My 3rd graders really liked matching the image with the vocab word from google images. I had a student while watching a Bill Nye DVD for science point out an image that was flashed on the screen and related it to a word (not a word we had been studying, but a new word to most).

I really liked using the different vocab. activities. My favorite with my very "active" class was example/nonexample. If I gave them an example they would stand up and pose. If I gave them a nonexample they would remain seated. Great way to get the wiggles out after recess or PE.

An extensionof the picture activity that I have used this last month is to have my 5th/6th grade Title I students bring in a picture example of our "word of the week". It can be one they have found on the internet, drawn themselves, or found in a book and copied. It really helps to show that they understand the meaning of the word.

My favorite example was one brought in by a 5th grade boy for the word "ban". Shortly after Valentine's Day, he brought in a Jonas Brothers valentine with the "no" symbol (circle with a slash) around one of the singer's heads!

Tammy,
I also did a different assessment with my students this time. I tried to use the examples that were given to us at our last SEEDS. Instead of matching the definitions I wrote some of the sentence stems and example ideas that were given. It all takes extra time to do but I like the results. Denise

________________________________

From: QuickTopic daily digest [1] Sent: Tue 2/24/2009 11:22 PM
To: Denise Jardon
Subject: Discuss 3-6 Reading



< replied-to message removed by QT >

Greta,
I agree that the activities give us a wide range of ways to reinforce our vocabulary words. In using the sentence stem activity I found the students were able to generate a good number of examples by relating it to their own background knowledge. I also wrote an assessment piece that followed her examples and not making it so much matching as I had done in the past and the students responded well to that way of testing. Denise

________________________________

From: QuickTopic daily digest [1] Sent: Sun 3/1/2009 11:20 PM
To: Denise Jardon
Subject: Discuss 3-6 Reading



< replied-to message removed by QT >

I really feel we were given several good activities to use in the teaching of vocabulary. So many of the activities can work into everyday learning situations. I know my students benefit from this approach to learning vocabulary. They really responded to the photos activities.

On the assessment piece, I did it orally because my student does better with being able to talk and explain. If he can explain it to me and give me the correct definition orally, I feel, with him, is a much better way to assess him than to give him a written test with choices. If he has choices, how do I know that he knows the word or if he is just a lucky guesser.

Edited by author 02-26-2009 10:51 AM
Tammy, I am glad your activity went well, I also use the game concentration with alot of my vocab words all across the curriculum. It is a good way to keep kids' memories sharp!! Plus, it's a game, they love games!!

The vocabulary activity I chose to share was the Example/Non-Example. I did this with my guided reading group, lower level. They were given these words last month as they were presented in thier reading book, so we completed student fiendly definitions and word maps over the 2-tier words and also did the picture word activity using google images, they loved that and were able to display these on tage board at our last P-T Conferences we had in February. They really liked that. They also exchanged thier words and photos with another reading group that did the same google pic activity, so all groups were involved and they had a great time figuring out what picture went with what word. Like I said, I did the example/non-example orally, it went well, but I would definitely like to try this as a written piece for an assessment.

I really enjoy teaching vocabulary now that we have learned so many fun and interesting ways to get kids involved with learning new words. With my 6th grade Title I group we did 3 activities: Have You Ever...?; Example/Nonexample; and Word Associations. I do pair-share to keep all them involved. Asking "Why?" lets me know their level of understanding and having them hear each other's explainations just deepens their understanding. For assessment we did the picture/vocabulary activity. Each student had word cards. I showed the picture and they chose the word/words to go with the picture and had to verbally tell why they chose those words. One student chose a word I hadn't thought about matching the picture, but he gave a plausible reason why. Perhaps next time I will make it written instead of oral.

Greta, I really liked your idea of using the promethean board to do the picture/vocabulary activity. The kids loving using the board, technology is a great avenue for keeping kids exciting about learning.

Tammy, I agree. I think anytime you use the computer with students they tend to stay focused and more willing to do the activity. I really like using photos and pictures to help teach vocabulary.

I used an economy social studies booklet that came with our social studies materials. I chose five of the words that were listed as vocabulary words: economy, goods, services, consumers, and producers. I started with the word friendly definitions and then did a Power Point presentation where I used photos with the vocabulary word on each one of the slides. I made several slides for each vocabulary word. I had the students say the word as they looked at the photo. Then the students took turns explaining how the photo related to the vocabulary word that was on it. I also made a flip chart using the Promethean board where the students had to place the vocabulary words that related to the photo on the photo and explain why they chose that word. Other activities I used were: "Example/Non Example"; "Word Association","Generating Examples"; "Word Relationships", and "Writing". The students enjoyed the Power Point presentation, the group work, and the Promethean Board flip chart activities the most.

