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Consider some excellent lesson models for teaching vocabulary, explaining idioms, fostering word consciousness, instruction for English Language Learners, and mnemonic strategies.

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Five 5th Grade Vocabulary Activities Your Class Will Enjoy

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Are you looking for fun, engaging ways to teach vocabulary? This blog post is all about 5th grade vocabulary activities you can use in your classroom! Vocabulary is a word every teacher dreads. There are endless possibilities as to why. One option is that printing out vocabulary worksheets, study guides and giving vocabulary tests every ... Read More about Five 5th Grade Vocabulary Activities Your Class Will Enjoy

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30 Meaningful Vocabulary Activities for Every Grade

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Learning new words is like adding to your writing toolbox.

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Effective vocabulary teaching has five key principles.

1. Focus on rich meanings, not just dictionary definitions.

Too often vocabulary instruction is no more than kids copying definitions from the dictionary. But researchers have identified a number of instructional approaches that outdo any learning that may accrue from copying definitions.

One of those key principles is that students work with more extensive or complex definitions or explanations of word meanings. Encourage the encyclopedia explanation over the dictionary meanings.

When I teach vocabulary, I often have the kids engage in trying to provide several different versions of a word's definition.

1. Dictionary definition

2. Synonyms for the word

3. Antonyms (if there are any)

4. Part of speech

5. Classification (what semantic group does it belong to, like tools or ways of talking)

6. Comparison (it is like____, but different because______)

7. Real-life examples

8. Graphic version (drawings, pictures, representations)

9. Acting it out

By the time you've come up with nine different explanations of a word you are more likely to remember it (and, of course, we can do more than just these nine if we want to get into analogies, part-whole relationships, and the like).

2. Emphasize the connections among words.

Many vocabulary programs introduce words by category, such as focusing on words from health and medicine or about transportation, including some that have research showing that they can be effective. However, direct research specifically on this aspect of teaching, suggest that word learning goes slower and without evident later advantage from the extra work that mastering these words entails needed to master these sets of words.

And, yet, evidence reveals that the lexicons in our heads are organized in various networks, not like dictionaries. When you remember a word, you draw from memory a plethora of related ideas-attributes, functions, and synonyms related to that word.

Start thinking diesel trucks and words like wheel, tire, dump truck, gasoline, and highway will not be far behind.

There are circumstances in which it is necessary to simultaneously introduce collections of closely related words that may require fine or subtle distinctions, such as when kids are learning about the structure of cells or atoms. I'll give that a pass, since such introductions are likely to be accompanied by a much deeper dive into the underlying concepts in such cases.

I also think it is quite reasonable when teaching words to get kids thinking about words about that concept that they may already have mastered. Linking a new word to a concept, is very different than trying to learn and link a whole collection of words.

I would avoid introducing together plethora, dearth, scarcity, cornucopia, shortage, plenty, sufficient, abundant, and liberal as some programs do. Collect such words over time as they are learned and then later you can have kids comparing the ideas or fitting them into continuum or network.

One teacher I know has her students classifying the vocabulary each week in bulletin board folders, and when a folder accumulates several related words, they revisit them as a set.

3. Promote usage of the words.

It is not enough that kids study word meanings, but they have to learn to use these words in their reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Instruction should create opportunities for kids to use words in all of these ways.

For instance, that rich vocabulary assignment that was described earlier can be done by groups of kids working together to come up with those multiple definitions. That kind of cooperation requires that kids talk with each other about the words. Additionally, I often assign small numbers of words to each group and then have them get together to teach each other the words that their groups studied... more speaking and listening.

One might reward kids for using the studied vocabulary in their writing - or that can be required in various ways.

Isabel Beck and Moddy McKeown came up with the idea of "word wizards," which gave kids extra points in vocabulary if they could bring in evidence that they had confronted or used the words of interest. Kids get very turned on if they run across some of the vocabulary when watching television or playing their favorite computer game.

4. Review is important.

It can be hard to retain vocabulary if you don't get a lot of opportunity to use it. We may teach vocabulary because certain words were prominent in the texts, we were reading this week, but then kids might not see them for a long time.

There are many ways to deal with vocabulary, such as having one day a week when you only work with words that have been taught (and supposedly learned) in the past - or perhaps entire weeks might be devoted to this throughout the year.

I'm a fan of including words from past weeks on vocabulary quizzes and for the use of vocabulary notebooks to help punch up kids' writing during revision.

