Reading Vocabulary
Strategy: Capsule Vocabulary
Appropriate Grade Level: 1st-4th grade
Procedures/Steps:
 Capsule Vocabulary is a word connecting activity that includes reading,
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speaking, and writing.
Capsule Vocabulary is an activity that takes about 15-20 minutes to complete.
Students should be paired up into groups of two.
Students take a set of about ten terms that have been introduced and intentionally
work them into a conversation with classmates.
The pairs record that words that have been used.
After each partner talks through the set of words, they individually write a
summary of the topic containing the terms.
Then the pairs exchange papers and comment on each other’s word usage.
Comments and/or tips:
Capsule Vocabulary is a technique that stresses social aspects of word learning by having
students purposely, yet informally, talk about related sets of words and their meanings
(Crist, 1975).
Source:
Crist, B. J. (1975). One capsule a week- a painless remedy for vocabulary skills. Journal
of Reading, 19, 147-149.