Vocab is Vital

Of each of the articles this week, I particularly enjoyed Lane and Allen's review of the importance of vocabulary in reading and the various ways to promote vocabulary growth. I loved reading about Mrs. Barker's circle time and the integration of new vocabulary defining the roles as the year progressed. My mother works as an assistant in the special education preschool class of my former elementary school. They too have these specified roles such as "line leader," "caboose," and "weather watcher." They do not change the titles of these roles because they have children ranging from age 3 to 6. Instead, they use harder vocabulary for the older students when giving them instructions about roles. For example, it would not be abnormal to hear my mom tell a five year-old autistic child to line up adjacent to the door. And it wouldn't be uncommon to see this student grasp the meaning of "adjacent" and move accordingly, just like in Mrs. Barker's class. To me, this way of gradually building the students' vocabulary is time efficient and very effective. Even in the special education preschool class, it was a way of holding the children accountable for reaching their true potential, a means of avoiding the temptation to "dumb down" our language for children (as Lane and Allen suggest is a big barrier to vocabulary growth).

Aside from incorporating new vocabulary into existing daily exercises, you may also find this website very informative and useful! Interesting reads and materials for your benefit and some great games for your students!
Found here: http://vocabulary.co.il/blog/learning_vocabulary/category/elementary-school/

 Word Walls are great for introducing and supporting new vocabulary: