Pictionary and Charades to Learn Vocabulary

We are continuing our series of posts by Beth Guadagni, who shares the strategies she uses in her Colorado classroom. Today, she writes about ways to help learn vocabulary.

Purpose:

To help students learn vocabulary words, in English or in other languages.

Materials:

• words to be studied, each written on a slip of paper
• list of words’ definitions
• something to draw with, and on

Procedure:
Students take turns picking words at random by drawing slips of paper. They must get the other players to guess the word by drawing it, or by acting it out. The first one to guess the word correctly gets to select the next word and draw it/act it out.

Why This Works:
My students can’t get enough of this game, so one of the primary reasons it works is that it keeps them engaged. Even my most introverted student thinks it’s great fun because I allow him to choose who will go next if he guesses the word correctly. The game allows the students to move around, as well, and research indicates that movement helps some kids learn faster and stay engaged longer.

People remember information more reliably when concepts are stored in their memories in multiple formats. Memorizing a list of words and their definitions gives students only one format in which to interact with, and remember, material. Having a mental image to associate with a word—whether it comes from a classmate’s drawing or the memory of a classmate performing an action—seems to help my students remember new words more quickly than any other exercise we’ve tried. Further, as they guess which word is being presented, they pore over the list of definitions with more vigor than they would to complete any worksheet or test I could give them. And in a surprisingly short time, they don’t need to reference the list at all.

My students’ memories for vocabulary have improved, and I’ve found that the Pictionary/charades approach helps my students to understand the new words more deeply as well. Even seeing vocabulary words in the context of sentences—a valuable learning experience, to be sure—pales in comparison to playing with the words. When deciding how to portray a word’s meaning to their classmates, my students have taken to connecting personally with the words. For example, one of my students hates to sit still. He loves nothing more than working up a good sweat. His drawing for the word “laborious” showed a stick figure mowing a lawn and smiling. My whole class now remembers that word easily because they connect it to this young man, who has developed a reputation for enthusiasm about chores the rest of them hate to be assigned at home. Charades and Pictionary have helped my students see how to use these words in their lives to express information about themselves or people they know. The information feels relevant because they’ve given it a context.

Although this activity really works only in a group setting, a student studying independently could use it as well. Spending a few minutes imagining how one would draw or act out vocabulary words on a list will still help a student to translate concept from one format (verbal) to another (visual or kinesthetic), leading to deeper and more lasting memories of the words’ meanings.

Photo by Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash

The Benefits of Reading to Young Children

Pediatrician and journalist Perri Klass is a leading advocate of reading to young children, and has long been involved in Reach Out and Read, a national organization that works through health providers to distribute books to parents of young children, many of whom could not afford to purchase them on their own.

Dr. Klass notes, in a recent New York Times article, that although studies have looked at what happens when parents speak to their children, there had not been extensive research on the specific impact of reading to a child, as opposed to just talking to them. She shares that two new studies shed new light on just what happens when children are read to and the benefits this can have for learning and development.

In one study, researchers used a form of functional MRI to map the areas of the brain that were activated when preschool children listened to stories. They determined that those who had been read to more frequently at home showed greater activation of brain areas supporting mental imagery and narrative comprehension. The brain region that was activated is the same one that is used when older children are reading to themselves and the researchers believe that children who build their brain circuits by being read to when they are young may be better equipped to make the transition to reading on their own when they are older.

Another study looked at a group of picture books often used when reading to young children. The researchers found that these picture books contained more unique types of words than were found when parents spoke directly to their children. They concluded that the text of picture books may be an important source of vocabulary for young children.

A benefit that was not quantified by these studies is the joy for both parent and child of sitting together, cuddled up, and sharing a book. Parents of young children may get tired of reading the same favorite story over and over and over, but early childhood is fleeting. Besides, many years later, you will probably be able to remember all the words to those books you read aloud dozens of times!

The Play’s the Thing

Most people have clearer memories of something they experience than of something they hear or see. Episodic memory, or memory for experiences, is an important part of long-term memory that savvy parents and educators use as much as possible to improve learners’ recall of important material.

This topic probably brings hands-on science experiments to mind, but experiential learning has its place in language arts, too. Allowing children to act is a lot of fun, but it can also help them remember new words, recall events in stories, and understand plots and character motivations in new ways.

Acting and Vocabulary

• Studies show that children, especially English Language Learners, understand and recall new vocabulary words more easily if they act out the new words while learning them. It’s easy to act out a word like “slumber” or “skip,” but some words require a little more imagination. For words like “perplexed” or “humble,” remember that facial expressions can go a long way. When defining a new word, act out the meaning and encourage the child to mirror your actions. Later, say the word and ask them if they can remember the motions.

