Vocabulary

Tink898 · **Vocabulary** 11-02-2009, 05:26 PM

Is there any certain way you use to teach vocabulary? Where do you choose your words from and how do the students learn them? TIA for any ideas.

TeachingKids · **Vocabulary Spiral** 11-02-2009, 06:08 PM

I'm a science teacher, and I have a vocabulary spiral we complete together every Monday. I choose 5 words from our lessons later in the week. We use a 3-column format with the word, definition, and an illustration. I also have students mark word stems to help us "decode" words. I reinforce the words as we complete the week's science lessons (and it really helps to have pre-taught the words!) The spiral is kept in the students' binders for study (in class, at home, on bus...) and I give a quiz each Friday- definition match and choosing the word that best fits a sentence.

My team's language arts teacher teaches 5 word stems each week. She does a great job lining these up with words we are teaching in other subject areas that use those stems. She also has a weekly quiz for these...

Tink898 · **Wow!** 11-03-2009, 06:27 AM

I really like your format- thanks for sharing!

mom23kids · **I've seen** 11-03-2009, 03:04 PM

this approach quite frequently in my school. I'm not sure where it came from, I'm not even sure I think it's good, but the kids love it!

The teacher gives them a word such as continent and asks the children what it is NOT? They say things like a continent is NOT a crayon, it's not apiece of paper, it's not an apple, all sorts of silly things. Then they learn the REAL definition. They draw a picture of the real thing with all the above in quadrants of the paper. Hmm ..weird huh? But they like it.

pxydst07 · **I love that!** 11-04-2009, 01:36 PM

I like the word, definition, picture format. I think this is useful for vocabulary in any subject. In math, I have my students write the definition and then have an example right there. The example may be a picture at times...but I never thought of doing this for Science. Great idea. Sometimes the most simple things can be applied across the board!

powellstarkey · **Guess the Vocabulary Word** 11-07-2009, 11:52 PM

One thing that I have done is had the students draw an illustration that they believe demonstrates what the word means. They do it in their notebook. I allow students to move around the room to guess the word that the drawing represents.
It gives students a chance to test themselves to see if they understand the selection vocabulary.