Another way of ensuring the words stick, is to see how many additional words students can construct morphologically, adding prefixes or suffixes or altering parts of speech and so on. I've written about some of the important work being done on morphology by Peter and Jeffrey Bowers before (and you can search for that on my site or on Google).

5. Involve students in identifying some of the words to be studied.

I noted earlier that much vocabulary learning is incidental and, therefore, largely out of the province of schools. However, not all kids are equally good at such learning and even for those who it is easier, it can still be a tough slog requiring many experiences with a word to get it to stick.

One thing that we can do to help develop a "word consciousness" among our students is to involve them in identifying unknown words from their own reading - and to include these in your classroom curriculum. When readers get used to noticing their lack of knowledge of particular words, they will be more likely to try to resolve those gaps when reading. Kids will also be more motivated if they have some say so over the curriculum as well.

This article is excerpted from the longer blog post, Five Things Every Teacher Should Know About Vocabulary Instruction .

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Five Key Principles for Effective Vocabulary Instruction

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Much vocabulary is learned without formal teaching. We gain words from conversation, observation, television/media, and reading. However, research shows that explicitly teaching vocabulary can measurably improve reading comprehension - if we teach the right words well enough. Here are five key principles to effective vocabulary instruction.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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What is Vocabulary?

Vocabulary refers to knowledge of the meanings of individual words being read. Vocabulary knowledge is important to a student's ability to read and comprehend what is read. ( Definition from University of Oregon)

In 4th and 5th grade, readers determine the meaning of unknown and multiple- meaning words/phrases, recognize and interpret figurative language, and expand their vocabulary to include words that signal precise actions, emotions, states of being, contrast, and other relationships. Learn about figurative language here.

What Does it Look Like?

Can your fourth grader figure out the meaning of new words?

Is your 5th grader building vocabulary from reading?

Practice Activities

My Dictionary: Help the child keep track of new/unfamiliar words and their meanings by helping the child create their own dictionary or word catcher. The child can write the words, draw pictures to illustrate the word or definition, and write sentences using the words.

Family Vocabulary Project: Create a decorative jar or container to initiate a vocabulary building family project. Family members can write down new vocabulary words they read or hear and include the definition on the back. The vocabulary words are shared, discussed, and added to the jar. Family members can include the new words in their everyday writing and speaking. You may even choose to make a "word of the day" or "word of the week" to help focus the family on using one or two of the newly learned words.

Synonym/Antonym Brainstorm: Name a word. Take turns brainstorming words that mean the same thing as the word that was named. Alternate antonym version: Play the game brainstorming words that mean the opposite of the word that was named.

Affix Activity: Using newspapers, magazines, cookbooks, or storybooks, have the child search for words with a targeted prefix or suffix, writing the words found on a piece of paper. Once several words have been found, work together to break the words into the affix (prefix or suffix) and root word and explain what the word means (e.g., "I found the word unthinkable! If I break it into the root and affixes, it is un-think- able. That means that if something is unthinkable, you are not able to think of it.").

Word Categories: Play a word association game with your child. Call out a category name, and take turns brainstorming other words that make you think of the category word (e.g., "The category is weather." "Thunderstorm!" "Snow!" "Cumulus Clouds!" "Typhoon!). Afterward, have the child sort the words into other categories, based on their similarities. Have the child explain what is similar about all of the words in their new categories (e.g., "I put train, monorail, boats, and strollers in the same category because they are all types of transportation people use at theme parks.").

Sharing Our Writing: Consider connecting your child with a relative or pen-pal as a meaningful opportunity for your child to practice their writing skills. This could be through email or hand-written letters. Encourage your child to add descriptive words throughout and to incorporate new vocabulary they have been learning.

H, H, & H: Take notice of the three unique word types listed below while the child is reading or while you read to them. Isolate the word and discuss how variations can differ in spelling, pronunciation, and meaning.

Practice Activities (with Printables)
If you don't have a printer, your child's school will print these for you.
Homograph Hook: Match words that sound the same but have different meanings with the cards provided. Homograph Hook

Homophone Go-Fish: Match homophones with their meanings by playing a card game. Homophone Go-Fish

Opposite Meanings: Match words with opposite meanings while playing with the domino-like cards provided. Opposite Meanings

Synonym Bingo: Play this spin on the classic bingo game for practice identifying synonyms of the called word. Synonym Bingo

Up with Words: Practice using more precise language in writing by using synonyms to complete the provided sentence cards. Up with Words

Meaning Extender: Draw cards with specific questions around new vocabulary words and apply the new words to a variety of contexts. Meaning Extender

Context Clues: Assist the child in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words by reading context clues. Then sort the words by type. Context Clues

Online Activities

Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle: This game has children apply vocabulary as they complete a crossword puzzle by matching a definition and word from a given list.