• If you’re looking to move vocabulary practice beyond flashcards, try vocabulary charades. One by one, players secretly choose a word from a previously studied list, then act it out without using words. Whoever guesses the word correctly gets to act next.

Acting and Literature

Performing stories can be great fun for students, and it also helps them to think actively about the plot because they are experiencing the events firsthand. There are a number of ways in which students can act out what they read.

• The simplest way to act out a story or a scene from a story is to assign parts after kids have listened to the story (ideally more than once) and ask them to act it out from memory. Reassure actors that they do not need to remember their lines verbatim; paraphrasing is fine. Even shy kids will enjoy participating if given non-speaking roles; most books have plenty of these and they are often critical to the plot. Allow kids a rehearsal before they run through it more smoothly a second time. This can be a particularly interesting exercise for books in which the characters’ lines are not spelled out. If a book contains a scene that describes a conversation without actually documenting the words used in the conversation, for example, challenge students to make up lines that reflect what was probably said.

• Readers’ Theater is an excellent format in which to read stories that have lots of dialogue. It does require some preparation on the part of the adult, though, as scripts with characters’ lines (drawn straight from the text) need to be typed up. An adult should present scripts to elementary-aged readers. Those working with middle or high school students, however, might put students into groups and assign each one a chapter; the students can be assigned to write their own scripts together, and a whole book can be performed in this way!

• Got a single student on your hands? Provide him with figures such as Legos or dolls so that he can play all the parts. We are particularly fond of Playmobil for this purpose because sets come with so many props.

Artwork courtesy: http://cliparts.co/clipart/2309341

Summer Skills Building: Vocabulary

It's summer and thinking about academic skills is not high on any student's "to do" list. But the slower pace of the summer months makes them an excellent time to build skills that will be helpful when school begins again. This summer we will be featuring several blogs that will be looking at ways to build skills, work on problem areas from the past school year, and get ready for the challenges that September will bring. Don't worry -- we know it's vacation time and won't be suggesting anything too rigorous. We hope that our suggestions can help your student have fun, build strengths, and start the new school year ready to tackle what lies ahead.

We have written extensively on building vocabulary, and our prior posts have included a number of tools that can enrich students' vocabulary at all levels, from computer games to books to the importance of talking to young children to build their skills. Take a look and see what might be helpful to your child.

We have a few more suggestions that you might want to have your student try: 

• Wordly Wise 3000  

This computer-based program for grades K-12 teaches new vocabulary and definitions with audio and visual support. It also offers online games and activities to help reinforce the new vocabulary learned from the word lists.

• A.Word.A.Day 

This subscription service sends daily emails containing words selected for students in middle and high school. Students receive a daily email including the word, its definition, origin, and pronunciation, and several sentences containing the word. Students  should be encouraged to learn and use the new word regularly to gradually increase their vocabulary.

• E Readers

Another way to build vocabulary is to do summer reading on an electronic book reader, such as 

Amazon’s Kindle. An eReader allows students to tap on an unknown word to easily access the precise definition without interrupting their reading. Keep in mind, however, that the kind of light emitted by EReaders can interfere with sleep, so they are not good choices for before bedtime reading.

Literacy Lessons from Teachers College - Part II Vocabulary

I recently attended an exciting two-day conference on literacy in the elementary and middle grades hosted by faculty from Columbia University’s Teachers College. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and collaborative group work I learned a great deal about the implications of current research on literacy assessment and instruction. I look forward to sharing what I learned about phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing with readers of the Yellin Center’s blog!

Vocabulary knowledge can help, or hinder, reading comprehension enormously. Unfortunately, much of the vocabulary instruction students receive is not supported by research. Too many students receive a list of vocabulary words each week with the assignment to look up their definitions and use them in sentences. The words often have no relationship to each other or to content the students are studying in their classes. Effective vocabulary instruction is tied closely to the reading and writing students do in other subjects. And, like most high-quality teaching methods, sound vocabulary instructional practices show students how to understand words on their own, sometimes without even the aid of a dictionary!

Five Myths about Vocabulary

1) Learning definitions is sufficient.

In fact, students must have the chance to both see and use words in multiple contexts.

2) Weekly vocabulary lists are an effective way to learn new words.

Higher-quality learning is achieved when words are connected to each other and to curricular content.

3) Teachers should teach all unknown words, especially words written in bold/italic font.

This would result in unrealistically long lists of words that students couldn’t learn deeply. Instead, teachers should mindfully select key words for study.

4) Learning Latin and Greek roots is too difficult for young children.

Children are ready to learn roots in primary school.

5) Word learning can’t be fun.

Most students love word play!

