#2919. Vocabulary Integration

Reading/Writing, level: all
Posted Sat Aug 23 07:19:47 PDT 2003 by Carey (Gilcher).
Manatee Middle School, Naples, FL
Materials Required: paper, teacher made cards, graphic organizer, literature source
Activity Time: 2 periods or 1 block
Concepts Taught: Integrating instead of memorizing

This lesson is designed to help students INTEGRATE vocabulary words into their language patterns, rather than memorizing them. It is applicable for all grade, literacy, and academic levels.
1) Create a graphic organizer which includes 3 columns. In the first column, list the words that are part of the vocabulary lesson. Title the second column "Word Prediction". Title the third column "Word Meaning". You can also have the students create their own graphic organizer by folding their paper in thirds and listing the words and column titles appropriately (best for older students).
If your vocabulary lesson coincides with a literature selection, allow students 2 minutes to peruse the selection, then instruct them to close their books. Students should then "predict" the meaning of the words in the lesson, listing their predictions in the "Word Prediction" column. Require that each students at least makes a guess for each word, and if they have trouble with that, help them make an educated guess.
2) Create Word Cards for each word- use one color for cards that have only the word, and one color for cards that have only the definition. Also, be sure to list the part of speech. Working in pairs, tell the students to match each word with it's definition. Allow 5-7 minutes for this process. Once they have matched all of the cards, tell them to make 3 piles- one for words they are positive they have correct, one for words they are pretty sure about, but not positive, and one for words that they have no clue about.
Next, give each student the correct definition for the words. You can do this with each pair, or with the class as a whole. After the students have the correct matches, they should complete the last column of their graphic organizer with the word meaning. Have them highlight or star the ones the predicted correctly.
If you follow this activity with cloze exercises, synonym/antonym activities, and writing prompts, the final product should be integration. You will find that they have better success in remembering the meanings of words, which will boost their reading and fluency. The most important part is to make sure that their activities are meaningful.