Teaching Vocabulary

Assignment 1

•What texts and materials do teachers have in their classrooms that support students' development of fluent reading?

The classroom library is full of interesting books that the students can choose from. The students are encouraged to go to the “reading corner” often. New books are brought in from the public library every few weeks so the students have a good reading selection. The classroom word wall contains many familiar words with confusing spelling or new words that were learned in class.

•How do they select vocabulary to teach in all areas of your curriculum?

Students learned new words in context and were also encouraged to use context as a clue to figure out what a word means.

•How much time do they allocate to word study?

Vocabulary was not stressed as a separate lesson. While students would take turns reading a selection and an unfamiliar word came up, the teacher would write it on the board, give students a chance to think about what it might mean and then the class would discuss it. They would give examples of where the word can be found and how it would be used.

•What word study routines do they teach and encourage their students to use?

The word wall was where new words would be placed for the students to always be able to see them and practice reading them. They would have an easier time reading and understanding similar words to the ones on the word wall because they were able to access them easily. 

 

•How do they differentiate instruction and tasks based on their students' needs?

The students were given books to read that were on that their reading level. If the book was too difficult or too easy, they would get a different one that was appropriate for them. The students would often read together with peers on their own level, or with someone above their level to help them out.