Selecting Words
There are a variety of research supported ways to choose which words to teach:
- Word Box: When students come to words they do not know or they find interesting in their reading, they write the word and the sentence they found it in on a post-it note and put it in the shoe box labeled "Word Box". The teacher they chooses at least five words a week that he or she thinks the class will benefit from (often Tier 2 words) to teach in whole group instruction.
- Choose Tier 2 words
- Choose relatively familiar words that approximately 40-70% of the children in your students' age group will know
- Choose content related words that students will need to know for other subject areas (Neuman & Roskos, 2012)
- When choosing words from specific stories, choose words that are:
- Useful to students
- To understand the story
- For other learning activities
- To meet academic goals
- Are teachable
- Have child-friendly definitions and examples
- Have meanings that are supported through the pictures or events in the story
Tiered Vocabulary
Tier One
Tier One consists of the most basic words that rarely require instruction in schools. Some examples of these words are clock, baby and happy.
Tier Two
Tier Two words are high-frequency words for mature language users and thus instruction in these words can add productively to an individual's language ability. Some examples of these words are coincidence, absurd and industrious.
Tier Three
Tier Three includes words whose frequency of use is quite low, often being limited to specific domains and probably learned best when needed in a content area. Some examples of these words are isotope, lathe and peninsula.
Tier One consists of the most basic words that rarely require instruction in schools. Some examples of these words are clock, baby and happy.
Tier Two
Tier Two words are high-frequency words for mature language users and thus instruction in these words can add productively to an individual's language ability. Some examples of these words are coincidence, absurd and industrious.
Tier Three
Tier Three includes words whose frequency of use is quite low, often being limited to specific domains and probably learned best when needed in a content area. Some examples of these words are isotope, lathe and peninsula.