COR - The Components of Reading - Part 5 - Vocabulary (Continued)

VOCABULARY & WORD KNOWLEDGE - CONTINUED
BECOME A WORD COLLECTOR

Start the school year by inspiring your students to become Word Collectors. The focus of this month's newsletter is on building a love for words in our classrooms, therapy settings, and homes. Perfect for all ages, I suggest sharing The Word Collector, written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds (2018)  See the YouTube Video of the Obama’s reading this book aloud HERE.

Jerome loved collecting all sorts of words: words he saw, heard, and read. He collected multisyllable words "that sounded like songs" and words he simply enjoyed saying. But one day, he had an accident, and his carefully categorized scrapbooks of words became a jumbled mess. That's when he started putting words together in new and unique ways, creating poems and songs. In the end, Jerome got his greatest joy from sharing those words with others.

In the book Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, the authors, Beck, McKeown, and Kucan discuss many vocabulary routines based on the Science of Reading. You may recall that Beck and McKeown were among the first to promote the idea of focusing on Tier Two words for vocabulary instruction. Here's a brief recap:

Tier One - (milk, cat, mom) Everyday words that students typically learn from oral language encounters. These words typically do not need to be taught in school because children often learn them at home.

Tier Two - (conclude, evidence, interpret) These words span multiple domains and topic areas. They are found across a wide range of subjects. Focusing instruction on these words impacts both reading and writing because the terms occur frequently across various domains. 

Tier Three - (photosynthesis, denominator, legislature) These words are specific to specialized topics. Because they occur in lower frequencies than Tier One and Two words, they should be taught as needed, as they arise in context.

The authors provide specific details and strategies for teaching Tier Two words, always beginning with a story or informational text to establish context. They also discuss the importance of developing a culture in the classroom that celebrates words of all kinds. They suggest incorporating a component they call Word Wizard that extends beyond the classroom. In a research study, they found increased vocabulary learning when students participated in the program. 

• The researchers gave students leaflets describing the different levels of the Word Wizard program: Word Watcher,  Word  Worker, Word Winner, Word Wizard etc.
• A Word Wizard Chart was set up to tally points for students' telling about experiences hearing, seeing, or using target vocabulary words outside of class.
• Students were able to use the points to earn extra credit and participate in special events.
• Points were tallied on an ongoing basis, and students received a certificate based on the level they had achieved. 

When I was in private practice as a dyslexia therapist, I sent two to three words home with students per week that we had come across in our reading, with a note encouraging parents to display the words on the refrigerator and get everyone in the family involved in using the words as many times as possible throughout the week. Because we focused on stories about real people and events, my students became quite excited whenever they were able to share background knowledge in the classroom about a topic we had covered.

At some point, most students struggle with words. A Walk in the Words written and illustrated by Hudson Talbott (2021) is a Schneider Family Honor Winner. This award is presented to books that effectively portray the experience of living with a disability.

When the author/illustrator was a boy, he loved drawing, but reading was hard for him. He could handle one word at a time, but too many of them caused trouble. He felt alone and lost, kind of like being lost in the woods. But then he learned that many smart and famous people were slow readers, too. Now Hudson  Talbott is a successful writer as well as a talented illustrator.

Words have power, and when we get excited about learning new words, our students share in that enthusiasm.

To find last month's free activities from VOCABULARY (Part 1), visit my July Blog Post. 

Sign up for my newsletter to receive more free activities for my ongoing COR series HERE.