One Way I Teach Vocabulary

To share your ideas with this linky, please use the above image in your blog post and link it back to this specific post so that others can find their way here to see all the ideas.  Thank you so much to Deniece over at This Little Piggy Reads for making this graphic for me!  She even made that adorable ladybug!  And credit for the background goes to Megan at I Teach, What's Your Superpower? and the frame was made by Mercedes Hutchens at Surfing to Success.

I do Daily 5 in my classroom, so we are always working on vocabulary that is embedded in our text in small groups.  I know you need to teach vocabulary in a meaningful way, like in the books the children are reading.  I have also found a way to teach vocabulary for my 3rd graders during a daily context clue minilesson.  I use this book for my word every day:

The book suggests telling students what the word means, but I write the provided sentence on the board and have students figure out the definition of the word themselves with context clues.  I also have them tell me what part of speech they think the word is, and they are really improving with daily practice of that skill.  The book is also great for student participation, because it has some questions to go with every word.  For example, for the word "fragile," it says, "Which of the following is fragile?  A pillow?  A mirror?" (Not word for word, but you get the point).  I have students give me a thumbs up or thumbs down for this type of activity.  Then, the book connects the word to students' lives.  (Tell about something in your house that is fragile).  I make my students answer in complete sentences using the word. (Something fragile in my house is....).  

Every day, we review all the words we've learned so far that week.  We also have one review word from a previous week.  On Fridays, we have a quiz.  My students are doing great on their quizzes.  And the best part is when I hear students using their words in their day-to-day speech.  I had one little girl tell me, "She is not my friend anymore.  Permanently!"  Don't worry - they were friends again the next day.  3rd grade drama this year!

And now for a little funny from our week of vocabulary.  On Friday, we were reviewing our words for the week.  When I asked the students to tell me what our words were, one sweet little girl raised her hand and said, "Constipated?"  I waited for the class to break into laughter, but I guess they don't know what that word means.  I kept a straight face and gently said, "Noooo...hmm can a friend help her out with one of our words?"  I guess she's been hearing that word at home a lot recently or something?  :)

I'd love to hear some of your ideas about how you incorporate vocabulary into your day.  Please Note: The purpose of this linky is to link to your blog post about teaching vocabulary, not to put a direct link to a product.  If you link to your blog post, please include the above image with a link back to this post so your blog followers can be linked back to other people's ideas.  Thank you :)