Peggy...I wish I could see this activity in action. I am so impressed by the responses from your students. Have you tried using the same pictures but with different vocabulary words? I wonder how that would work with the kids? Thanks for posting and sharing your reflection...talk to you soon. ~lynda

Tammy...what a great way to differentate your lesson. I think this activity would be engaging and work well as you assess students. Thank you for sharing...would you mind bringing an example of the picture/word to our SEEDS? I think it is so good for us when we can collaborate with our peers and share ideas. See you soon. ~lynda

For my activity, I used Google Vocabulary. My student read the book "Henry and Mudge take a Long Weekend" I did the picture activity and had him google them and find pictures to match the words. He loved doing this because he likes to do things on the computer. When he was done finding the picture to go with his word. I had him write his words on index cards and I mixed the index cards up and the pictures and we played concentration. When he found the picture that he thought went with the word, he had to tell me what the definition of the word was by looking at the picture and then tell me why he chose that picture. My assessment was an oral one. My student works better doing things orally. Overall it was a fun activity for both.

I shared this on SEEDS day, but I did the picture activity for one week's vocab words with my 5/6 Title I kids. Needless to say, they are not always very motivated. As an assessment, I chose different pictures that could go with the words and put them in a document. Some of the pictures could go with more than one vocab word. Students had to write which word they thought went with each picture and why. They had to write about a minimum of four words but could choose to do more for extra credit. All of the students chose to do more than the minimum because they said it was easy and they knew what words they would put with the pictures.

Even the kids who hate to write were enthusiastic about this activity. It really got at whether they could use the words in different situations. I will do this when we do our unit review and see how it works.

Here are the Quick Topic prompts for Day 3:

Think and Reflect:

1)What form of vocabulary assessment are you using with your students to demonstrate understanding?
2) Share what you are doing with the assessment piece of your vocabulary instruction.
3)Post at least 2 entries sharing your example and experience of using the assessment piece. What worked and what would you change.

Rene,
I have also enjoyed using the book Th Patchwork Quilt during my unit on the Civil War. I will look up the text talk material and do a lesson with that when I get to that time period. I chose a book called Katie's Trunk by Ann Turner from the AEA Library. It dealt with a Loyalist family during the Revolutionary War and took their viewpoint which the students found interesting. It had few Tier two words which was okay considering the short time frame that day. Denise Jardon

________________________________

From: QuickTopic daily digest [1] Sent: Tue 1/13/2009 11:20 PM
To: Denise Jardon
Subject: Discuss 3-6 Reading



< replied-to message removed by QT >

My text-talk lesson was on The Patchwork Quilt. This is also a story in our reading basal so I had numerous activities that I could choose from. I would recommend this book to the upper elementary grades.(I sound like Reading Rainbow)
The lesson went very well and all the students participated in answering questions.
 I found the same problem that Melissa had in that the students got restless and did better when we discussed 3-4 pages at a time instead of page by page. This also helped keep the flow of the book better and not so chopped up. The format was very easy to follow except I limited the number of scripted questions for each Tier 2 word and added some of my own questions, rather than the scripted ones that accompanied the lesson.
 I will continue to choose more trade books and use the Text-talk lessons provided.

I liked the text talk lesson I did. I thought the book I selected was good for 3rd grade. I did change the lesson a little after I got started. At first I was reading page by page and asking 3-4 comprehension questions after each page. The students got tired of this fast. So instead I read 4-5 pages at a time and then asked the questions. The students liked the activity that went along with the lesson. I decided to do a writing activity the next day as a follow up using the T-two words. It went very well.

I agree with Greta about liking the vocabulary activities better than the comprehension activities with the text-talk lessons. My group was very small and I felt they had fun with the vocabulary text-talk lesson. It is very difficult and not much fun when you have such a small group. The next time I do it, I think it will be much more fun and a little more organized. I put sticky notes on my pages and that just didn't work for me. I didn't feel like I presented a good lesson doing it that way. Overall, I do like the text-talk lesson plans.

Like Greta, I also did the Pecos Bill lesson. The third graders have a Pecos Bill story in their reading books, and present a play for the elementary students every year, so they are very familiar with THAT version of the story. In addition to vocabulary, they looked for similarities and differences to their familiar story as they listened to the Steven Kellogg version. In addition to the three selected words, there were several words that I did a quick explanation for as I read. I didn't use all of the comprehension questions, but branched out and added my own. Students really loved this story/lesson.

Peggy

After looking through some of the text talk lessons, I feel I like the vocabulary activities better than the comprehension questions. I see a lot of value in the vocabulary activities. The students enjoy doing the these activities. I think picture books can be used with any age of students.

Greta Iles

P.S. Has anyone found a text talk lesson that they would recommend to others?

I also completed my lesson. I found a book dealing with the Revolutionary war told from the point of a Loyalist. The kids seemed to enjoy it. The Tier Two words were good to use but I certainly did not follow the scripting that was on the page. Hope to find another book to use second semester. Have a great weekend. Only five more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Denise

________________________________

From: QuickTopic daily digest [1] Sent: Thu 12/11/2008 11:21 PM
To: Denise Jardon
Subject: Discuss 3-6 Reading



< replied-to message removed by QT >

Well, I did my lesson, went pretty well, the kids loved the vocab activities where they had to provide examples of experiences they had had in relationship with the target words I used in the lesson. I think they really enjoyed the book I read, eventhough they might have thought is was a little young for them, but they got along great. I adjusted the lesson to fit my personality and actually did it whole class verbally, which I was a littel apprehensive about earlier when we were talkin at the last SEEDS meeting, I would like to do another one small group, like with my reading groups and pick target words that would be at each groups level.

