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Strategies to Create Vocabulary Virtuosos A Zoom Session for Region 10 ELAR 6-12

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43 Valuable Vocabulary Activities for Kids

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43 Valuable Vocabulary Activities for Kids

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Vocabulary is the foundation for language development. Vocabulary expansion plays a critical role in reading comprehension, and it is also essential to the improvement of communication skills. Expanding a child's vocabulary impacts his overall writing, reading, listening, and speaking skills which allows him to understand and connect with the world. These assignments for students will provide you with activities to help students at various grade levels achieve essential vocabulary standards.

1. Vocabulary Wheels

Students will love this engaging vocabulary activity. They can work individually or in pairs or groups to create one or two wheels to connect the vocabulary words with their definitions. Teachers can adapt this accurate matching activity for any age group to teach effective vocabulary in their classrooms. Learn about this fun activity as well as two others here.

Learn More: Galarious Goods

2. Comic Strip Vocabulary

This fun vocabulary activity involves using a controlled vocabulary list to have students write the closest matching definition in their own words, draw a picture of the meaning, and use the word correctly in a sentence. The goal of this engaging activity is for students to correctly use vocabulary words in conversations.

Learn More: This Reading Mama

3. Roll A Word

This vocabulary activity is anything but boring! The Roll a Word vocabulary sheet can be used with any vocabulary word and any age level. Students will enjoy rolling a die. The vocabulary activity depends on the number the student rolls. Learn the directions for this great game here.

Learn More: Southern Fried Teachin

4. Ice Cream Scoops

This creative activity focuses on multiple-word meanings. This activity is an efficient method for helping students understand that some words have different meanings based on how they are used in spoken or written language. Once students understand this, they will have an increase in vocabulary retention and expansion.

Learn More: Make Take Teach

5. Word Graffiti

This is a wonderful activity to use with your students before they read an assignment. It is definitely not a difficult task. The teacher can use a customized list of words for focus and write them on dry-erase boards or large paper. The students can work individually or in groups to complete this fun and engaging activity.

Learn More: Fun In Fourth

6. Fancy Nancy

This chart is an astounding way to teach students to use context clues. The teacher is the facilitator and should model how the vocabulary word is used in the context of the story that is being read in class. The teacher will also provide examples of how the students could apply the vocabulary word in their daily lives. Learn more about the Fancy Nancy activity here.

Learn More: Miss De Carbo

7. Vocabulary Basketball

Do you need a fun way to keep your students interested in learning vocabulary? Then, vocabulary basketball is the perfect game for your classroom. Use this fun-filled basketball activity to review a vocabulary lesson while you observe student progress.

Learn More: 4 The Love Of Teaching

8. Word Grid Challenge

Students will enjoy this creative vocabulary assignment that can be used with any subject. Teachers love using this activity in their classrooms because it is easy to create, and it keeps students engaged and on task. Learn how to make your own word grids for your classroom here.

Learn More: Literature Daydreams

9. Swat the Vocab

Are you searching for a way to motivate your students about vocabulary review? The Swat the Vocab is the perfect game to use in your classroom. Students will enjoy working in teams to compete against one another as they learn vocabulary words. Find out more about this game here.

Learn More: Forever in Fifth Grade

10. Vocabulary Categories

This efficient matching vocabulary game can be used with most grade levels and with any subject area. It is a terrific activity that encourages students to use their critical thinking skills while learning the definitions of various words. Read more about how to incorporate your own Vocabulary Categories game into your daily lessons.

Learn More: Classroom Freebies

11. Magnetic Poetry

Promoting efficient learning with this inexpensive magnet word set is a terrific way to address many students' needs. Students can create sentences or short stories while they practice syntax, articulation sounds, and vocabulary. Learn more about this activity here.

Learn More: Amazon

12. The Zoo - Core Vocabulary Song

Students love music! Your younger students will enjoy participating in song vocabulary with The Zoo Song. This video contains a language and speech song that has an emphasis on core vocabulary.

Learn More: YouTube

13. Academic Vocabulary

Academic vocabulary is critical to student learning. Use these words and strategies to see systematic vocabulary improvement in your students' skills. This is a terrific way to improve structured response questions on assessments.