What Works

First, teachers must know that there are multiple levels of “knowing” a word. One can know it phonologically (i.e. correct pronunciation), orthographically (i.e. correct spelling), semantically (knowledge of correct definition), and/or syntactically (i.e. can use it correctly). Students don’t need to know all this terminology, but understanding that there are different ways to know a word can help them to determine which words they need to study more closely. Teachers should encourage kids to put words into categories. Here is one such scale:

• Level One - Can define and use in a sentence 
• Level Two - Understand in context but not in isolation
• Level Three - Know the vague gist of (for example, knowing that “persecute” has a negative connotation but not knowing why)
• Level Four - Have never heard the word before

Research indicates that when teaching new vocabulary, instructors should aim to provide students with both depth and breadth in terms of vocabulary knowledge. Students should know enough words to make sense of what they read, but they should also learn selected words deeply. How can one know a word deeply? By being familiar with the nuances of its meaning, understanding which words and concepts are analogous and opposites, and understanding what parts of the word (affixes, roots, etc.) give it its meaning.

To learn a word well, students must have multiple exposures to the word in the context of meaningful sentences. Additionally, students come to “own” a word only after they have had chances to use it in writing and conversation. Games provide excellent opportunities for students to use new words.

Watch for upcoming posts about reading comprehension and writing!

Recommended Reads: Tiger, Tiger by Lynne Reid Banks

Tiger, Tiger by Lynne Reid Banks

Grades: 4-6

Plot: The story opens with the capture of two wild tiger cubs from their jungle home, then follows them into the dank belly of a ship bound for ancient Rome. The stronger cub is immediately chosen to be trained for Caesar’s games, where he will be set loose in the coliseum to fight gladiators to the death. He is known to his tormentors as Brute. Caesar’s plans for the smaller cub, however, are quite different: he is to be a pet for Caesar’s coddled daughter Aurelia. She names him Boots, and while Brute learns to lash out at humans with all the ferocity he can muster, Boots lives a life of luxury as he is pampered by Aurelia and cared for by her slave and animal keeper, Julius. But Aurelia’s idyllic existence starts to tarnish when she is taken to the coliseum for the first time and sees the violence her beloved father considers entertainment. Meanwhile, her cousin Marcus is becoming jealous of Aurelia’s growing affection for Julius, and he plans a prank that backfires horribly. The climax of the book reveal’s Rome’s cruelties to Aurelia and even to Marcus, but it highlights the power of family and love as well.

Adult themes: The book is certainly appropriate for most kids nine years old and above. Be warned that animal lovers will find plenty of moments in the book to be cringe-worthy, however, and some of the people in the book are treated cruelly as well. Too-young readers may struggle with the idea of Aurelia’s father arranging her marriage. 

Our Take: This unique and wonderful book by one of our favorite authors isn't as well-known as her Indian in the Cupboard series, but we found it just as compelling. Banks paints a living, breathing portrait of third century Rome that will make readers feel as though they’d stepped into a time machine, and the characters, even the minor ones, are sumptuously vivid as well. Brief scenes, such as the one in which Marcus’s father wrings his hands over pleasing Caesar even though they are related, or when Aurelia must put on a show at the coliseum for her father’s subjects despite her true feelings, will impress upon young readers the absolute power of the Caesars more than any history book could. One thing we really love about Banks is that her language and vocabulary are rich and complex – there’s none of the watered-down prose one sees too often in young people’s literature. Most sophisticated words are clear in context, but parents may wish to challenge kids to keep a list of words they can’t figure out on their own to make this book even more enriching.

-Beth Guadagni, M.A.

Recommended Reads: Frindle by Andrew Clements

As the East Coast heatwave continues to bake New York, sitting somewhere cool with a good book seems like the ideal activity. So, we decided  it's a good time to revisit our occasional Friday series, Recommended Reads, where we review books of interest to children and young adults. Today's book is Frindle, by Andrew Clements.

Ages: 8 and up

Plot: Nick Allen, our hero, doesn't fall into any of the usual categories at school. He isn't a bad kid, or a particularly brilliant kid. Instead, he’s known as the kid who has lots of great ideas and isn't afraid to explore them, even if it means shaking things up. When Mrs. Granger, his fifth grade language arts teacher, tells the class that words mean what they mean because people say they do, Nick decides to test this idea by inventing his own word. Before long, all of his friends are using Nick’s word, saying “frindle” instead of “pen.” Soon the whole grade is using Nick’s word. Then it’s all over the school! The word starts an all-out war between Nick and Mrs. Granger, who has the deepest respect for the sanctity of language and bans “frindle” from the school. But the word’s popularity is such that Mrs. Granger, and even Nick himself, loses control of it. Nick’s word is soon in the local news, then on national television! Readers will love this realistic fantasy that shows the power of a simple idea. The end of the book is immensely satisfying and heart-warming.