Wendy,

I agree. It's always helpful to hear what works well from other teachers. Usually it just takes little adjustments for the text talk lessons to work for you. I especially like the vocabulary lessons.

Greta

I really liked the text talk lessons, lots of ideas to make teaching something new helpful and I love getting new ideas for lessons from other teachers!! Share and share alike!! Wendy

Greta, I would like you to discuss the text-talk lesson you chose...tell us what you liked about it or would want to change. Share with us your experience and that of your class with doing Text-talks. I agree with you on the comprehension questions...with everything, we need to test it out and try it and then revise if need be. Try another one and see how it goes. Thanks for being so brave and going for it!! Have a good week-end. ~lynda

11-12-08

Everyone,

What are some of the Utah Text Talk lessons that you felt were excellent to be in used in the 3-6 classrooms as whole group activities?

I did the Pecos Bill lesson. I liked the vocabulary activities, but felt the comprehension questions needed some revising. Too many of them sounded the same and were fact finding ones.

11-13-08

Lynda, I'm not sure what the new topic is, but I just wanted to say I think the text talk lessons will be a help in the study of vocabulary. I might not use the whole lesson, but I feel the vocabulary activities will be helpful.

I have posted your discussion thread on the k-2 reading page. Please look there for your Quick Topic discussion thread. Thanks. ~lynda

Criss. I would spend at least 15 min. daily on vocab. activities.

paula,
The students enjoy snowball and applause applause.They include participation from all students.

Rene,
I try to use a variety of activities for vocab. like snowball, What if, look up definitions, and do vocab webs.

 Melissa, I think you could do either one of those activities with a chapter book. It will vary with the type of vocbaulary presented.

Greta,
I liked the Rivot activity because it can be a great introduction to vocab before the story and lead to some great predictions before reading the story.

Rene',
You might try some of the Robust vocab. activities. The kids really enjoy "What word goes with..." and "Applause, applause"!

Denise, I think reading the story twice might be much for the upper grades. I had a hard time listening myself the 2nd time.

Wendy, I think the standards and benchmarks are usefu as a guide and a way to evaluate if you are teaching the concepts that the school expects you to be teaching. I do think the standards and benchmarks should be re-evaluated frequently to make sure they are relevent.

What is one of the vocabulary activities you've used that we have learned in SEEDS that you thought was the most successful?

Denise,
With 4th graders, we always read our story at least twice and sometimes 3 times!

Greta, I liked the Read Aloud activity to intro. new words and build background.

Denise,

I agree. I would certainly only read a portion of the book the second time. I would probably be inclined to choose my vocab words from the same portion of the book so I wouldn't have to read as much the second time!

I plan on using the rivet activity in music. It's a great way to introduce the "foreign" music terms and providing a visual of the word as we use it throughout the class time.

Greta,
 I think the RIVET activity was a great idea and I plan to use it on Friday's after lunch. I need to come up with a book that will be appropiate for my fifth graders.

Denise, I agaree with you about reading the story twice, I think at our grade levels you could just read the pages or paragraphs in order to review the vocab words, I really liked the way that they reused the vocab words and put them into questions , you could use just those questions into journal prompts!! Great question!!

About how much time should I spend when introducing vocab.for new story in the student anthology?

I thought the Rivet activity would lend itself to a wide range of acitivities. I could see it broadening student vocabulary.

Do you use different vocabulary strategies in your curriculum?

Tasha, Can you get vocab words from the general ed teacher? I think it would be really neat if you could set words and definitions to music. (say for instance a nursery rhyme tune they already know) I know I remember song lyrics much better than text.

Wendy,
I feel that the standards and benchmarks keep me on track as to what I should be teaching. I also like to know what the teachers in the grades above and below me are teaching.

When using the Read Aloud vocab. activity with a chapter book, should a chpater be picked, or a few pages?

Well Tasha, how about taking your music vocabulary words and making a word chunking/syllable lesson using your instruments instead of clapping their hands, like they do in the classroom. Rock on!!

Well Greta, I really enjoyed the "odd word out" activity. It requires the students to think about the relationship between the words.

What do you think is the best vocabulary activity that was presented today? Why?

Do you think reading the story twice, once to introduce the story and the second time to listen for the vocabulary is a bit much?

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can implement the word-learning activities into the music classroom?

DO you feel that standards and benchmarks are a positive force in driving the way you teach?

I have a different attitude on homework. I have learned what may work and what doesn't. What helps them with comprehension.

What is one thing you learned today that you plan to implement in the classroom?