Learn More: Musings From The Middle School

14. Sequencing With Balloons

Lots of kids love popping balloons! This activity includes adding small strips of paper that include events from a familiar story. Students will learn about sequential context and sequential rearrangements from this activity. Find out more about this fun activity here.

Learn More: Cassie Dahl

15. Multi-Syllable Words

This hands-on activity allows struggling students to effectively move from decoding individual syllables to multi-syllable/consecutive syllable words. This will assist students in improving their reading fluency and overall vocabulary.

Learn More: I Heart Teaching Elementary

16. 3 Ways to Stress a Syllable

This is a terrific syllable phonology resource for teachers to help their students understand when to stress a syllable. This video includes the long vowel, clear vowel, and pitch per syllable.

Learn More: YouTube

17. Free Vocabulary Activities

If you are searching for fun and entertaining vocabulary activities, your students will enjoy Hot Potato Vocab, Magic Hat Vocabulary, and Swat the Vocab Word. These activities will make the learning of vocabulary words an exciting part of the school day.

Learn More: Inspired Owls Corner

18. Vocabulary Word Search

If your students can't get enough of puzzles (and who can blame them?), here is yet another idea to get them excited about vocab! Create a word search puzzle on a familiar topic and have them scour the letter grid to locate the words.

Learn More: WordMint

19. Word Tower Challenge

For a dynamic activity that will enhance your learners' vocabulary, instruct them to build a "word tower". By stacking blocks, with each block depicting a new word, they'll pick up a new language in a fun way!

Learn More: Planning Playtime

20. Storytelling Vocabulary Relay

Take your students on a linguistic adventure with this storytelling activity! Have them collectively weave a story by taking turns to add to the narrative; each one incorporating a new word. This not only encourages creativity in your little ones but also improves their understanding of the contextual usage of new words.

Learn More: Vocabulary Luau

21. Synonym Match-up

Synonyms are a crucial part of language acquisition. To make the learning process enjoyable for your learners, turn it into a game! Challenge them to match each word to its corresponding synonym card.

Learn More: Pinterest

22. Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle

If your little ones are puzzle enthusiasts, a vocabulary-themed crossword is just the thing to up their word-count stores! Help them recall definitions and spellings by using clues to unveil the all words in the puzzle.

Learn More: WordMint

23. Vocab Memory Game

Foster a deeper understanding of words with this twist on the classic memory game! Simply invite your students to match vocabulary words with their definitions.

Learn More: Mr. Elementary

24. Vocabulary Puppet Show

Let your learners' creativity shine by having them put on a puppet show- incorporating new vocabulary into normal dialogue. Whilst enhancing their language fluency, this activity will help them tap into some imaginative creative play.

Learn More: Ser4Kids

25. Vocabulary Jeopardy

Take inspiration from the ever-popular game show, Jeopardy, to create a vocabulary-based quiz with categories like definitions, synonyms, antonyms, or sentence usage. Don't forget to have your learners answer in the form of a question- as in the original show!

Learn More: SlidePlayer

26. Rhyme Time Vocabulary

Who doesn't love a good rhyme? Ask your kids to come up with a rhyming word for each of their vocabulary words. This activity strives to not only reinforce phonemic awareness but also expand your kiddos' vocabulary in a playful manner.

Learn More: Pinterest

27. Vocabulary Skit

Encourage your learners to channel their inner Shakespeare with this next activity! Divide your class into small groups- instructing them to write and perform a short skit that incorporates all their newly acquired vocabulary correctly. This theatrical adventure provides the perfect creative outlet while consolidating your pupils' vocabulary knowledge.

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

28. Picture Association

If pictures are worth a thousand words, as they say, it makes sense to use them in educational activities! Ask your students to draw a picture that they associate with each of their vocabulary words to help them link words to concepts; facilitating longer-term retention.

Learn More: Twinkl

29. Vocabulary Pictionary

This thrilling rendition of the popular parlor game promotes visual thinking and encourages your students to think about the meaning behind words. Have your kiddos draw an image that they associate with a word before challenging the rest of their classmates to guess the word!

