This week Samantha K is sharing how she tackles vocabulary in the upper-grade levels. It’s nothing fancy, but it is an idea to add to your toolbox.
She works to balance the fun element of learning with the long-term skill focus with older students. When it comes to vocabulary, Samantha looks at the goals for the year and what skills students need to work on.
This year, her students needed to re-vamp their study skills after two years of varying expectations, and they were very focused on preparing for the SAT. Samantha found a list of the top SAT vocabulary and used this as her base. In addition, students needed routine and consistency. So, she created a pattern that fits into their five meeting cycle.
On the first day of vocabulary, students are given a list of the words and their corresponding parts of speech. Next, students find the definition themselves and handwrite them. The class then reviews the definitions together to ensure everyone has an iteration of the correct definition.
Students create study materials on the second day of vocabulary: flashcards, Quizlet, etc. Samantha allows students to choose what works best for them. At the beginning of the year, many were struggling because their study habits had been lacking from the previous few years. So, they took some time to review how to study, and this practice helped them learn a variety of ways that have been implemented beyond the vocabulary unit.
On the third vocabulary day, students create sentences using the vocabulary words. Once they complete the sentences, they share them with a partner to check their work, and then the class shares them. This practice is where the most misunderstandings of definitions are clarified. Taking the vocabulary word and placing it into a sentence is also a great process to mimic part of the SAT style.
On the fourth day of vocabulary, students study with a partner for the quiz. Students refer to materials from the cycle they have created to help them study.
Finally, on the fifth day of vocabulary, students take their quiz. These progressed through the year from requiring students to provide the definition, use the words in a sentence, and recognize if the word is being used correctly or incorrectly in a sentence. In addition, the quizzes build on themselves. After the first two quizzes, words from previous quizzes are included in the following quizzes so that the study process asks students to go back and review the material.