Our Take: As lovers of vocabulary and language, we are impressed by this simple story’s ability to make big questions about linguistics accessible to youngsters. We’re also fans of the book’s main characters. Nick is realistic and likable, and Mrs. Granger is the kind of English teacher some adult readers will remember fondly and others will wish they’d had. Her mastery of English is deep and passionate, and she’s sharp as a tack and tough as nails. At the same time, she demonstrates that she truly understands and cares about young people and occasionally betrays a delightful sense of humor. The path of Nick’s word, which is soon used all over town, gets him on talk shows, becomes an international sensation, begets a line of products, and is eventually adopted into the dictionary, seems far-fetched, but the spread of “frindle” mirrors the way new language is adopted in the real world.

Author Andrew Clements, through Mrs. Granger, shares with his readers the widely accepted anecdote of the creation of the word “quiz,” allegedly invented by Irishman Richard Daly in response to a bet that he couldn't spread a nonsense word of his own invention through Dublin in 48 hours. Nick unconsciously follows in Daly’s footsteps. The success of Nick’s word leads him to be a bit humbled by the power of his ideas, but he’s not cowed for long and soon puts his knack for thinking up and implementing his thoughts to work in other ways. (After learning about supply and demand in his history class, for example, he uses the principle to rally his classmates and ends up improving the quality of food in the school cafeteria.) We were pleased, by the way, to note that while Nick is certainly an out-of-the-box thinker, he is always careful to follow established rules and to be respectful to the adults in his life. Parents and teachers will love this book because it is an introduction to sophisticated themes. Students will love it because it is a great story. But be warned: It just might start young readers hatching some revolutionary ideas of their own.

Getting Comfortable with Uncomfortable Terminology

Christopher Webb

Families of children who struggle with learning and related issues, especially those who receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), encounter a great deal of unfamiliar vocabulary and acronyms. We've looked at some of those acronyms before, and will spend some time in a future blog on some vocabulary that may be unfamiliar to many parents and students.

Today, however, we are looking at three of the most difficult words that families encounter, words that tend to make both parents and students uncomfortable. By understanding these words and why they are used, we hope to make them less powerful and to enable parents to better understand what they do -- and do not -- mean when used to discuss their child.

One of these terms is co-morbid, which can sound downright, well, morbid. But this term has nothing to do with things that are scary or creepy. In fact, it is an often used medical term to describe conditions that occur together, whether or not they are caused by the same process. So, a middle-aged person who is overweight might have co-morbid high blood pressure and diabetes. The two conditions both impact the health of the individual, but each needs to be considered and treated separately, although weight loss might positively impact both conditions. Children with learning difficulties may have such co-morbid conditions as attention deficit disorder (ADD) or anxiety. If learning difficulties are addressed, the anxiety may subside. Individuals may also have other co-morbid conditions that have no particular impact on their learning -- medical conditions that need treatment but are not related to their learning and/or attention issues.

Another term families can encounter is classified, as in "we will have to have your child classified in order to provide her with services." This term comes from the way that services are provided under the IDEA; students are not eligible to receive special education and related services, supplementary aids and services, and program modifications under an IEP (Individualized Education Program) unless they fall into one of ten categories, which include things like specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, or hearing impairments. We often tell parents to think of a classification as a key; it is simply a way to access services and it usually doesn't matter what classification is used (and classification categories can be changed), since the services provided to a classified student are supposed to be unique to that student's individual needs.

Finally, the one term that makes parents most uncomfortable is disability. We don't like it either, but many parents need to deal with it since it is used throughout every law that provides the basis of services to children of all ages who are experiencing challenges with learning or related issues, and that allows older students and adults access to accommodations (such as extended time on the SATs, text-to-speech software provided by their college, or job modifications in the workplace) throughout their lifetime. While the IDEA looks to its classifications to decide what is a disability, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) takes a more functional approach, looking at the impact of "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities" and then very broadly explaining that "major life activities include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working." No matter how you or your student encounter the word "disability" it's important to keep in mind that this term is just Congress's way of setting up a plan to decide who is eligible for services and accommodations. Don't let it define how you or your child view his unique combination of strengths and challenges.

Flocabulary: A Novel Way to Learn New Concepts

Fact: Studying vocabulary flashcards is not as much fun as listening to music.

Why fight it? Trade in your vocabulary drills, math lessons, and science cramming for fun rap videos by Flocabulary. Available at their website or on YouTube, Flocabulary videos are catchy rap tracks that teach a variety of important concepts in a format that is palatable and memorable. For example, here is a sample of some lyrics from “Carlito,” a vocabulary-based track about the importance of standing your ground.  In the song, man named Carlito takes his dog for a walk and encounters “an evil, malevolent old man” who wants to steal the dog:

“The man looked ready to punch, he was truculent,
Pugnacious, ready to fight, belligerent.”

