Vocabulary - Mop Top

Several years ago, after we read the work of Beck and McKeown, a group of Kindergarten teachers at Chets Creek decided to write our own vocabulary study. We looked at books that we were using for oral retelling after coming back from studying with Lucy Calkins at Teachers' College in NYC. We selected the best of those books and then choose 6 words for each book - 4 words that were actually used in the book and 2 words that were implied. We then wrote vocabulary activities for each of the books. We have used and edited the vocabulary for about 4 years now. Not only do the teachers love the work, but the children clearly are using the vocabulary in their oral speaking and in their writing! The bulletin board above by Maria Mallon and Cheryl Dillard, shows how their kindergarten class has incorporated the vocabulary unit into their curriculum. This board shows activities around one of our "Star Books," Mop Top.

"Vocabulary Jeopardy," as illustrated above, is a game played in the classroom as children learn new words with each new book. The teacher asks the question and the children have to name the word. It's a fun way to practice definitions.

The book above is an example of a child that has incorporated the vocabulary that the class has been learning into her writing. She has written a pattern book called, "What makes you thrilled?" This book clearly shows that she understands the word!

The activity above is an example of one completed by each individual child. This concept map is words and pictures for the word thrilled. The activity above shows four of the words from the story, Mop Top, illustrated by a kindergartner - stumbled, floppy, soaring, thrilled. This activity has been used as an activity so students could show their understanding of the words but also could be used as an assessment.

Humane Society Visits

Today Meagan from the Jacksonville Humane Society visited Chets Creek kindergartners. The children learned about what dogs need, about the Humane Society in general and about how to approach a dog that they do not know. Many of the kindergarten classes are collecting cat and dog food, animal bowls, brushes and blankets to donate to the Humane Society as part of their holiday service project. Many of the children returned to class and wrote about what they had learned today from this shared experience.

I pet the dog.

He was soft.

I learned that he

did tricks.

The dog was happy.

I was eager to see

the dog do tricks.

Abigail's picture matches her words as it shows the children in line waiting to pet Noodles, the Humane Society dog, at the end of the assembly. You will notice that Abigail also got a sticker for using the word "eager" which is a vocabulary word from our "Star Vocabulary" curriculum!

Creating Robust Vocabulary

When I saw that Isabell Beck and Margaret McKeown had written a follow up book to their highly successful Bringing Words to Life, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. When it finally came in the mail, I sat right down and began reading. The book answers frequently asked questions about their original vocabulary strategies, but it is of such interest to me right now because I have joined with with a group of primary teachers to write our own vocabulary activities based on books we already had in our classrooms.  After spending the last year writing, field testing, assessing, and rewriting activities, I was interested to see if the book answered any of the questions that we have had over the last year. It did!

I do feel like I have an even better grasp of Tier Two words and understand which ones provide "mileage" and should or shouldn't be included for robust instruction. I realize that we have a few words in our unit that don't really meet the criteria for "robust" instruction (such as rumpus from Where the Wild Things Are which is NOT a word that meets the "mileage" criteria), but that's what makes the experiences of the last year so interesting.

I guess my biggest "a-ha" was realizing that most Science words are Tier Three words and would not be good choices for the type of robust instruction that is contained in Beck and McKeown's work. Most Science words are specific to that genre and are not words with mileage across curriculum areas. I had thought that we might incorporate Science vocabulary into our vocabulary instruction but am now rethinking that.

I have also broadened my ideas about ways to assess vocabulary. Of course, we don't have vocabulary grades in Kindergarten, so our reason for assessment would be simply to see if the children are internalizing the words. I guess one of the things that I realized is that I CAN depend on how the children are reacting to the words and examples as I teach. "Reading the room" as I go is a great way to assess along with beginning to see the words used in the children's writing as ways to evaluate the quality of instruction. We may not need anything additional in assessment in Kindergarten.

The only unanswered question that I still have is that Beck and McKeown really never mentioned using picture cards to associate with the words. This is something that teachers really seemed to like and feel was important. I would be interested to know Beck and McKeown's take on using picture cards paired with the words...

All in all, this book is a quick read, has an excellent section of examples for teaching vocabulary as professional development to specific grade level teachers, has a great list of possible activities for teaching new words through literature, includes lots of intermediate activities and was validating that we are indeed on the right track!

HOLLYWOOD!

I have been away for the last week in Hollywood, CA for the America's Choice National Conference. Many exciting things happened at the conference. Below are some of my reflections from a Kindergarten prospective:

• Maria Mallon and Haley Alvarado videoed a live kindergarten lesson as it was happening from the East Coast in Jacksonville, FL to the West Coast of Hollywood, CA! Wow! Not only was the technology amazing but Maria's kindergartners were working on deciding when a narrative piece is good enough by using a class-written rubric! How much I admire these teachers who were willing to take a risk and teach a lesson for the very people that wrote the Design!
• Debbie Harbour presented our kindergarten work with vocabulary. She explained the professional learning community that had formed around the need to deepen our vocabulary work. She explained how we studied the work of Beck and McKeown and then wrote a vocabulary unit around 12 well known kindergarten read alouds  She showed some of the data results as we prepare to revisit and edit this "work-in-progress" over the summer.
• Debbie Cothern and Michelle Ellis, looping K-1 teachers, shared our journey as we have raised the level of our standard-based bulletin board work.
• As a Special Education teacher I presented on the intensity of my interventions as I was reminded of the small window of opportunity that we have with our young at-risk learners to make the most difference. This continues to noodle around in my head as I try to figure out how to make the most of the rest of this year with the childen that I teach.

Most of all I was reminded of the incredible people that I work with every day - people who were willing to blog this conference live - even though none of us had ever done it before - people who were willing to come together and discuss new ideas over dinner - people who believe in and embrace the possibilities! I have always believed that I have the best job in the whole world, so this was just a reminder that it really is true! This is the place where dreams really do come true!