V is for Vocabulary!

I had posted about our vocabulary work in my last post (here,) but I wanted to give a little more detail to it.   

I really struggle with getting the vocabulary to stick with my little owls.  In the past, I would read the words, display the words on the word wall, and define the words but that just wasn't enough for the little owls to really get into it.  So I have been "beefing" up my vocabulary because of recent pd I attended.  I now start each week with an introduction to all 6 vocabulary words from our reading series.  I post the words with pictures on my whiteboard.  I point to each word, read it, little owls repeat, I define it, and sometimes we put a movement to it.  (The motions are a favorite!)  The cards I display look like this.  A wonderful literacy coach in our district made them and was kind enough to share them with us.

 

We review the words all week (read the word, define the word/move.)  The next week the words go into a vocabulary work station.  Here the little owls pick a word they know, write the word on the paper provided, and draw a picture of what the word means.  I have them come to me and read the word and tell about their pictures.  This is what is in their vocabulary work station basket.

 

 

This will be our fourth week of doing this vocabulary routine, so I wanted to spice it up a bit.  We are going to play a little game with our words this week.  How we will play is every time a little owl uses one of the vocabulary words correctly in a sentence a star sticker will be added to a paper with the word on it.  At the end of the day or week, we will see which word we used the most.  Since this will be our first time playing this game, I am only use 3 words from this week and 1 from last week.  I'm thinking we will look at the words at the end of the day to see which had the most stickers.  I will also start this Tuesday to allow them Monday to get familiar with the new vocabulary.  The game will look like this and will go on a bulletin board near our carpet area.

 

 

If you have any questions or would like a copy of the vocabulary station paper, feel free to leave a comment or your e-mail.

 

Enjoy your week,

Erin