Vocab Vik: This game has children match words to a given vocabulary word.

ANTonyms: This game has children find the matching ants to form antonym pairs.

Figurative Language Exploration: This Classroom Connect lesson teaches children about figurative language by practicing with similes and metaphors. Extension Activity (optional)

Grammar Gladiator: This game provide practice with articles, verbs, homophones, and punctuation while unleashing fireballs from dangerous lava vents.

Prefix Popper: This game has children match a prefix to its meaning while popping balloons.

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Vocabulary refers to knowledge of the meanings of individual words being read. Vocabulary knowledge is important to a student's ability to read and comprehend what is read. ( Definition from University of Oregon) In 4th and 5th grade, readers determine the meaning of unknown and multiple- meaning words/phrases, recognize and interpret figurative language, and expand their vocabulary to include words that signal precise actions, emotions, states of being, contrast, and other relationships.

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Video: How fifth graders build vocabulary from reading

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Fifth graders usually learn almost 2,000 new words. Find out how they figure out new words they read.

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Did you know that typically, only 5% to 10% of instructional time is devoted to vocabulary instruction, yet students, especially struggling students and English learners (ELs), need between 12 and 14 exposures to words and their meanings to fully learn them (Durkin, 1978/79; Roser & Juel, 1982; Scott, Jamieson, Noel, & Asslin, 2003)? Teaching the meanings of important words before learning new content activates students' background knowledge and prepares them for learning and comprehending. In other words, teaching vocabulary provides the "Velcro" for new information to "stick to."

What Research Says About Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction must be explicit. Explicit vocabulary instruction includes an easy-to-understand definition presented directly to students along with multiple examples and nonexamples of the target word, brief discussion opportunities, and checks for understanding.

Vocabulary instruction must include multiple practice opportunities for using words within and across subjects. That is, instruction must be extended over time with opportunities for students to hear, speak, read, and write words in various contexts. This builds students' breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge.

Vocabulary should be taught schoolwide and across all subject areas. Each subject has a unique set of vocabulary terms, and students need to know their meanings and how to use them in various contexts.

Word Selection

Instructional time is precious, and teachers are not able to address every unknown word students might encounter, so careful word selection is key. When deciding which words to target for explicit instruction, consider words that are

essential to understanding the main idea of the text or unit,

used repeatedly or frequently encountered across domains, and

not part of students' prior knowledge.

ELs may require even more careful word selection and extensive vocabulary instruction because they may be learning conversational language and academic language at the same time. Colorín Colorado provides additional information about selecting vocabulary words to teach ELs.

Some of Our Favorite Vocabulary Instructional Activities for ALL Content Areas

The five activities described below are effective ways to teach vocabulary for all students, but especially for struggling students, students with learning disabilities, and ELs.

1. Essential Words Routine

Teachers use a simple graphic organizer to preteach the meanings of important words in about 5 minutes per word. During this routine, teachers introduce target words with definitions, visual cues, and examples. Students engage in immediate practice using the words through collaborative student turn-and-talk activities.

Resources

2. Frayer Model

One way to have students extend their knowledge of important words is through a Frayer model. This graphic organizer builds vocabulary and conceptual knowledge across content areas. The strategy requires students (not the teacher) to define a vocabulary word and then list its characteristics, examples, and nonexamples. Frayer models can be completed in collaborative groups using textbooks and other subject-matter materials while the teacher circulates around the classroom and assists students.

Resource

Online module, examples, and templates from the IRIS Center

3. Semantic Mapping

Semantic maps visually display and connect a word or phrase and a set of related words or concepts. Implementing semantic map activities in your classroom will help students, especially struggling students and students with learning disabilities, recall the meanings of words and understand how multiple words or concepts "fit together." Teachers will find that using a semantic map, combined with explicit instruction and practice opportunities, is an effective way of expanding students' vocabulary and supporting their content knowledge.