Learn More: Icebreaker Ideas

30. Word Ladder

Guide your students up the ladder of language proficiency with a game that encourages word recognition and vocabulary expansion! Let them start with one word before changing one letter at a time to create a new word.

Learn More: Sadlier School

31. Vocabulary Charades

Another popular parlor game, charades, can be used in the classroom to expand your learners' vocabulary. In this version, have your students act out their word while others guess what it is.

Learn More: The Elementary Helper

32. Word Jigsaw Puzzle

Have your kiddos piece together the meaning of words with a puzzle activity! Create a jigsaw puzzle with words and their definitions as separate pieces. Then, ask your learners with matching each word to its correct definition; promoting problem-solving and improving their word recognition.

Learn More: Teacher's Pet

33. Vocabulary Hangman

In this classic guessing game, challenge your students to guess letters to unveil a hidden word. This will help you reinforce spelling and vocabulary knowledge in an engaging way!

Learn More: Pinterest

34. Sentence Scramble

Improve your pupils' understanding of word context and sentence structure with this popular word game! Provide each learner with sentences where words are removed and replaced with blanks. Then, ask them to fill in the blanks with the correct words.

Learn More: Academy Simple

35. Vocab Bingo

Spice up your routine language class with a vocabulary-themed game of Bingo! Create a Bingo board with different words before furnishing each pupil with one. Then, read out the definitions and have your students cross off the corresponding word; resulting in an enjoyable and interactive way for them to revise their new vocab!

Learn More: Buzz Buzz Bingo

36. Vocabulary Guess Who

Encourage strategic thinking and reinforce your learners' word knowledge with this fun guessing game! Instruct them to ask yes/no questions to discover their opponents' hidden words.

Learn More: Twinkl

37. Word Web

Guide your students on a linguistic exploration with a word web activity! To begin, have them create a web of words that relate to one of their vocabulary words. As they explore synonyms, antonyms, and related concepts, their understanding of the words and their usage will grow.

Learn More: Speech and Language Kids

38. Vocabulary Mind Map

With this activity, you can help your learners leverage the powerful learning tool of mind mapping! Ask them to create a mind map for each of their vocabulary words; linking it with related concepts and images. This visually stimulating exercise will help them see connections between words and understand their meaning in a broader context.

Learn More: Pinterest

39. Vocabulary Flashcards

Flashcards are an effective memorization technique used by generations of learners. Task your students with creating flashcards with the word on one side and the definition on the other; the perfect tool for learning new words and remembering them!

Learn More: Twinkl

40. Word Puzzle Race

Rev up your kiddos' language engines with this puzzle race. Create puzzles with vocabulary words split into syllables and then have your learners race to put them together as quickly as they can! This not only enhances their vocabulary but helps you promote syllable recognition as well.

Learn More: Puzzle To Play

41. Word Chain

Reinforce word recognition with this fun challenge! Ask your little ones to form a chain where the last letter of one word becomes the first letter of the next. Let's see who has sharp listening skills and quick thinking!

Learn More: YouTube

42. Alphabetical Order Challenge

An alphabetical order challenge will help you reinforce essential alphabetization skills like no other activity! To partake, your students will need to arrange a set of words in alphabetical order whilst racing against the clock and one another.

Learn More: Teacher's Pet

43. Vocabulary Concentration

For a game that builds not just your learners' vocabulary but also their memory and concentration try this! Give them a deck of cards with vocabulary words and their definitions and instruct them to find matching pairs; cementing their knowledge of the true meaning behind words.

Learn More: English Hints

Concluding Thoughts

Vocabulary is an essential and necessary component of a student's overall academic success. Enhanced vocabulary instruction is important to master all subject areas. Incorporating effective vocabulary instruction into your daily lessons can be difficult. Therefore, it is crucial that you make the instruction extremely interesting and engaging for your students. The activities suggested above should provide you with a great variety of lessons as you plan interesting and engaging vocabulary instruction in your daily classes.

