What kinds
of words are most important to teach?
Criteria for Identifying Possible Words to Study
·
How generally
useful is the word? Is it a word that students are likely to encounter in other
texts? Will it be of use to students in describing their own experiences?
·
Is it a word
students do not know, completely and accurately?
o
Is the word Tier
2 or 3? (See table below.)
·
How does the word
relate to other words, to ideas that students know or have been learning? Does
it directly relate to some topic of study in the classroom? Or might it add a
dimension to ideas that have been developed?
·
What does the
word bring to a text or situation? What role does the word play in
communicating the meaning of the context in which it is used? What role do the
words play in relation to the mood and plot of the story?
Kind of Word
|
Explanation
|
Examples
|
|
Tier 1 |
Basic words, well known,
often used |
clock, baby, happy |
|
Tier 2 |
High frequency words used
by mature language users across several content areas |
coincidence, absurd, hasty,
perseverance |
|
Tier 3 |
Low-frequency words, often
limited to specific content areas |
nucleus, osmosis,
archaeologist |
Selecting Vocabulary to Teach from Uncle Jed’s Barbershop
For each word indicate whether it is a tier 1, tier 2, or tier 3 word by placing X in the correct tier column. For example, brother is a tier 1 word, so X is marked in Tier 1.
|
Vocabulary from Uncle Jed’s Barbershop |
Tier 1 |
Tier 2 |
Tier 3 |
|
brother (p. 1) |
X |
|
|
|
barbershop (p. 5) |
|
|
|
|
savings (p. 5) |
|
|
|
|
sharecroppers (p. 8) |
|
|
|
|
separate (p. 12) |
|
|
|
|
hospital (p. 12) |
|
|
|
|
segregation (p. 12) |
|
|
|
|
unconscious (p. 13) |
|
|
|
|
money (p. 13) |
|
|
|
|
depression (p. 19) |
|
|
|
|
the Great Depression (p. 19) |
|
|
|
|
happy (p. 28) |
|
|
|
|
dream (p. 28) |
|
|
|
Find 2 more Tier 2 words from the book; write them here:
Robust
Vocabulary Instruction
The
key features of robust vocabulary instruction are:
·
Selection of Tier 2 words, words used by mature language users that
students do not usually include in their everyday conversation and writing
·
Introduction of a set of 5-7 Tier 2 words each week with
student-friendly definitions
·
Daily activities that engage and support students in thinking about and
using the words in a variety of formats and contexts
·
End-of-week assessment
·
Maintenance activities
These materials
are based on:
Bringing Words
to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2002)
by Isabel L. Beck,
Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan,
See Linda Kucan’s vocabulary materials on the class web site.
http://www.lesn.appstate.edu/fryeem/vocabulary_instruction.htm
Vocabulary Mini-Lesson
For Uncle Jed’s Barbershop
Write
child-friendly definitions for the following Tier 2 words:
barbershop
sharecroppers
depression
segregation
separate
unconscious
With a partner or individually, design and complete one daily vocabulary activity from Linda Kucan’s vocabulary material: http://vygotsky.ced.appstate.edu/BethFrye/vocabulary_instruction.htm
Be
ready to share your activity with our class.
Working with Word Parts
Barbershop is a compound word (made up of 2 words—barber shop).
Find 2 more compound words from the book. Write them here.
The
words depression and segregation end in –ion, which is a suffix that indicates these words are
nouns; -ion roughly means the act or state of the verb root. For example, segregate means
to keep apart and segregation means the act of keeping two things apart. Find
another example of a word like this in the book and write it here.
The
word separate
ends in –ate, which is a suffix that
indicates that word is a verb and describes an action. Notice also that the
words separate and segregate both end in –ate and both words have a related word
with –ion ending: separation, segregation. Can you think of 2 other words that work like this?
Write them here.
The
word unconscious has a prefix un- that means not. Can you think of 2 other
words that have this prefix? Write them here.
The
reference materials that follow will help you design lessons with word parts.
But
why do this anyway? Why teach children about roots, prefixes and suffixes? See
NCSCOS for English Language Arts: http://www.ltl.appstate.edu/reading_resources/NCSCOS_Word_Parts.htm
Morphemic Analysis: the examination of a word in order to locate and derive the meanings of the morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning. The word unconsciousness has 3 morphemes (un-conscious-ness).
Focus for instruction: roots
and affixes
Affix- a
morphemic element added to the beginning or ending of a word or root in order to
add to the meaning of the word or change its function.
Prefix- an
affix attached at the beginning of a base word or root word to form a new word
Suffix- an
affix attached at the end of a base word or root word to form a new word
Base word- a
word to which prefixes and suffixes are added
3rd grade affixes studied:
Prefix Meaning Examples
un- not unconscious, unhappy
un- opposite undo, uncover
The most common prefixes include: un-, re-, in-, im-, ir-, il-, dis-, en-, em-, non-, in-, im-, over-, mis-, sub-, pre-, inter-, fore-, de-, trans-, super-, semi-, anti-, mid-, under-
Suffix Meaning Examples
-ion act of operation- the act of operating
separation
segregation
construction
Base Word Making the
spelling-meaning connection
separate
segregate
operate
educate
complicate
fascinate
tolerate
navigate
Compound Words come in three forms: solid (bathtub), hyphenated (good-bye), or open (home run). Most compound words provide clues to the word’s meaning. Knowing about compound words gives children confidence that they can “break them down” into their component parts; they can see them separately when they come across these words in their reading.
Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different meanings (ate, eight).
Third grade spelling books target homophones as a major teaching point.
Check out the following web site for wonderful etymology activities.