Reading 101 is a collaboration with the Center for Effective Reading Instruction and The International Dyslexia Association.

Vocabulary: Assignments

Four elementary aged kids working on vocabulary together

Try these ideas for enhancing vocabulary knowledge in your classroom, and watch the classroom video on teaching academic vocabulary.

Vocabulary self-check

Conduct a self-check of the words you have taught your students recently to see if they fall in the Tier 1, 2, or 3 categories

Vocabulary boost

Before reading a book aloud to your class, introduce at least one new vocabulary word from the story. Discuss what the word means and ask your students to give you a "thumbs up" when they hear the vocabulary word in the story.

After you've read the story, discuss the meaning of the vocabulary word again. This time, choose a student to define the word. Ask students to use the word in a sentence and identify a synonym or antonym. Create a chart listing all vocabulary words introduced throughout the year.

Affix chart

Over a course of two days introduce prefixes and suffixes to your students. On day one, discuss prefixes. Create a chart listing common prefixes and their definitions. On the second day, introduce suffixes. Following the discussion, chart suffixes and list their definitions. Compare the difference between prefixes and suffixes. Below is a sample chart to help guide your discussions.

 

Prefix

Definition

Example

Suffix

Definition

Example

bi-

two

bicycle

-able

can be, worthy of

lovable

dis-

not/apart from

dishonest

-ish

character of, somewhat

selfish

mis-

wrong

misspell

-ist

person who

violinist

pre-

before

preheat

-ful

full of

beautiful

re-

back, again

refund

-ness

state of, quality of

kindness

sub-

under

submarine

-or/-er

person who, thing which

presenter

un-

not

unsafe

-some

like, tending to be

awesome

Watch

Instructional Terms: Helping Students Expand Vocabulary

Learn how to teach academic vocabulary that empowers students across content areas. (Published with permission from the Balanced Literacy Diet)

Letter of completion

Reading Rockets does not offer CEUs for this self-study course. After successfully answering the post-test questions, you'll be able to download a Letter of Completion.

Reading 101 is a collaboration with the Center for Effective Reading Instruction and The International Dyslexia Association.

"Books to the ceiling, Books to the sky, My pile of books is a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them." —

Arnold Lobel