(Don’t worry, the story has a happy, and non-violent, ending.) This is what’s fantastic about Flocabulary – can you think of a catchier, clearer way to teach three SAT words in a single sentence?  Listening to this song a few times will cement forty words likely to be found on the SAT into a student’s mind. As a bonus, students can follow the lyrics as they listen on the Flocabulary website and click on words they may not understand completely to get the definition in a handy pop-up window. 

Flocabulary makes videos for students as young as kindergarten and covers topics found in some of the most advanced high school physics and literature classes. All of the lyrics are free and so are some of the videos, but for access to all of them users must pay a small subscription fee. Visit the Flocabulary website to see how these infectious beats can help your youngster master math facts, geometric formulas, Shakespeare, story elements, civics, globalization, and more!    

Watch a sample video below.

Learn Vocabulary and Fight Hunger with Free Rice

Talk about multi-tasking! Free Rice provides an online platform for taking vocabulary quizzes, and for every correct answer you provide, the World Food Programme will donate 10 grains of rice to hungry people around the world. (It doesn't sound like much, but the game is so addictive your donation will add up in no time.) The World Food Programme is the food aid arm of the United Nations and since the U.N. General Assembly is meeting in New York City this week, this is a timely way to participate in a good deed with global ramifications.

 Players can either log in to connect with other players and track their totals, or just open up the page for a few minutes of charitable, educational quizzing when they have a spare moment. Each question is multiple choice, and wordsmiths can work their way up through 60 levels of vocabulary questions. If your answer is incorrect, text near the top of the page will inform you of the right definition, then give you the same word a few minutes later to determine whether you've learned it. Meanwhile, a wooden bowl to the right of the screen slowly fills with rice as you play and tracks how much you've donated so far.

The site has recently added other quiz categories, including multiplication and basic math, English grammar, geography, chemistry, the arts, and foreign languages like Spanish and French.

With Free Rice you can benefit your brain and needy people across the globe at the same time!

Photo: Joshua Rappeneker / Creative Commons

Award-Winning Audiobooks

We love audiobooks. Not only are they entertaining, they allow children whose decoding skills are less developed than their language skills to access important literary concepts, vocabulary, and background knowledge. Students who read along with audiobooks reap even greater rewards because seeing words while hearing them builds fluency. And of course audiobooks are perfect for summer, when a good story can make hours in the car fly by.

The selection of titles available in audio format is growing, making it difficult to choose good ones. For those unwilling to be stuck with a subpar recording of an otherwise great book, the Audie Awards are a lifesaver. The Audies are sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association and presented to recordings that demonstrate excellent narrative voice and style, vocal characterization, appropriateness of audio format, and enhancement of text. As well as the award for audiobook of the year, outstanding books are considered for awards in a wide variety of categories, like biography/memoir, classics, humor, business, and mystery. There are also categories for books read by the author and for multi-voiced performances. Young people should check out the finalists and award winners in the Teens, Children Under 8, and Children Ages 8-12 categories. The website of audiobook magazine AudioFile presents a list of finalists and winners in each category, and would-be listeners can access full reviews and even hear a short sample of texts that seem appealing.

In addition to the awards lists, AudioFile is host to a wealth of audiobook reviews. So before committing to that book intended to entertain your family in the car for the next 30 hours, consult this list to be certain you’ve picked a winner. 

Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

Memory is a strange animal indeed. Recent research suggests that people have difficulty differentiating between what they know and what is familiar to them unless they are specifically prompted to do so. Dr. Yellin likes to share a story about a conference about memory he attended in which the lecturer asked the attendees how many of them knew how a toilet worked. Most of the hands in the room went up. The lecturer then asked how many of them could explain it step by step. Nearly every hand went down. This is the difference between familiarity and mastery: Just because our memories have encountered a concept before does not mean that we understand it thoroughly.

The first step in transitioning from a recognizer to a master of a concept is to determine where the gaps are, and sometimes that realization takes some outside prompting. This issue is particularly prevalent in the issue of vocabulary. Many students will say that they know a word’s meaning only to be unable to define it when asked. Chances are they’re not being cheeky; their brains are just confusing familiarity with mastery. To help students combat this, a vocabulary scale can be a great tool. 

The scale is made up of four levels:

Level 1 – I can define that word and use it in a sentence.

Level 2 – I’ve heard that word before and know the gist of it. I may be able to give you some examples or use it in a sentence, but I can’t come up with a solid definition.

Level 3 – I’ve heard that word before, but I have no idea what it means.

Level 4 – Huh? I’ve never heard or seen that word.

