Word Nerds: Intro & Ch. 1

So, I've had this book for waaaaay to long to not have read it. When Ms. Leslie Ann from Life in Fifth Grade mentioned that she was going to do a mini book study on it, I knew I had to read it, too! So... I went to my classroom and dug it out of the pile of resources stacked high for waxing. Ms. Leslie Ann shared her thoughtS for the introduction and chapter 1 that you can find here. Now I'm going to share my own!

A lot of the things that were mentioned in the introduction and chapter 1 were things I already knew. However, there were some things that caught my attention!

The introduction just really set the stage for the remainder of the book. It gives us a background about the teacher and the classroom we will be looking at. Even though I was already familiar with most of the ideas mentioned in chapter 1, I loved the research! As teachers, we should always have research to back up what we are doing in our own classrooms. Here are some I thought were note worthy!

Perhaps the most meaningful idea from this chapter is what words to teach. Have you ever heard of the three tiers of vocabulary? This is something I already knew but didn't use that much in my classroom. I am definitely going to make more of an effort to really use this in my instruction this year. Here's what the three tiers are and which words you should be teaching in your classroom!

Jen Jones from Hello Literacy has an awesome free resource for visual learners! You can download it here.

Here are a few other things that seemed to be of importance to me. Most of these were numbered under the heading Research Reveals the Right Approach.

• Students have to learn words at more than one level
• Students must experience words multiple times (no more study list, define, vocabulary quiz, forget it)
• When students learn words they build 'word schema' which is beneficial for defining words in context
• Students can build their vocabulary through reading
• Students can learn words through conversation
• Students can learn words through word play (and it's fun!)
• Students need direct vocabulary instruction
• Most students need word-learning strategies (a variety of them) to become better readers

Here are a few things I'm guilty of... I assumed 5th graders knew how to decode the meaning of a word in context. Now I have realized that they will need direct instruction on how to do this. This is such a useful skill, y'all! By using context, you can understand almost any word! The #1 thing I'm guilty of.... not using the same vocabulary in all my classes. Sometimes I find myself using simple language in my Co-teaching special needs class. This is a NO, NO! If students don't understand, you should help them so they can. 

I am doing really well at my advanced class' vocabulary instruction. We focus on parts of words (prefix, suffix, roots). Do we have a quiz? YEP! But I also see and hear them using past words in their conversations and parts of words to help with meaning of other words. It's great!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from chapter 1!