them into the correct column on the board. For example, for nouns : joy, wonder, tapestry; and for action/describing words: soar, connect, marvelous. As a final check, I will choose one word from the Nouns column and one from the Action/Describing Words column and challenge the class to collaboratively build one grammatically correct sentence using both. This will reinforce that words of different types are needed to build complete thoughts.

After-the-lesson strategies

Demonstration & Charades

This strategy connects the word to a physical action or feeling, reinforcing non-linguistic representations of the vocabulary.I will put the target words (target verbs and descriptive adjectives that are easy to act out, such as drifting, soaring, gathered, swiftly, eagerly, delighted) on small slips of paper and place them in the "Word Jar". Students will take turns pulling a word from the jar. They must then demonstrate (act out, without speaking) the meaning of the word for the class to guess. This is especially effective for checking their understanding of the difference between close synonyms (e.g., showing the difference between whispered and yelled). After the class guesses correctly, I will have the student who acted it out use the word in a new sentence, solidifying the meaning with both physical and verbal confirmation.

This article from Reading Blocks shows effective and fun ways of increasing vocabulary skills through games , such as Vocabulary Charades. The key points it makes about using charades for vocabulary acquisition are: Charades involves having children act out the meaning of a word without speaking, thus challenging their creativity and deepening their understanding of language by forcing them to physically interpret the word's meaning.

ELPS (c) Cross-curricular second language acquisition essential knowledge and skills. (5) Cross-curricular second language acquisition/writing. The ELL writes in a variety of forms with increasing accuracy to effectively address a specific purpose and audience in all content areas. ELLs may be at the beginning, intermediate, advanced, or advanced high stage of English language acquisition in writing. For the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across foundation and enrichment curriculum, all instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated (communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with the student's level of English language proficiency. For Kindergarten and Grade 1, certain of these student expectations do not apply until the student has reached the stage of generating original written text using a standard writing system.