The E in The CAFE
Expanding Vocabulary through Reading and Writing (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 1: Beginning LiteracyStage 2: Consolidation / Fluency
Stage 3: Literacy for Growth
Ages:
5-12
Grade Range:
K 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6thFood Groups:
Primary: Vocabulary Secondary: Motivation for literacy
Transcript
Now we're talking about the last category of strategies which is Expand Vocabulary. This is when the students get to learn new words and then use it later on in their writing or even their oral communication. One of the strategies that you see here is "Voracious Reading", and the reason for that is because the only way for them to enrich their vocabulary and gain new words is to read a lot. Another one is "Find interesting words", and I give them a sheet that looks like this. It's word collector and it's a very simple sheet that has the letters of the alphabet. It becomes their own personal word wall. When they're reading a book and they find a word that they find interesting or they didn't know how to spell, and they would like to use it later because they kind of like that word, then they go and write it down and then they have it with their books that they're usually reading in their binders. Then, later on when they're writing, they go to it and "oh, here's a word, I want to use that one", and they actually get excited about that when they get to use. If they don't have this, they totally won't be able to access the word anymore so this is a way of learning how to spell the word, how to use it, and how to write. The last strategy that I introduce within this category of strategies is "Ask somebody to define the word for you". What it is is to get them use to when they're reading, and if they don't know the meaning of a word, it's actually nice to find out. To find out what that means as opposed to just keep reading. I tell them feel free to come and ask me, you can ask a neighbour, sometimes they know a lot of things that you don't know, and sometimes you know a lot of things that they don't know. So when you ask somebody, you'd be surprised to see how many of your classmates know the meaning of many words that you might not know. You can find another teacher to ask, you can ask mom or dad, or anybody around that you think that might know the meaning of the word.
Related References
Additional Links:
The Daily Cafe www.thedailycafe.com
Activity Objective
The goal of The E in The CAFE: Expanding Vocabulary through Reading and Writing (Virtual Tour) is motivate students to pay attention to new vocabulary words as they read. This teacher gives students a Word Collector sheet to keep track of new and interesting words they encounter during reading. Students can use this sheet to log words they would like to use in their writing.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- Encourage students to keep their word collector sheet with them whenever they read. You never know when they'll find new and interesting words to log. - Try asking the class every now and then about a new word they found. This will motivate students to collect more words in hope that they've found one of interest to the rest of the class.
Other Recipes by this Teacher
What are We Doing in Class Today?: Motivating Beginning Readers with a Daily Schedule (Virtual Tour)
K - 6th
Literacy CAFE in First Grade: Fostering Independence using a Menu of Strategies (Virtual Tour)
1st - 3rd
The Daily 5 in First Grade: Engaging Students with a Balanced Literacy Approach (Virtual Tour)
1st - 3rd
Predicting and Inferring: Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies using an Explicit Framework (Virtual Tour)
1st - 3rd
Revising and Editing in First Grade: Using Success Criteria to Focus the Writing Process (Virtual Tour)
K - 6th