Resources

4. Vocabulary Review Activities

Multiple opportunities to practice using new words is an important part of vocabulary instruction. In previous TCLD research studies, brief review activities were built into novel unit lesson plans to help students practice (and remember) the meanings of important words. Each of these activities takes 5 to 10 minutes and is easy to prepare.

Partner Review Routine: Partners work together to quickly review words learned the previous day.

Sentence Review Routine: Partners create sentences using words assigned by the teacher.

Examples and Nonexamples: The teacher tells students scenarios or shows pictures and students respond chorally to each scenario, indicating whether it is an example or nonexample.

What Word Fits? The teacher asks a question and student partners hold up an index card with the word that fits or answers the question.

Resource

Each activity is described in more detail beginning on page 33 of the TCLD booklet Reading Instruction for Middle School Students: Developing Lessons for Improving Comprehension

5. Morphemic Analysis Routine

Explicit instruction of words is important, but it is impossible to teach all the unfamiliar words students will encounter. One way to help students develop strategies for approaching unfamiliar vocabulary is to teach morphemes (prefixes, roots, and suffixes). Students can be taught the following morphemic analysis routine to help them engage in independent word study.

Resource

Learn more about the morphemic analysis routine by reviewing this online learning module from the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies.
Have questions? Feel free to drop us a line!

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Five Research-Based Ways to Teach Vocabulary

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Did you know that typically, only 5% to 10% of instructional time is devoted to vocabulary instruction, yet students, especially struggling students and English learners (ELs), need between 12 and 14 exposures to words and their meanings to fully learn them (Durkin, 1978/79; Roser & Juel, 1982; Scott, Jamieson, Noel, & Asslin, 2003)?

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Get kids loving and learning words with these fun word play activities, games, and books -- guaranteed to entertain and delight!

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What is phonics?

Phonics refers to the ability to learn the individual sounds in spoken language and map those sounds to specific written letters in the English language. Students who have strong phonics skills are able to connect individual sounds with letters and use those sounds to read words. ( Definition from University of Oregon)

In 4th and 5th grades, children are combining their knowledge of letter-sound relationships, syllable patterns, and word/segment meanings to read unfamiliar multisyllabic words. They can break words into their parts and analyze each component to help them read and understand grade appropriate words.

What Does it Look Like?

Watch this fun, parody video with decoding strategies.

Spelling pattern videos are linked below. Refer to these when reading and writing.

Practice activities

Syllable Hunt: Use newspapers, magazines, and books to hunt for words with a specific syllable type with the child. List the words found and discuss the syllable types (e.g., "Look! I found table and apple to go under Consonant-le, because ta/ble and ap/ple both have consonants followed by the letters -le in the second syllable!" ). Syllable Types (optional)

Break it Down: Stop and help the child find base words when they come to an unfamiliar word. Sometimes there may be two base words, as are found in compound words (e.g., baseball, mailbox, railroad). Other times, a root word may be used and have additional beginnings or endings attached (prefixes or suffixes) that change the meaning of the word. Being able to break an unfamiliar word into its parts can help children figure out how to read the word and uncover its meaning.

Making New Words: Use small pieces of paper or index cards to jot down a collection of base words (words in their simplest form) and common prefixes and suffixes. Take turns selecting a base word and then a prefix or suffix to create a new word. See how many different combinations you each can make. Discuss the meaning of each new word as they are made. Prefixes and Suffixes (optional)

Word Building Games: Play word building board games such as Scrabble©, Boggle©, or Word Up© with the child.

Sharing Our Writing: Consider connecting the child with a relative or pen-pal as a meaningful opportunity to practice their writing skills. This could be through email or hand-written letters. Encourage the child to add descriptive words throughout and to incorporate new vocabulary they have been learning.

H, H, & H: As your child is reading or through your conversations, take notice of the three unique word types listed below. Isolate the word and discuss how variations can differ in spelling, pronunciation, and meaning.

Practice Activities (with Printables)
If you don't have a printer, your child's school will print these for you.
Four Word: Play this game by determining if words on the provided cards are derived from a set of base words. Four Word

Domino Duo: Combine various letter combinations that can make the same sound while using the domino-like cards provided. Domino Duo

Homophone Bingo: Find and match common homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings). Homophone Bingo

Syllable Score: Practice breaking apart syllables in words and recording the number of syllables. Check the child's responses with the included answer key. Syllable Score

Select Syllables: Sort the included cards into two categories, initial syllables and final syllables. Each player selects 5 cards from the initial syllable pile and 5 cards from the final syllable pattern. Then each player makes as many words as they can by combining an initial syllable with a final syllable. If desired, set a timer and challenge one another. Select Syllables

Online Activities

Rough Riders: This game has players track down diamond thieves while practicing digraphs, vowel sounds, compound words, and syllables.