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43 Valuable Vocabulary Activities for Kids - Teaching Expertise

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Vocabulary is the foundation for language development. Vocabulary expansion plays a critical role in reading comprehension, and it is also essential to the improvement of communication skills. Expanding a child's vocabulary impacts his overall writing, reading, listening, and speaking skills which allows him to understand and connect with the world.

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Creating Thinkers Instead of Test Takers

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Creating Thinkers Instead of Test Takers

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This is a Region 10 Social Studies PD, but the vocabulary strategies will work with any subject!

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Creating Thinkers Instead of Test Takers (Redesign Day)

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Creating Thinkers Instead of Test Takers https://bit.ly/SSThinkMay22 Presented By: Kelly Bellar K-12 Social Studies Consultant Region 10 ESC

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Vocabulary Pyramid Game Purpose Students give clues, make inferences, and draw conclusions about important words. Materials Vocabulary Pyramid Game template (English/Spanish)

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Card Sort Purpose Students make connections by classifying/categorizing important terms, concepts, visuals, manipulatives, or assessment items. Materials Set of cards or manipulatives to sort (or students can create their own cards using

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Rock and Roll Vocabulary Purpose Students think deeply about complex vocabulary terms by responding to 6 different prompts in a dice game. Materials Dice or device with a virtual

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Password Purpose Students guess vocabulary words from one-word clues, visuals, and motions. Materials 4-8 vocabulary words Index cards Instructions Arrange students into groups of 4

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Students make connections between important words and concepts in a domino-type game.

Prepared Vocabulary Dominoes - 1 set for each group

Vocabulary Dominoes template (English/Spanish)

Index cards and a list of words (if students create the dominoes)

1. Organize students into pairs or triads.

2. Provide each group with a set of Vocabulary Dominoes with important terms and visuals. For example:

3. Determine the first domino played as the "spinner" to begin the game.

4. Students place the remaining dominoes face down, mix them up, and take turns drawing dominoes from the pile until all the dominoes are distributed.

5. Students take turns matching one of their Vocabulary Dominoes with a domino on the board, explaining the connection between the 2 terms or visuals.

6. Students continue taking turns and making connections until all dominoes are played.

7. Observe students' thinking and clarify/verify as appropriate.

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lead4ward makes a difference in the lives of students by helping educators focus their work, creating structures that give teachers and students a sense of hope and confidence, and supporting leaders with systems they can trust.

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Teaching students new words can be a brief and agreeable part of the school day—providing valuable exposure to vocabulary they need to know.

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How To Quickly Introduce New Topics or Vocabulary

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How To Quickly Introduce New Topics or Vocabulary

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How to Quickly Introduce New Topics or Vocabulary

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Need a tool to assess student comprehension in reading? Want to better teach vocabulary? Use concept sorts, a research-based strategy.

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EB Academics for Middle School ELA Teachers

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Engaging Vocabulary Instruction in a Middle School Classroom

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Interactive word walls for ELL's and ALL students

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Interactive word walls for ELL's and ALL students

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Making the Most of Your Word Wall: Interactive Word Walls

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Podcast: Building Vocabulary to Increase Reading Comprehension with Abbey Behnke

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HMH Teacher Ambassador Abbey Behnke shares instructional strategies and activities to engage students in vocabulary learning. Plus, she discusses how vocabulary is a catalyst for building reading comprehension skills.

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Young children love to learn and use new words. How do we tap into this natural curiosity and excitement to support vocabulary development?

Today on the podcast we're joined by Tanya Wright, author of A Teacher's Guide to Vocabulary Development Across the Day, the newest addition to The Classroom Essentials Series. We're also joined by series editor Katie Wood Ray.

Tanya and Katie talk about why it's important to take a deliberate approach to vocabulary instruction that spans throughout the day, and not just in isolated units.
A transcript of this episode is available below.
Katie: Good afternoon, Tanya. I'm so excited to talk to you about your new book. It's the next installation in the classroom essential series. It'll be out in October. A Teacher's Guide to Supporting Vocabulary Development Across the Day. So congratulations, first of all, on having finished it. And we're so excited to have you be a part of the Heinemann family. You've written lots of other things and other books, but this is your first Heinemann book. So congratulations.

