Vocabulary

Learning about Words During Small Group Reading Instruction 

During the reading block (guided, independent reading, literature study) teachers want students to apply principles they’ve learned and to develop ways of learning words through the act of reading.  Words are learned through multiple encounters with them in texts. 

Fountas and Pinnell suggest teaching vocabulary by discussing texts with students  by weaving in words that may be unfamiliar to them. pg. 382  Students will need to solve these challenging words when they encounter them independently.  Teachers that teach decoding, how to notice new words, and understanding new words explicitly have provided a foundation for students to support themselves independently while actively engaged in texts. 

Through prompting teachers can provide word solving strategies that students can learn.

Prompts to help students solve words:
What could you try?
It starts like ____________.
It end like _____________.
Look at the parts.
What do you know that might help?
Do you see a part that can help you?
Do you know a word like that?
Do you know a word that ends with those letters?
What’s that like?
Think of what the word means.  Is it like another word you know?
What other word do you know like that?
What letter do you expect to see at the beginning (or end)?
Try the first part.
Think about what would make sense.
Think about what would sound right.

Prompts to help student notice errors:
You noticed what was wrong.
Find the part that’s not quite right.
Check to see if that looks right.
Where’s the tricky part? (after an error)
Get a good look at the word.
There’s a tricky word on this line.
What did you notice? (after hesitation or stop)
What’s wrong?
Why did you stop?
Do you think it looks like (word)?
Think about how that work looks.
Something wasn’t quite right.
Were you right?

Prompts to help the student notice errors and fix them:
That sounds right, but does it look right?
That makes sense, but does it look right?
I like the way you worked that out.
It starts like that.  Now check the last part.
You made a mistake.  Can you find it?
You almost got that.  See if you can find what is wrong.
Try it.
You’ve got the first part (last part) right.
Try that again.
Try it another way.
You’ve almost got it.

Fountas and Pinnell, Guiding Readers and Writers,  2001, pg. 383