My second article, An Inch Deep and Mile Wide Just Won't Do, was published with Really Good Stuff. This article explains the importance of vocabulary instruction.
Click the image to link to the article.
This month, I'm working on Vocabulary with the book: A Boy Who Loved Words. Although a bit challenging, the story was a fantastic read. I love watching the kids use STRONG descriptive words in their writing. A kindergartener told me they were voracious as he walked in line to the lunch room. ADORABLE!!!
Each of the kids in our school were given a word book to jot down (vocab from BOM) and develop their favorite vocabulary words. I created vocabulary cards using words from the The Boy Who Loved Words. As I introduced each word during the read aloud, the kids searched through their bags to find the word and glue them into their word books. It took nearly three days to complete the story. After a week break, we revisited the the book of the month today. I read through, stopping at each of the vocabulary words. The kids called out the correct word as I paused. They can read the vocabulary word in isolation. I now know they understand the meaning in the text. I asked for the meaning or a synonym for each of the vocabulary words. Without hesitation, the kids were able to answer. My heart is aflutter with excitement!
After our lesson, I had the kids look determine what they loved the most. They looked up the definition in the dictionary and leaned how to use the thesaurus. We described what we loved with great vocabulary.
