Vocabulary Program
My vocabulary program is designed to help students truly understand and master some high-frequency academic words.
Here are the components of how I teach vocabulary:
Vocabulary Study Guides--Every other week we introduce a set of new words. I have the words in a sentence on the board and I introduce two of them each day until the whole set of ten is introduced. As I explain the words to students, they use the yellow Study Guide to fill in all the information and examples I give them about the words. I give the definition and explain the words from multiple angles. The students then turn to their partner and complete the sentence that I have given them in order to prove they know what the word means. I then randomly call on students to give me their examples. They receive credit for their good efforts and it is part of their participation grade. The Study Guide is turned in for credit before we introduce the new words.
Homework--There is homework every day. I ask them to spend ten minutes studying the words for that week.
My word lists are on a great website called Quizlet.com. To sign up for my class and my word lists, go to Quizlet.com and search for "7th Grade Language Arts (Bjerke)". You can also follow this link to sign up directly for my class: tiny.cc/quizletsignup . There are games to play with all the words, definitions, pictures--so much. I can't say enough about how big a difference it would make in your quiz scores if you use Quizlet.com.
Quizzes--The quiz for each unit of vocabulary is almost always held on Friday of the second week. We also turn in the study guides at this time. My quiz questions are not simply matching questions. I give a sentence, and the student has to pick the vocabulary word that is most closely related to the sentence I have written. I believe that to be a better way to prove that they actually understand what the word means.
Here are the components of how I teach vocabulary:
Vocabulary Study Guides--Every other week we introduce a set of new words. I have the words in a sentence on the board and I introduce two of them each day until the whole set of ten is introduced. As I explain the words to students, they use the yellow Study Guide to fill in all the information and examples I give them about the words. I give the definition and explain the words from multiple angles. The students then turn to their partner and complete the sentence that I have given them in order to prove they know what the word means. I then randomly call on students to give me their examples. They receive credit for their good efforts and it is part of their participation grade. The Study Guide is turned in for credit before we introduce the new words.
Homework--There is homework every day. I ask them to spend ten minutes studying the words for that week.
My word lists are on a great website called Quizlet.com. To sign up for my class and my word lists, go to Quizlet.com and search for "7th Grade Language Arts (Bjerke)". You can also follow this link to sign up directly for my class: tiny.cc/quizletsignup . There are games to play with all the words, definitions, pictures--so much. I can't say enough about how big a difference it would make in your quiz scores if you use Quizlet.com.
Quizzes--The quiz for each unit of vocabulary is almost always held on Friday of the second week. We also turn in the study guides at this time. My quiz questions are not simply matching questions. I give a sentence, and the student has to pick the vocabulary word that is most closely related to the sentence I have written. I believe that to be a better way to prove that they actually understand what the word means.