Tanya: Thank you. It's been lots of fun so far working with you on the book, and I'm so excited that it's going to come out.

Katie: I am too. I actually can't wait. It's beautiful too. The designs are gorgeous. They support the content so well, I'm really excited.

Tanya: I love how it looks. How it looks really feels to me how I hope that conversations feel, in classrooms between teachers and kids.

Katie: Well, it's interesting that you say that because that's one of the first things I wanted to talk about. I took a walk this weekend with my three and a half year old nephew and my sister was with me too. And I was just thinking about, it's such a joyful time right now in his development. And it's really all... So much of it is about words. His approximations are so wonderful and he's leaning in to trying to understand what things mean. He's interested in words. He ask us what we mean by things. And it's just so joyful. And I was thinking about your book and that's really the stance that you bring to this work, is clearly the stance of the book. And just, that as adults, we should both marvel at the learning children are doing and also just find joyful ways to support them in it. And just curious about how you came to that stance?

Tanya: Well, I think like you said, children love to communicate. They need lots of words to communicate. Words help them describe their world. Words help them to share their learning and their ideas, and they really want to do that. So I think we should get excited about it. I think when we think about vocabulary as a list of flashcards or something like that, that we have to cover. That's not really how words are used or how they feel in the world. In real life, we use words to help us communicate. To help us read, write, speak, listen, and learn. And that's how I think we should think about vocabulary for kids and in our classrooms and in our families, in our homes.

Katie: I was thinking about this too. I mean, you and I've been working on this project for a couple of years now, and I don't think I've ever asked you this, but I'm curious about how vocabulary became your lane as a researcher? How did you get... I know you started out as a kindergarten teacher and then when you became a researcher, how is it that vocabulary became the thing that, that you wanted to study?

Tanya: I have to say I've always loved words. I've always loved to write. And I've always liked to think about the best words to communicate with. But I honestly don't think I was the greatest vocabulary teacher when I taught kindergarten. I don't think I was always aware of how important it was unless it led to misconceptions for kids. So I was aware of it when kids were confused, but I wasn't necessarily aware of that as an all the time thing that I could help them with and help to focus on. And then when I got to study more about literacy and reading development, I really learned a lot about how important words are for helping kids to both read and write and communicate.

And it just became really clear to me that this is such an important area to focus on, to support kids literacy development, but also the neglected area often in classrooms. And I don't think that's anybody's fault or anybody's trying to do a bad job. I just think sometimes with younger kids, we're not necessarily focusing on that, because we have so much other stuff to focus on. But I think once we do pay attention to it, there are lots of opportunities to build vocabulary across the day, as part of the work and the learning that we're already doing with kids.

Katie: And I know, I was rereading some of the book this morning ahead of talking to you. And I was reading again about a couple of studies actually that you talk about in there, that really looked at vocabulary instruction in the early grades and found that a lot of it really didn't make that much difference in kids vocabulary trajectory and how much they were learning and how that was a catalyst for you too, I guess, in your own research. Was some of it just a recognition that what we are doing, isn't working?

Tanya: So when I went back to graduate school, I obviously had to do a dissertation to get my doctorate. And so what I decided to do for my dissertation is go and visit a bunch of kindergarten classrooms all around a large Midwestern state that you could probably guess which one it is, if you look up where I live. And we visited 55 different classrooms for 660 hours. And what we did, is try to find vocabulary instruction happening in those classrooms.

And it turns out we didn't find even one single lesson that focused on vocabulary across all those hours. But what we did find were teachers explaining words to kids across the day. And especially in certain parts of the day, like during read alouds of literature and informational text, during science and during social studies.

And that's not really surprising because those are really big learning times when new ideas from books, new ideas from content area learning are coming into the day. All of this made me think a lot about what's happening in classrooms and how we can put more emphasis on vocabulary to make sure that kids do have some lessons. For example, some lessons around what to do when they get to a word that they don't understand. What could they try as an independent reader? How can they use words in their writing, interesting words, right?