Multisyllabic Words: This game provides practice matching open and closed syllables to build a new word with game cards. This similar game allows children to match open and closed syllables as well. A quick overview of syllable types can be found here.

Grammar Police: This game provides practice with compound words and affixes while policing the highways.

Grammar Gladiator: This game provides practice with articles, verbs, homophones, and punctuation while unleashing fireballs.

Prefix Popper: This game has children match a prefix to its meaning while popping balloons.

Bounce: This game has players smash boxes that contain misspelled words.

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Phonics refers to the ability to learn the individual sounds in spoken language and map those sounds to specific written letters in the English language. Students who have strong phonics skills are able to connect individual sounds with letters and use those sounds to read words.

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Spelling word list: 5th grade words: h | Activities, Games & Quizzes

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Spelling practice: 5th grade words: h. Graded spelling list for 5th Grade students. Words starting with h.
Study word lists, complete activities, and reinforce your spelling knowledge.

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Implement these evidence-based vocabulary intervention strategies and activities to support students in building vocabulary knowledge.

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Hi, friend!

Can I be honest for a second?

When I started out in reading intervention - the thought of teaching vocabulary terrified me. Maybe it was because I wasn't sure how much my students were actually struggling with it, I wasn't sure how to assess it, I wasn't sure how much of it fell on me to teach, or maybe it was because I thought it was just morphology, or - maybe it was because I still remember how much I hated memorizing hundreds of definitions & word origins from when I was in school.

Whatever it was - I dreaded vocabulary because it felt overwhelming and the way I was taught when I was a student (find the part of speech, word origin, and definition) never seemed to be helpful - just tedious.

That is until I learned what vocabulary instruction should actually look like and why it is so important. Today - we are going to break that down.
First things first -
What exactly do we mean by vocabulary?

When we think about vocabulary, there are two different sides to it.

Receptive Vocabulary

...refers to what a student can understand. When they hear or read a word (a.k.a - receiving it) what can they comprehend?

Expressive Vocabulary

...on the other hand, refers to the words that a student can produce when speaking or writing.

Why does learning vocabulary matter?

In literacy instruction, we have to recognize the importance of vocabulary. Now - we don't mean morphology. While morphology can fit under the umbrella of vocabulary, vocabulary instruction is so much more than just morphology.

Vocabulary strengthens a student's reading and listening comprehension skills, enhances their writing skills, and supports their understanding of information in the classroom and the ability to relay it.

In order to teach vocabulary effectively, we need to use a research-based framework.

There are 7 Steps to a SMARTER Research-Based Instruction Framework (we use the acronym SMARTER to help remember each of the key components!)

1 - Systematic Instruction

Vocabulary instruction should follow a progression and address 5 key pieces.

The progression is the sequence or order in which you teach specific skills. In research-based instruction, skills build on one another and progress from the most basic concepts to the most complex concepts. In vocabulary instruction, this begins with receptive vocabulary and then expressive vocabulary and addresses the following key components.

2 - Multisensory Instruction

Vocabulary instruction CAN be multisensory!

Multisensory instruction is really all about incorporating multiple senses or different sensory pathways to help create stronger neural connections. Because much of language instruction is auditory, we are always looking for ways to incorporate other strategies. One of our favorite ways to incorporate visual instruction is through the use of graphic organizers.

By helping students SEE how to organize the information it begins to create a more clear framework for them to use when they are trying to express knowledge through spoken language. As you're working through this framework you can even consider adding in hand signals or motions to help students solidify different parts of speech which is a great way to categorize information. Finally, you can tie in an additional auditory (and visual if you'd like) strategy by asking students to identify how many syllables and sounds they hear in the words they are practicing.

We need to be showing students how to apply their vocabulary knowledge.

When students tell me that they struggled with a vocabulary test at school, I hear the same story over and over again. It goes something like this...

Student: "I studied! I knew all of the words!"

Me: "How did you study?"

Student: "I made notecards and memorized all of the words"

Me: "Did you use the words in different contexts at all?"