If an adult working or talking with a student suspects that a student does not know a word, s/he should ask the student to determine which level the word is for them using the scale. Sometimes, simply discussing a Level 2 word is enough to help students construct a definition for it. Words from Level 3 and 4 should be taken in context, and preferably in the context of other sentences as well, deconstructed, and looked up.

The vocabulary scale is not intended to instruct students in vocabulary, per se. It can, however, make students more self-aware of their levels of word knowledge, making it even more powerful than any curriculum.

Photo: Horia Varlan/Flickr Creative Commons

Build Vocabulary and Background Knowledge with Podcasts

In an earlier post about building vocabulary, we wrote that reading widely is the best way to build new vocabulary. Words encountered in context are more likely to become part of a person’s vocabulary. Seeing a word is generally preferable to simply hearing it. However, today’s students seem to have particularly packed schedules, and they may have difficulty squeezing in non-required reading. Thankfully, there are an increasing number of podcasts on the rise that can expose students to great language, and great ideas, on the go.

Some of our favorite podcasts, all available for free download via iTunes (as well as other providers), are listed below. The average high school student and many inquisitive, thoughtful middle school students should be able to benefit from them. Parents should be sure to preview episodes if they have concerns about the ideas or language used; although two of the three are broadcast on National Public Radio, their target audience is composed primarily of adults. All three offer fascinating discussion of relevant topics, and can be enjoyed while a student is washing dishes, going for a jog, cleaning his/her room, or commuting to and from school or a practice, rehearsal, or tutoring session.

Enriching, Entertaining Podcasts

RadioLab

A surprisingly entertaining podcast about science.

This American Life

Weekly episodes share enriching stories about the week’s theme.

Stuff You Should Know

Provides investigation of fascinating, universal questions, like “Is it possible to control your dreams?”

Reading Beyond Books to Build Vocabulary

Studies repeatedly show that the best way to build vocabulary is through exposure to new words, and the best way to find new words is to read. People who read a lot, especially if they choose texts that span topics and genres, will encounter new words more frequently. Paired with the context provided by sentences and paragraphs, new words are more likely to stick than they are if studied in isolation or accompanied only by a definition on a flashcard.

Students averse to reading may balk at the idea that reading is the best way to improve their vocabularies. However, reading novels is not the only way to expose their minds to new vocabulary. There are an abundance of valuable reading options available that go beyond chapter books. Newspapers, for example, are a great way to pick up new vocabulary. Most newspapers are written at a level accessible to students in middle and high school, and the variety of topics covered throughout the various sections mean that there will almost certainly be something to interest just about anyone in an issue. (It should be noted that engagement is critical; an unengaged reader is unlikely to maintain the level of focus needed for vocabulary acquisition, so students should read about topics that genuinely interest them.)

Magazines can also make for great, educational reading. Check out some of the following options for:

Upper Elementary and Middle School

• Odyssey – variety of science topics
• Girl Zone – substantive reading material for girls
• Time for Kids – current events, local and world culture
• Sports Illustrated for Kids – various sports, featuring both young athletes and professionals

High School

• Teen Voices– substantive magazine for teenage girls
• Cicada– literary magazine for middle and high school students
• Teen Ink– online magazine containing fiction and non-fiction on a variety of topics
• Upfront– news magazine for teenagers published by the New York Times
• Time/Newsweek – written on a level most high school students can understand
• iaam.com – tips on money management, career options, college, etc.
• NextStepU – college and career advice

Photo: Robert Wallace/Flickr

Unlocking Science Vocabulary

Scientific concepts can be difficult enough on their own, and the long vocabulary words used in science can make the subject seem incomprehensible to some students. Happily, many common words in science can be deciphered by considering the word's morphemes. A morpheme is a small, meaningful part of a word; for example, “in-“ in the word “indivisible” means “not.” 

Some good morphemes to start with are micro- (“small”), therm- (“heat”), and photo- (“light”). 


How to Use Morphemes

Beginning with the target word to be studied (“thermometer”), present the definition of the word, and the crucial morpheme (therm-) and its meaning (“heat”). Ask students to determine how the morpheme’s meaning is related to the meaning of the word. Then ask the student to come up with several other known words that contain the morpheme (e.g. “thermal, thermometer”). In the case of “thermometer,” it may also be useful to teach the morpheme -meter (“measure”).

Finally, present students with other scientific words containing the targeted morphemes. Explain that -phile means “lover of” and ask them what a thermophile might be, or tell them to think about the word “altitude” and figure out what an altimeter does.

Students who enjoy this kind of detective work about the meaning and origins of words might want to sign up for Dictionary.com's Word of the Day or check the Daily Buzzword at the Merriam-Webster website.