These seem really important, but also to really think about vocabulary across the day and to take advantage of the opportunities kids have to learn when they are participating in read alouds or science and social studies, learning or math or the arts, right? There's so many wonderful opportunities to learn new words when we learn new things and taking a look in classrooms really helped me to see those opportunities.

Katie: I think one of the things that made me reach out to you the very first time I did, years ago about writing for teachers for Heinemann, was because I noticed that you did such a great job of, for lack of a better word, translating research into practice, and really being clear about the practical implications of what research shows and that just shines through in this book. And it made me wonder a little bit too, about how the things that you have chosen to study, like you just described. Whether they start out as questions of practice that you're then researching, how do you decide which path to go down next and what you're going to study?

Tanya: For me, it always starts with practice. What I'm really interested in, is the interactions between teachers and children and children and children in classrooms, and how those support kids literacy development. So everything about my work always comes from that place of wanting to help teachers, to really think about how to get the most out of the time they have with kids and how to really help kids to grow as literacy learners. That's what I'm passionate about. I always say, when I'm going to think about, if I should do a project or do a research study, I say to myself, "Is this going to help kids become better reader, writers, speakers, listeners?" And if the answer is yes, then I get super excited about the project or the study. And if the answer is no, it's probably not the right thing for me to work on.

Katie: Well, let me just say, I think that really shines through in all your work and all your contributions, and I really appreciate it. Which is why too I'm so glad you're part of this great new team that's going to be editing, The Reading Teacher. Congratulations on that too.

Tanya: Thank you very much. And I would love teachers who are part of the Heinemann audience and other authors from Heinemann, to submit articles to The Reading Teacher or teaching tips. If you just want it to be something brief that you've really worked on in your classroom, that would be so wonderful, because what The Reading Teacher does, is really a space for researchers and teachers and literacy coaches and others involved in literacy education, to communicate. So researchers can share their ideas and teachers can share their ideas in this space. And that's really just so exciting to me. One thing we're going to be doing that's new is, we're going to have a teacher advisory board who can help us to read articles to make sure that every single article that we publish feels useful and meaningful to teachers and has some practical value in the classroom.

So if any of you want to do that, we are looking for volunteers who want to help us with that to make sure that we're really conveying research in ways that are useful to educators in their classrooms on Monday morning.

Katie: I think this Classroom Essentials book is going to serve as a great mentor text for how to really tease out practice from research. And of course all the time you spend in classrooms is huge part of that as well. But it really, you've just done such a brilliant job of helping look at the practice that comes out of that. So I appreciate that so much. One of the things that I really have been struck with working with you on this, is this idea that you letting go of thinking of vocabulary as this little thing you do, let's do 10 minutes of word study or whatever.

And instead thinking of it across the day, something that's infused into everything you do. And yeah, the fact that it's infused, it's not just responsive teaching. It's very planful and very intentional. So it's not like you just wait for an opportunity. You're really thinking about it. And you're anticipating what the teaching is going to sound like, what it's going to look like.

And I just wondered if you could maybe talk a little about the importance of that? Because some people might think that all you really need to do is talk in intelligent ways to kids and they'll pick it up, right? They'll pick it up method, but this is really about a lot more than that.

Tanya: So I think of course, it's wonderful to talk to children using big words, and that's never going to harm kids. And it's always an important thing to do. And if they ask about words, we always want to discuss words with children. But on the other hand, if we are going to agree that vocabulary is really important for reading, writing, speaking, listening, and learning, we also have to make sure that we're taking advantage of opportunities to ensure that all children learn the words they're going to need for school. So across all the content areas, as kids are learning new things, there are typically words associated with that content.

And we really want to make sure that all kids learn the words they're going to need, to participate in the learning of the classroom. And if we just leave it up to chance, then that learning is going to be an equitable in our classrooms, right? Some children might happen to pick it up. Some might not. And I really am one who thinks that if we say vocabulary is important, we need to make an effort to be planful and really ensure that kids are developing the vocabulary they need, to participate in school, but also to be readers, writers, learners in the long-term.

