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Balanced Literacy Diet
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Dramatic Vocabulary

Introducing Action Words

Dramatic Vocabulary Cover Photo

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Stage of Literacy Development:

Stage 0: Foundation for Literacy
Stage 1: Beginning Literacy
Stage 2: Consolidation / Fluency

Ages:

4-7

Grade Range:

K  1st 

Food Groups:

Primary:
Vocabulary

Transcript

Teacher: What does gallop mean? [Students Name]. 

Student: When a horse runs. 

Teacher: Ok, gallop, is when a horse runs as fast as he can. Everybody stand. Show me gallop in place. All right, stop! Wobbly. W-O-B-B-L-Y. Show me wobbly. Side-to-side. If you were a horse or a foal youd be down on your, all fours. 

Students: Knees. 

Teacher: Id love to hear a Nay 

Students: Nay! 

Teacher: Weve gone over all our words on our dramatic vocabulary chart. You remember your parts? Ive got mothers and I got my baby foals. Remember our story "Foal" by the author Mary Ling? "I am a new born Foal, a new born pony. My legs our very wobbly. I feel stronger after my meal. I can stand up tall. I am a one week old now. I grow bigger every day. I spend my days in the meadow with my mother". What are you going to do when you go to the meadow? 

Student: Graze.  

Student: Eat Grass 

Teacher: Which one of our words tells to eat grass in the meadow? 

Students: Graze.

Teacher: To graze. So show me graze. "I love feeling the soft grass beneath my hoofs. Remember where your hoofs are. So my mother comes when she hears me nay"

Students: Nay! 

Teacher: "I am four months old now. I do not wobble anymore. Soon I will be old enough to go play with the other ponies to play in the meadow".  

Related References


Activity Objective

The goal of Dramatic Vocabulary: Introducing Action Words is to teach students new vocabulary words in a fun and engaging way. The teacher begins by reading them a book and introducing word meanings by teaching actions for them. The teacher then rereads the book several times with children taking various parts and acting out the words as they appear in the story.   

Quick Tips

Additional Comments:

- To inspire students to play this game on their own, add various related materials to the drama center.
- Incorporating actions and sounds with the vocabulary words is a great way to keep students engaged.