Visuwords: Word Webs to Help Build Vocabulary

Word webs can be a great way to teach students new vocabulary. Rather than simply examining the definition of a word, students have to arrange many words according to their meanings and thus consider finer points of their definitions as they determine how best to connect them. Visuwords, an innovative “online graphical dictionary” takes the idea of word webs to a completely different level.

With Visuwords (recommended for students in grade 5 and above), students can type just about any word (“rhythm” or “Jefferson”) or combination of words in common expressions (“blow up”) into the field at the top of the page, and moments later a word web will appear below. Using the key along the left edge of the screen, students can interpret the different colors and styles of connective lines to determine how the linked words are related to each other; options include “opposes” (e.g. “blow up” opposes “scale down”), “derivation" (e.g. “communicate” is a derivation of “communication”), “is a part of” (e.g. “photosynthesis” is a part of “light reaction”) and many, many more. The colored dot behind each word on the web indicates its part of speech. Best of all, a student can view definitions for any of the terms on the web by moving the mouse over a word, an ingenious way to provide lots of information without making the web too cluttered. Students can drag words around to make the web easier to view, or group similar concepts for deeper processing.

Visuwords can be a fantastic way to learn the shades of meaning inherent in complex words, and it can function as a thesaurus as well.

Quack! for SAT Vocabulary

When your child can’t bear to even look at another flashcard as s/he prepares for the SAT, it’s time to seek alternative measures. Quack! Media’s SAT Vocabulary Success DVD's will not only come as a huge relief to a frustrated teenager, they may be entertaining as well.

The two DVDs in Quack!: Vocab Success for the New SAT painlessly teach 100 words that frequently appear on the SAT. These are no standard vocabulary lessons, however; words are taught with sketches and hilarious, Mystery Science Theater 3000-style dubs that will keep students riveted. Not only will kids be highly engaged, they’ll be provided with images to associate with each vocabulary word, helping them to hold onto its meaning when test time rolls around. Of course, Quack! is a great resource for younger children too, and would be a welcome addition to any middle school student’s classroom or homework session. Creative teachers can even task students with writing and performing their own vocabulary skits for classmates. The package comes with pre- and post-tests and interactive quizzes as well.

Parents and teachers should not be surprised to find themselves just as amused, and enlightened, by Quack! as the teenagers in their lives.

Order the product online here.

-Beth Guadagni, M.A.

Morphology: An Innovative Approach to Learning Vocabulary

There’s a saying that if you give a man food, you will feed him for a day, but if you teach him to farm you can feed him for a lifetime. Believe it or not, the same principle can be applied to vocabulary instruction. Teaching students to be proactive wordsmiths rather than simply passive memorizers of definitions can empower them to tackle unknown words with confidence and, often, success.

Morphology, literally translated, is the study of form. Teaching students to zero in on the different parts that make up a word’s form allows them to use more than just context clues to understand its meaning. Teaching Greek and Latin roots is certainly a part of this. But morphology takes root study a step further by encouraging students to think about words they already know.

For example, imagine students come across the word "contradict". The meaning of this word is fairly simple to derive if one knows one’s Latin roots. But students can figure out this new word by comparing it with words that are already in their vocabularies.

First, the word must be divided into two parts, contra- and –dict-. Next, students should list words they know that contain either of those parts and make a list.

For example:

contra- : contraband, contrary, contraption
(And since “contra-“ is related to “counter-“ we can add: counterproductive, counterintuitive counterfeit, counterclockwise.)

-dict- : benediction, dictionary, predict, diction, dictate, dictator, verdict.

Now for the fun part: Turn students loose to try to figure out what each word part means based on the words they already know. After some thought, it becomes clear that if counterclockwise means “the opposite of clockwise” and counterproductive means “not productive,” contra- must mean “opposite of” or “not.” (This hypothesis should be checked against the other words: A contrary person is someone who has a negative attitude, and counterfeit money is the opposite of real money, so it fits.)

Similarly, a dictionary contains words, and a prediction is something you say will happen before it happens, so dict- must be related to words or speech. Put together, it can be deduced that contradict means “opposite of + speech” or, more elegantly, “to say something that goes against someone else’s words.” This is a good time to point out that some words students may list, like contraption as an example of a word with contra-, won’t really work; while morphology is a great tool, students need to know that they may have to work around some inconsistencies. This is a great lesson to learn, because that’s the way language works!

Morphology is a fantastic approach to teaching vocabulary because it takes the emphasis off of memorization and shifts it to authentic analysis of language. It is also empowering: Instead of feeling unprepared, students will be confident in the knowledge that they can reason through unfamiliar words. The focus in this case may be on contradict, but as a bonus, students have encountered all the other words their classmates have listed. In this way, they have the opportunity to teach each other new words and think deeply about what these words mean based on their structures.