Student: "No..."

Vocabulary shouldn't just be a rote memorization task. This leads to students memorizing exact words/phrases and not retaining their vocabulary knowledge, not being able to understand the word in different contexts, not being able to use the word correctly, or all of the above.

Notecards with a word and a definition aren't enough when it comes to vocabulary knowledge . We first must put words into a framework where students are asked to categorize the word, provide the function/purpose/features, a synonym, and an antonym/shade of meaning (more on this to follow in #6 - Explicit). Then, using the word in context can help students understand how to apply the word.

Multiple-meaning words are another great way to help students apply their vocabulary. Have students practice writing & applying their vocabulary by asking them to write a sentence for each meaning of the word. For example, if their word is "sink," then students should write two sentences. One, using sink as an action where it means "to go down" (i.e. The boat will sink if there is a hole in it.), and one using sink as a noun meaning a faucet and basin where we wash our hands and dishes (i.e. Put the dirty dishes in the sink.).

Another great way to support vocabulary application is to have students read through their passages and highlight any words they are not 100% familiar with. For example, if a student read through a passage that said, "The spider felt that her web was the best art, full of lines and angles," and the student wasn't able to define what an "angle" is, our hope is that they are able to recognize that, will highlight the word, and then we can define it together. When students struggle with the metacognitive task of recognizing what they don't know, it can make the learning process more challenging. Therefore, practice with these tasks is critical to their overall learning development.

4 - Research Behind the Instruction

Research supports explicit teaching of Vocabulary to support reading comprehension.

There is no question about the importance of vocabulary knowledge in the development of reading skills, this research has been documented over the last hundred years. In fact, according to The Report of the National Reading Panel (2000), "as early as 1924 researchers noted that growth in reading power relies on continuous growth in word knowledge." But the challenge is, that little classroom instruction time is being spent using effective vocabulary development strategies because curricula aren't designed to support authentic development of vocabulary outside of what we described above.

And it's sad because unfortunately, according to Pikulski J.J. & Templeton S. (2004), "the effects of the lack of attention to vocabulary instruction, may not manifest themselves in the earliest grades," meaning that teachers would have no way to know that a student was struggling with vocabulary until it becomes critical that those skills are already in place. Students need to have solid vocabulary in place by the time we transition away from "learning to read" into "reading to learn" in the third grade and "research has shown that many children who read at the third grade level in grade 3 will not automatically become proficient comprehenders in later grades" largely because they don't have the vocabulary skills to support comprehension.

So all that said, it's critical that we are using explicit instruction to help students develop vocabulary in the same way we are using explicit phonics instruction to develop decoding.

understanding specifically where students have strengths and where the breakdowns are occurring. So if we know, that explicit vocabulary knowledge is no doubt necessary - we need to know where to focus that instruction.

When teaching vocabulary we need to first understand where students are breaking down and second, we need to understand how those difficulties are impacting a student's receptive and expressive vocabulary . Once we know where the breakdowns are occurring, we can begin to target those specific skills and make sure we are seeing the transfer between the isolated skill and how it relates to vocabulary as a whole.

This particular student does well with categorization (including part of speech), and synonyms, but struggles to provide antonyms or put all of that together to define words in context. Her instruction should target defining words and using them in context much more than listing categories or synonyms.

6 - Explicit Instruction

The biggest hallmark of research-based instruction is that the instruction must be taught explicitly, meaning that we don't assume students have prior knowledge of foundational concepts just because of their age or reading/writing ability. This includes vocabulary instruction.

We cannot assume that just because a child is in middle school, that they can accurately categorize words, provide synonyms/antonyms, define words, or use words appropriately in context.

Explicit Vocabulary Skills to Support Reading Comprehension

Our vocabulary instruction should explicitly teach each of the following components. By focusing on these areas we build knowledge of multiple-meaning words, shades of meaning, and everything students need to have the foundation to comprehend effectively.

7 - Realistic Instruction

Do what you can with what you have, where you are.

I started today by saying that teaching vocabulary used to terrify me. It felt completely overwhelming. Now - it is one of my favorite parts of my lesson because it can so easily be added to what you are already doing!

