Vocabulary
Vocabulary Background
When students graduate from high school
their vocabulary is around 25,000 words.
 Students vocabulary grows about 3000
words a year.
 However, if you teach your students 1015 words a week then at the end of the
school year you will have taught 555
words.
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How are students learning?
Family activities
 Hobbies
 Trips
 Television
 READING
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Vocabulary Strategy
Morphemes
Use your knowledge of morphemes
 to decode the following word.
 What does it mean:
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PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS
Need some help?
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Let’s see if context helps …
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Because of his proximity to Mt. Saint Helens, he contracted
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS
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Pneumono - related to the lungs
Ultra - transcending; super
Micro – small
Scopic– related to a viewing instrument
Silico- the mineral silicon
Volcano- eruption in the earth from which molten rock, steam, and dust
issue
Coni ( konis) – dust
Osis – referring to a disease condition
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Morphemic Analysis
Students can learn meanings of words by
locating the words root, prefix, and suffix.
 Omnivorous
omni=all
 Carnivorous
carno=flesh
 Herbivorous
herb=vegetation

vorous=to swallow up
Levels of Word Knowledge
Unknown word—I don’t know this word
 Initial recognition—I have seen or heard
this word or I can pronounce it
 Partial word knowledge—I know one
meaning of this word and can use it in a
sentence
 Full word knowledge—I know more than
one meaning or several ways to use this
word.
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Components of Word Study
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Concepts and word meanings
Multiple meanings
Morphemic analysis
Synonyms
Antonyms
Homonyms
Etymologies
Figurative meanings
Concepts and Word Meanings
You have 60 seconds to write single
words.
 You have 60 seconds to write single
words about summer vacations.
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Most students can learn more words
when they attach them to a concept.
Multiple Meanings of Words

Students need to be exposed to words in
meaningful contexts in order to learn the
multiple meanings of words.
Write down the meanings you can think
of for the word BANK.
 How would you explain these multiple
meanings to students learning English or
students of special need?
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Synonyms

Words that have the same or nearly the
same meaning as other words

Cold: cool, chilly, frigid, icy, frosty, freezing
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I got hurt yesterday. I cut my foot on a
rock.
Antonyms

Words that express opposite meanings.
There are opposites that are more
appropriate than others.
 What is the opposite of loud?
 She wore a very loud shirt.
 The plane flying overhead was loud.
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Homophones
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Words that sound alike but are spelled
differently.
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The King Who Rained.
Etymology—the history of words
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Zero
Tattoo
Robot
Yogurt
Restaurant
Dollar
Jungle
umbrella
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Italian
Czech
Turkish
Polynesian
French
Arabic
German
Hindi
answers
Zero
 Tattoo
 Robot
 Yogurt
 Restaurant
 Dollar
 Jungle
 Umbrella
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Arabic
Polynesian
Czech
Turkish
French
German
Hindi
Italian
Figurative Meanings of Words
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Idioms—groups of words that have a
special meaning. “I’m in hot water”
◦ Amelia Bedilia
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Metaphors
◦ Compare two things by implying that one is
the other without using like or as.
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Similes
◦ Compare two things by using like or as.
He is a hotdog!
He is as hot as a dog!
Vocabulary KWL +
What I think I
know about
this word
What can I do
to find out
What I have
Learned
Predict words from a text
Linking Literature and Popular Culture
 Chapter 3: The Case for Popular Culture
in American Classrooms
 What words do you predict would be in
the chapter?
 How could you use this strategy with
your students?
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Word Map
Antonym
Synonym
angry
Example
Nonexample
PAVE
Prediction, Association, Verification, Evaluation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Students write the sentence or context in
which the word appears.
They write the word again.
They write a sentence of their own.
They check the words meaning in a dictionary.
They examine steps 3 and 4 and write a
better sentence.
They draw an image to help them remember
the meaning of the word.
I never divulge a secret that a friend has entrusted to me.
Knowledge Rating
Rate your knowledge of these words
Word
Pedagogy
Semiotics
Literacy
Hermeneutics
Paradigm
Know Well Seen/heard it Don’t
Know
Verbal/Visual Association
Word
Example
Definition
Non example
Verbal/Visual Association Modified
Word
Picture
Definition
Example
RIVET
Academic “Hangman”
 Introduces or Reinforces Vocabulary
 Can be used whole group or in student
teams
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http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/rivet.htm
Websites
www.wordorigins.org
 www.dictionary.com
 http://www.voycabulary.com/
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◦ Will create definition links on any webpage
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www.readwritethink.org
◦ Go to lessons, choose grade level, then
“learning about language”, choose vocabulary
Activity

Choose a topic and a vocabulary activity
and explain how you would implement it
in your classroom.