Vocabulary flashcards may be a favorite method for cramming before a vocabulary test, but to gain true, lasting word knowledge, morphology is a far better approach. For a great way to make morphology more visual, look for Rod Winters’s 2009 article “Interactive Frames for Vocabulary Growth and Word Consciousness” in The Reading Teacher.

Understanding Reading Levels

Assessing a student’s reading capability is not as simple as saying that he or she reads at, above, or below grade level. Reading is a complicated business, and a student’s reading level can be equally complex. One of the most important things for a parent to keep in mind is that there is no single reading level that can encompass all of their child’s strengths and weaknesses. Reading specialists look at several different types of reading when assessing a child’s abilities:

Type of text: Narrative or Expository?

Children hear narratives – stories that feature a setting, characters, and generally predictable plot structure – long before they are able to read them. For years they listen to stories and follow along in picture books at bedtime and are therefore extremely familiar with the patterns that govern narratives by the time they start sounding out the words by themselves. All of this experience makes narratives much easier for children to understand than non-fiction expository texts. Not only is expository subject matter often less familiar, but the structure of the text is very different, in that setting, characters, and plot are absent. For this reason, most children, indeed most people, read narratives on a higher level than expository texts. It is perfectly normal and even expected that a student will read, say, a sixth grade-level narrative and a fifth grade-level expository text with equal proficiency.

Format of reading: Instructional or Independent?

When a fourth grader reads a fourth grade history textbook, her teacher provides background information before the reading, explanations during the reading, and comprehension questions after the reading. She is not expected to completely comprehend the text without the aid of her teacher because it is written at her instructional level, meaning that she needs some assistance to fully grasp it. The book she might select for free reading may be a third grade-level chapter book, which is appropriate because this time she is reading it by herself and has only her own reading skills from which to draw to understand it. Just as it is expected that children will read narrative and expository texts on different levels, it’s appropriate for a child to read independently at a higher level than she is able to read by herself.

A note about independent reading

It is critical that students read independent books that are easy for them to comprehend. Parents may be tempted to offer their children only grade-level books for free reading, but the value of free reading lies in the opportunity it affords students to practice reading skills that have been learned, not to build new ones. Developing readers need to increase fluency, vocabulary, and experience through understanding of texts. Challenging books, if read independently, will not allow them to build any of those skills; instead, they will struggle simply to understand the words and the basic story line.

Taking all of this into consideration, here are a few tips for parents:

Ask questions. If a professional tells you that your child is reading on a particular grade level, inquire about the context. (“Does Nathan read at a second grade level independently, or with instruction?” or “What is his expository reading level?”)

Expose your children to plenty of expository texts. The earlier they begin to hear and read informational texts, the more experience they will be able to gain with different text structures. Simple articles in magazines like Ranger Rick or Sports Illustrated for Kids can be great choices.

Pick a topic that is highly interesting to your child. Allow children to read books they can manage easily when they read for leisure. They may look like they aren’t being challenged, but they are improving their reading rate, adding words to their sight word banks, and absorbing the meanings and spellings of hundreds of words. And allowing children to read books that are fun and easy for them will help foster a true love of reading.

Using the Internet to Improve Students’ Vocabularies

Research about vocabulary acquisition is plentiful and varied, yet nearly all of it agrees on certain facts about learning new words. One of the most important conclusions drawn by researchers is that the lion’s share of a student’s vocabulary comes from words learned through incidental exposure (i.e. words whose definitions a student figures out from context, either in reading or from oral speech).

Even the best language arts teachers cannot impart more than 300-400 words to students in a school year through formal, explicit instruction, yet by the time students reach 8th grade, they should know about 25,000 words! That means that most words and their meanings that students absorb come from informal, daily interactions with language. Research indicates that reading widely (about many topics and in many genres) and deeply (thoughtfully and reflectively) is one of the best ways for children to learn vocabulary incidentally.

A recent article in The Reading Teacher, by Bridget Dalton and Dana L. Grisham, provides suggestions for ways these research-based principles can be married to newly available technology to enhance students’ vocabulary acquisition. We were interested to learn that Dr. Dalton had previously served as Chief Officer of Literacy and Technology for CAST, a non-profit research and development organization that focuses on universal design for learning theory and practice. Dr. Yellin is a member of the Board of Directors of CAST. Some of the favorite technological tools mentioned by the authors are:

• wordle and wordsift. To help them visualize relationships between words, students can create enhanced word clouds to help them make sense of the vocabulary in a text.

• vocabulary and vocabulary.com. Both of these sites boast a wide selection of motivating games that allow elementary school students to have fun while they learn.

• time for kids , weekly reader, national geographic kids and science news for kids. – The high-interest, informational articles featured on these sites will encourage vocabulary development by enticing elementary school students to read about unfamiliar topics.