Reading to Learn | lessons-in-literacy

Rationale:

A large working knowledge of what words mean is necessary for reading success. Vocabulary development is vital to increasing reading comprehension. If a student does not understand the words that he or she is reading, they miss out on the message of the text. In order to effectively expand vocabulary, students must gain ownership of unfamiliar words and their meanings. If words are grouped into semantic groups with words that have similar meanings, it makes them easier to learn because they activate one another’s meanings. In this lesson, students will look at vocabulary words in semantic groups and work on gaining ownership of them. Students will compare and contrast the words, and display understanding of their meanings by utilizing them in new sentences.

Materials:

· Class set of dictionaries

· Worksheet with Vocabulary Sentences

· Worksheet with Vocabulary Word Pairs

· Chart for “Word Wizard” Points

· Expository Text: Ancient Big Bird

Procedure:

1. Today we are going to work on expanding our vocabulary. Learning new vocabulary gives us the ability to understand messages of stories or texts. Sometimes learning new words can be difficult, so to make it easier we can look at words that are all related. By looking at groups of words that are related, we can use their meanings to help us remember what the other words in the group mean.

Today, we are going to focus on learning the vocabulary words ancient, decade, extinct, fossil, and paleontologist. Does anyone know how these words are related? They all deal with things that have been around for a long time, or are very old.

2. First, we are going to learn how to look for our vocabulary words in a dictionary. Who knows what a dictionary is? A dictionary is a book that lists words with their pronunciations, parts of speech, and definition (or meaning). When we come across words that we don’t know the meaning of, we can use a dictionary to look up the meaning. Each of you has a dictionary. I want you to take out your dictionary. What do you notice about the dictionary? The words in the alphabet are in ABC order. The first word we are going to look for today is ancient. [Write ancient on the board.] To find ancient, I am going to start by going to the a words. Once I have found the a words, I am going to look for words that begin with an. After I find an words, it should be easy to locate ancient. What does ancient mean? [Allow students to answer.] Correct! The word ancient means incredibly old. Now that we all know how to find definitions, I am going to give you a few more words to look up. The next word I want you to look up is decade. [Write each word and definition on board. Continue until all words have been looked up.]

3. I will then provide the students with some examples and some non-examples for each vocabulary word. “The word ancient means something is really old. Something that has been around for many generations can be described as ancient. If something is new or recently made, it cannot be described as ancient.”

4. I will then model how to use the vocabulary word in a sentence before asking the students to generate a sentence. “I am going to show you how I might use ancient in a sentence, and then I want you to try making sentences with our words. In the historic town, there was an ancient building. Okay, now I want you to finish this sentence: The ancient table… [Continue with examples and non-examples for decade, extinct, fossil, and paleontologist.]

5. We will continue talking about the vocabulary words. I will have students comment about each vocabulary word. “Would something made last year have been around for a decade? What might be decades old?” We will continue talking about the rest of the vocabulary words.

· “Is my iPod ancient?

· “Are eagles extinct?”

· “Who might study a civilization’s fossils? Paleontologists might study fossils

6. I will have the students complete a sentence using the vocabulary words. (See below).

7. After completing the sentence sheet below, the students will read an expository text. I will pass out an article that includes at least one vocabulary word from today’s lesson. “The article that was just passed out is called Ancient Big Bird. We are going to read this story to learn more about the words that we just discussed.

· “Does anyone know how big some birds could be? There used to be some gigantic birds that make today’s birds look tiny! We’re going to read this article to find out exactly how big birds could be.”

· The students will then read silently to themselves.

8. We will then discuss the text that the students read on their own

What kind of bird was talked about in the article?
What do you think it would have been like to see such a bird in person?
How did we find out about these birds if they are no longer living?
What are some vocabulary words that you saw in the article?
How did you see them used?

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:
- What is the name of today's biggest flier?
- When and where did paleontologists find the Pelagornis fossils?
- How big is the wingspan of today's largest flier?

9. The students will also have the opportunity to participate in an activity called, “Word Wizard.” The students will look for ancient, decade, extinct, fossil, and paleontologist outside of the classroom. Each time the student sees the word in print they will earn one point. If the student hears it used in speech, they earn two points. If the student uses the word themselves (and it makes sense in context) they will earn three points. The points the students earn will be used to earn ranks. Each student will be ranked on a chart in the class. The lowest level is apprentice. As students earn more points they will move up to word journeyman and eventually to word wizard. The top point earner in the class will be named “Victorious Vocabulary Word Wizard.”

Assessments:

Vocabulary Sentence Worksheet

Name___________________________

Date____________________________

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the vocabulary word list.

Words: ancient, decade, extinct, fossil, paleontologist

1. The ________________________ spent hours looking at the old bones.

2. The dinosaur _______________________ was found buried deep in the earth.

3. My favorite __________ is the 1950s.

4. There are not many tigers left in the wild and they are in danger of becoming ______________________.

5. The _______________________ painting has been in our family for hundreds of years.

Answers: 1. paleontologist 2. fossil 3. decade 4. extinct 5. Ancient