Katie: So now I guess we need to go there. When we were working on this book, we never dreamed that schooling would look like it does at this moment. We had turned the manuscript in before March of 2020, and yet here we are, and everyone has spent the last eight months, six months adapting to this new environment. Can you just talk a little bit about how you feel the content of the book is applicable, whether you're teaching in a physical classroom with kids or you're teaching online? I'm sure you've been asked to do some thinking about that in your professional development work already.

Tanya: So I think the most important thing to remember is that, good teaching is good teaching, no matter what modality we're teaching in. So if we think it's important for kids, they learn vocabulary and that the way they learn it is through meaningful experiences where those words are part of content area learning or where those words are part of read alouds, and we're going to discuss what they mean in books. Then those are the things we have to figure out how to keep doing across modalities. I keep saying to people, "If you wouldn't do it to kids in person school, please don't do it to them online." Right? So if you wouldn't stand up in the class and do a PowerPoint presentation on vocabulary in front of your kindergarten class, normally because you don't think that's developmentally appropriate, please don't do that in the online environment. And the same is true about what you would do, right? So if we think interactive read alouds are the thing that's going to help kids, we're going to have to figure out ways to interact.

Whether we have all of us in the classroom wearing masks or some of the children in the classroom, or if we're in an online environment. And that includes having some priorities. So really thinking about which things need to happen, synchronously. Well, discussions of texts probably need to happen synchronously for young kids. They can't type in a chat room, for example, efficiently to get their ideas out. So that's something we're going to have to make time for. Or if we want to send kids off to do a science project at home, we're going to have to make some time to come back and discuss what they've learned. And those are the times where we can still share vocabulary words. And we can ask kids to use those as they describe what they're doing. And those are some authentic ways or ways that align with the book to continue with this work.

So overall, I think most of it can still happen in whichever modality we're working on, but we still have to plan for it. And we can't let vocabulary go by the wayside, or I hope we won't, just because it's challenging to figure out new modalities to teach in.

Katie: I was really, as I was looking back through it this morning, I was really struck by what I know of online teaching. I haven't had to do any of it, but I certainly know a lot about what people are doing. And it really struck me as I don't... I would be doing all these same things just in a, as you said, in a different modality in a different way, but it makes perfect sense. It's interesting too. This was another thing I noticed spending some time with my nephew, is the way in which... I mean, you say again and again, and again, children learn new words when they learn new things and some of the vocabulary he's learning connected to a pandemic at three and a half is pretty interesting. Not words I had any reason to learn at his age.

Tanya: I'm always amazed at the vocabulary about online teaching, that kids now have, right? So children are talking about their asynchronous instruction and their synchronous instruction. And I've actually had a few conversations with kids about what that means and what the A, before asynchronous actually does to the word. So those are the conversations that we can have really around anything new that we learned. And the other thing that I've been thinking a lot about, is that kids are always learning. So even if they're not in school, they're learning. They're learning from their experiences, and their families and their communities. And the wonderful thing that we can do is take advantage of those experiences and help kids to share them and have the vocabulary, have the words to share what's going on in their lives.

And for me, that's ultimately what's important, right? That kids can share their ideas through oral language. They can read new ideas, they can write their ideas and they have the best possible words to do that with.

Katie: Just the last thing I'd like to ask you, Tanya. The book is in addition to being beautiful, which we've already talked about, is wonderfully just practical and accessible. I know what it's like to have a book coming out into the world and you just have hopes for it, right? You dream of the possibilities that this book, for what it can be in the world. And I'm just wondering what some of your hopes are for your Classroom Essentials book?

Tanya: Well, I definitely hope that lots of teachers will choose to read the book. And I hope what they'll take from the book is just reframing how vocabulary is thought about in elementary classrooms. Really seeing how important it can be, but also seeing how we can plan for it across what we do, to make sure that kids are learning word meanings. And this is just so important in the long-term, because as they read more and more complex texts, they're going to be more and more interesting in challenging vocabulary. So if we help kids to use great words in their oral language, that's going to help them when that word is in a text that they're going to read. So I hope everyone will get as excited about vocabulary as I am. I hope teachers will be inspired to think about vocabulary and planning all of their units and where are some opportunities to teach kids fantastic new words.