Obviously, there is A LOT that goes into research-based instruction for vocabulary, but again, it does not have to be difficult. One of the best things you can do is to start thinking about where you can incorporate these activities into what you're already doing. For example, if students are practicing reading words you can simply ask them: what is another word that means the same thing? If you have a list of words, ask students to pick one (without telling you which one) and define it for you (with a category, function/purpose/defining features, synonym, and antonym). Tell them their definition needs to be so thorough, that you can guess what their word is. For students who bristle to the thought of vocabulary practice - this is a great way to include it without them even knowing!

If you're looking for materials to help target vocabulary instruction or other core components of literacy, then you should check out the 5CCL Activity Library. This library has hundreds of materials you can use to supplement any curriculum you might be using and add some fresh content and approaches to your instructions. Click below to learn more!

Hi, friend!

Can I be honest for a second?

When I started out in reading intervention - the thought of teaching vocabulary terrified me. Maybe it was because I wasn't sure how much my students were actually struggling with it, I wasn't sure how to assess it, I wasn't sure how much of it fell on me to teach, or maybe it was because I thought it was just morphology, or - maybe it was because I still remember how much I hated memorizing hundreds of definitions & word origins from when I was in school.

Whatever it was - I dreaded vocabulary because it felt overwhelming and the way I was taught when I was a student (find the part of speech, word origin, and definition) never seemed to be helpful - just tedious.

That is until I learned what vocabulary instruction should actually look like and why it is so important. Today - we are going to break that down.
First things first -
What exactly do we mean by vocabulary?

When we think about vocabulary, there are two different sides to it.

Receptive Vocabulary

...refers to what a student can understand. When they hear or read a word (a.k.a - receiving it) what can they comprehend?

Expressive Vocabulary

...on the other hand, refers to the words that a student can produce when speaking or writing.

Why does learning vocabulary matter?

In literacy instruction, we have to recognize the importance of vocabulary. Now - we don't mean morphology. While morphology can fit under the umbrella of vocabulary, vocabulary instruction is so much more than just morphology.

Vocabulary strengthens a student's reading and listening comprehension skills, enhances their writing skills, and supports their understanding of information in the classroom and the ability to relay it.

In order to teach vocabulary effectively, we need to use a research-based framework.

There are 7 Steps to a SMARTER Research-Based Instruction Framework (we use the acronym SMARTER to help remember each of the key components!)

1 - Systematic Instruction

Vocabulary instruction should follow a progression and address 5 key pieces.

The progression is the sequence or order in which you teach specific skills. In research-based instruction, skills build on one another and progress from the most basic concepts to the most complex concepts. In vocabulary instruction, this begins with receptive vocabulary and then expressive vocabulary and addresses the following key components.

2 - Multisensory Instruction

Vocabulary instruction CAN be multisensory!

Multisensory instruction is really all about incorporating multiple senses or different sensory pathways to help create stronger neural connections. Because much of language instruction is auditory, we are always looking for ways to incorporate other strategies. One of our favorite ways to incorporate visual instruction is through the use of graphic organizers.

By helping students SEE how to organize the information it begins to create a more clear framework for them to use when they are trying to express knowledge through spoken language. As you're working through this framework you can even consider adding in hand signals or motions to help students solidify different parts of speech which is a great way to categorize information. Finally, you can tie in an additional auditory (and visual if you'd like) strategy by asking students to identify how many syllables and sounds they hear in the words they are practicing.

We need to be showing students how to apply their vocabulary knowledge.

When students tell me that they struggled with a vocabulary test at school, I hear the same story over and over again. It goes something like this...

Student: "I studied! I knew all of the words!"

Me: "How did you study?"

Student: "I made notecards and memorized all of the words"

Me: "Did you use the words in different contexts at all?"

Student: "No..."

Vocabulary shouldn't just be a rote memorization task. This leads to students memorizing exact words/phrases and not retaining their vocabulary knowledge, not being able to understand the word in different contexts, not being able to use the word correctly, or all of the above.

Notecards with a word and a definition aren't enough when it comes to vocabulary knowledge . We first must put words into a framework where students are asked to categorize the word, provide the function/purpose/features, a synonym, and an antonym/shade of meaning (more on this to follow in #6 - Explicit). Then, using the word in context can help students understand how to apply the word.

Multiple-meaning words are another great way to help students apply their vocabulary. Have students practice writing & applying their vocabulary by asking them to write a sentence for each meaning of the word. For example, if their word is "sink," then students should write two sentences. One, using sink as an action where it means "to go down" (i.e. The boat will sink if there is a hole in it.), and one using sink as a noun meaning a faucet and basin where we wash our hands and dishes (i.e. Put the dirty dishes in the sink.).