And I hope that that makes kids in their classrooms excited about words. I find that when we teach kids words, they want to use them. One of the greatest things I saw when I first started doing this, was kids were learning about pets in a preschool classroom. And I saw kids playing with little plastic animals. And one said to the other, "This animal is ferocious." And I thought, "Wow, that's really wonderful," because they had been learning that we don't choose pets that are ferocious animals. And I thought, "Yes, that's what we want." Right? We want kids to take these words, apply them, use them to convey meaning in their everyday lives and just get excited.

Katie: I can't imagine that it won't do all those things in the world, especially once people start reading it and talking about it, because it's a lovely, gorgeous, smart book, and I'm very excited. So good luck, and thanks for chatting with me today.

Tanya: Thank you
...
Tanya Wright is an Associate Professor of Language and Literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She is a former kindergarten teacher whose research and teaching focus on curriculum and instruction in language and literacy during the early childhood and elementary years. Tanya's research examines instructional practices that promote oral language, vocabulary, and knowledge development for young children.

For many years as the author of bestselling Heinemann books such as About the Authors, Study Driven, Already Ready, and In Pictures and In Words, and as a member of Heinemann's Professional Development Services, Katie Wood Ray gave teachers resources and PD that transformed writing instruction and helped children discover a lifelong love of writing.

In 2014, Katie "moved to the other side of the desk" and joined the dynamic team of editors at Heinemann where she works closely with authors to craft powerful professional books on a range of literacy topics. Katie is also the series editor for the newClassroom Essentialsbooks from Heinemann. Tasked with bringing foundational, progressive practices to a new generation of teachers, Katie works to ensure that the sharp focus and enhanced design of each book best serve the content. She also teamed up with her longtime collaborator, Lisa Cleaveland, to write one of the first books in the series, A Teacher's Guide to Getting Started with Beginning Writers.

You can find her on Twitter at@KatieWoodRay

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On the Podcast: Vocabulary Development Aross the Day with Tanya Wright and Katie Wood Ray

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Young children love to learn and use new words. How do we tap into this natural curiosity and excitement to support vocabulary development? Today on the podcast we're joined by Tanya Wright, author of A Teacher's Guide to Vocabulary Development Across the Day, the newest addition to The Classroom Essentials Series.

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Today my guest is Dr. Margaret McKeown. We'll start our conversation discussing vocabulary development and explicit vocabulary instruction, including how to choose words for instruction, how to teach words so students understand them deeply, and how to help students build connections between words. Our conversation then shifts to the Questioning the Author instructional intervention, which focuses on developing comprehension through conversation and can be used to foster independence and discussion amongst students. Later, I'm joined by my colleagues Gina Dignon and Rosie Maurantonio for a conversation about how we'll bring what we learned to the classroom.
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Read a full transcript of this episode and learn more about the show and Jennifer Serravallo at JenniferSerravallo.com
Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction
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More about Dr. Margaret McKeown:
Margaret G. McKeown, PhD, is Clinical Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Before her retirement, she was also a Senior Scientist at the University's Learning Research and Development Center. Her work addresses practical, current problems that classroom teachers and their students face. She has conducted research in the areas of learning, instruction, and teacher professional development in reading comprehension and vocabulary. Dr. McKeown is a recipient of the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the International Literacy Association, is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, and was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame. She is coauthor of books including Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition; Creating Robust Vocabulary; Robust Comprehension Instruction with Questioning the Author; and Vocabulary Assessment to Support Instruction.
Special thanks to Alex Van Rose for audio editing this episode.
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16. dr. margaret mckeown -- vocabulary development

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and the questioning the author intervention

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to the classroom: conversations with researchers & educators

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‎To the Classroom: Conversations with Researchers & Educators: 16. Dr. Margaret McKeown -- Vocabulary Development, Explicit Vocabulary Instruction, and the Questioning the Author Intervention on Apple Podcasts

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Today my guest is Dr. Margaret McKeown. We'll start our conversation discussing vocabulary development and explicit vocabulary instruction, including how to choose words for instruction, how to teach words so students understand them deeply, and how to help students build connections between words....