Another great way to support vocabulary application is to have students read through their passages and highlight any words they are not 100% familiar with. For example, if a student read through a passage that said, "The spider felt that her web was the best art, full of lines and angles," and the student wasn't able to define what an "angle" is, our hope is that they are able to recognize that, will highlight the word, and then we can define it together. When students struggle with the metacognitive task of recognizing what they don't know, it can make the learning process more challenging. Therefore, practice with these tasks is critical to their overall learning development.

4 - Research Behind the Instruction

Research supports explicit teaching of Vocabulary to support reading comprehension.

There is no question about the importance of vocabulary knowledge in the development of reading skills, this research has been documented over the last hundred years. In fact, according to The Report of the National Reading Panel (2000), "as early as 1924 researchers noted that growth in reading power relies on continuous growth in word knowledge." But the challenge is, that little classroom instruction time is being spent using effective vocabulary development strategies because curricula aren't designed to support authentic development of vocabulary outside of what we described above.

And it's sad because unfortunately, according to Pikulski J.J. & Templeton S. (2004), "the effects of the lack of attention to vocabulary instruction, may not manifest themselves in the earliest grades," meaning that teachers would have no way to know that a student was struggling with vocabulary until it becomes critical that those skills are already in place. Students need to have solid vocabulary in place by the time we transition away from "learning to read" into "reading to learn" in the third grade and "research has shown that many children who read at the third grade level in grade 3 will not automatically become proficient comprehenders in later grades" largely because they don't have the vocabulary skills to support comprehension.

So all that said, it's critical that we are using explicit instruction to help students develop vocabulary in the same way we are using explicit phonics instruction to develop decoding.

understanding specifically where students have strengths and where the breakdowns are occurring. So if we know, that explicit vocabulary knowledge is no doubt necessary - we need to know where to focus that instruction.

When teaching vocabulary we need to first understand where students are breaking down and second, we need to understand how those difficulties are impacting a student's receptive and expressive vocabulary . Once we know where the breakdowns are occurring, we can begin to target those specific skills and make sure we are seeing the transfer between the isolated skill and how it relates to vocabulary as a whole.

This particular student does well with categorization (including part of speech), and synonyms, but struggles to provide antonyms or put all of that together to define words in context. Her instruction should target defining words and using them in context much more than listing categories or synonyms.

6 - Explicit Instruction

The biggest hallmark of research-based instruction is that the instruction must be taught explicitly, meaning that we don't assume students have prior knowledge of foundational concepts just because of their age or reading/writing ability. This includes vocabulary instruction.

We cannot assume that just because a child is in middle school, that they can accurately categorize words, provide synonyms/antonyms, define words, or use words appropriately in context.

Explicit Vocabulary Skills to Support Reading Comprehension

Our vocabulary instruction should explicitly teach each of the following components. By focusing on these areas we build knowledge of multiple-meaning words, shades of meaning, and everything students need to have the foundation to comprehend effectively.

7 - Realistic Instruction

Do what you can with what you have, where you are.

I started today by saying that teaching vocabulary used to terrify me. It felt completely overwhelming. Now - it is one of my favorite parts of my lesson because it can so easily be added to what you are already doing!

Obviously, there is A LOT that goes into research-based instruction for vocabulary, but again, it does not have to be difficult. One of the best things you can do is to start thinking about where you can incorporate these activities into what you're already doing. For example, if students are practicing reading words you can simply ask them: what is another word that means the same thing? If you have a list of words, ask students to pick one (without telling you which one) and define it for you (with a category, function/purpose/defining features, synonym, and antonym). Tell them their definition needs to be so thorough, that you can guess what their word is. For students who bristle to the thought of vocabulary practice - this is a great way to include it without them even knowing!

If you're looking for materials to help target vocabulary instruction or other core components of literacy, then you should check out the 5CCL Activity Library. This library has hundreds of materials you can use to supplement any curriculum you might be using and add some fresh content and approaches to your instructions. Click below to learn more!

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How to Teach Vocabulary using a Research-Based Approach - Ascend Smarter Intervention

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Discover the secrets to effective vocabulary instruction! Learn how to make vocabulary teaching less daunting and more impactful with research-based strategies. Explore the importance of receptive and expressive vocabulary and follow a SMARTER framework for targeted, explicit, and realistic instruct