We are searching for a "system" to use for vocabulary learning in the middle school that involves all content areas and not just language arts teachers. Does anyone have any ideas? Susan CT
----- Original Message ---- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 12:00:03 PM Subject: lit Digest, Vol 27, Issue 13 Send lit mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/lit_literacyworkshop.org or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can reach the person managing the list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of lit digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Apples to Apples; was Re: vocabulary activities (Margaret Morton) 2. Re: Apples to Apples; was Re: vocabulary activities (Maureen Robins) 3. Re: Vocab. learning and assessment (Heather Poland) 4. Reading Workshop LS Grades (Andrea Jenkins) 5. Re: Apples to Apples; was Re: vocabulary activities (Mary Lou) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:59:27 -0500 From: Margaret Morton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [LIT] Apples to Apples; was Re: vocabulary activities To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Susie said, >My students really enjoy playing Apple to Apples, and they actually >learn some vocabulary while they do it. I've been wanting to purchase Apples to Apples but can't decide which version to get for my 7-8th graders. What grades are you using this with? Which version of the game? Thanks, Margaret -- Margaret Morton [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:15:16 -0500 From: "Maureen Robins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIT] Apples to Apples; was Re: vocabulary activities To: "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Has anyone purchased Rock the SAT for their students? If so, how does that work well? Maureen Robins On 1/23/08, Margaret Morton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Susie said, > > >My students really enjoy playing Apple to Apples, and they actually > >learn some vocabulary while they do it. > > I've been wanting to purchase Apples to Apples but can't decide which > version to get for my 7-8th graders. What grades are you using this > with? Which version of the game? > > Thanks, > Margaret > -- > Margaret Morton > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:57:31 -0800 From: "Heather Poland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIT] Vocab. learning and assessment To: "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252 I've been thinking about the vocabulary issue ever since it was posed. I did my master's thesis on vocabulary, and the strategy I did worked well - although we tried this with 2nd and 5th graders. I did try it later with my 7th graders, but it does take a lot of time. Of course, my thinking has changed a little about vocabulary, especially for older students. Using a graphic organizer where the student lists the word and then has a space for examples, non-examples or a sentence, and a space for a picture works very well. It has to be examples that the students come up with too. For my masters thesis, I then had them create skits for the words and at the end of the week they performed while the other students guessed the word. It worked well. Older grades, of course, do not have the luxury of the time this takes. So, I think that teaching vocabulary in context is the best way to teach vocabulary. Students do not retain lists of words that they have to memorize the definition. But if we can teach them strategies to figure out words they do not know in a piece of text, they will be able to take this skill and apply it when we are not around. Of course I also think it is important to teach roots/affixes. Again, not through lists, but doing a Root (or prefix/suffix) of the day where you put the root and an example, the students come up with the definition and then think of more examples of words using that particular root. This way, they will have word part knowledge along with strategies for figuring out words, and they will be more successful. On Jan 22, 2008 6:20 PM, Bill IVEY <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." > <[email protected]> on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 2:51 PM -0500 > wrote: > >Hi, I have been shadowing your group for awhile and found your > >discussions interesting and useful. I am a reading consultant in a > >middle school. > >We are constantly talking about acquisition of vocabulary. Much of the > >conversation revolves around finding words and the assessment. The > >process for learning the words is somehow lost. I'd like to interject > >that we all don't learn words in the same way. Some students can look a > >word up and retain the definition. Some students can learn it from > >context. Some students can draw a picture incorporating the meaning of > >the word and some students can learn words through mnemonics. Vocabulary > >Cartoons by New Monic Books is really fun and gives the students a > >creative way to grow their vocabulary. I also have found Words Count by > >Scott C. Greenwood and Words, Words, Words by Janet Allen to be great > >resources. When the kids find a way to learn the words then the whole > >process becomes more engaging and actually fun. > > Hi! > > That's a good point, Susan. That came up, albeit peripherally, in class > today when we came up with the idea that the kids might make up their own > vocabulary quizzes (out of the list of accepted formats we agreed upon) as > a way to study. Sometimes I think I should also come up with a list of > possible activities the kids could do to help themselves learn the lists > they generate. Your ideas are all great. What other ideas are out there? > > My kids, by the way,came up with the following ideas for assessments: > - traditional "word-definition- sentence" quizzes > - crosswords matching definition to word > - writing a story incorporating the words > - writing antonyms > - combining formats > > We talked a bit about recall vs. recognition, and rejected word searches > as being a bit too much "recognition" and not enough "recall." For a day > when 60% of them were either out sick or visited the nurse and barely made > it through the day, it was a pretty good discussion. > > Take care, > Bill > > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > -- - Heather "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead." --Clarence Day "While the rhetoric is highly effective, remarkably little good evidence exists that there's any educational substance behind the accountability and testing movement." ?Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds "When our children fail competency tests the schools lose funding. When our missiles fail tests, we increase funding. " ?Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential Candidate ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:28:44 -0600 From: "Andrea Jenkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [LIT] Reading Workshop LS Grades To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all. Our Lower School faculty is interested in speaking with other teachers who are using the Reading Workshop model in their classrooms. Specifically, they want to know more about mini-lessons, Units of Study, aligning with Writing Workshop, and classroom management. We follow the Teachers College / Debbie Miller / Kathy Collins philosophies. Our top priority is to see how it is working successfully in a 1st grade classroom, as this is where we struggle the most. If you know of a 1st grade classroom teacher who would like to speak with us, and perhaps let us visit for observation, please pass along this request. Many thanks, Andrea Jenkins Trinity Episcopal School Austin, TX ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:12:20 -0500 From: "Mary Lou" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIT] Apples to Apples; was Re: vocabulary activities To: "'A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades.'" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Hi Maureen, 7th and 8th grade students are using it in our school. They love it. We have them look for the words in their reading, in movies, on advertisements. It's wonderful. We find them now using the words in writing as well. Another teacher in our building moved to Flocabulary. Songs are hip-hop. Students love that as well. I bought several for our special needs classes...(don't know how that is working out) at bookcloseouts.com for five dollars. Mary Lou RI -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Maureen Robins Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 1:15 PM To: A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades. Subject: Re: [LIT] Apples to Apples; was Re: vocabulary activities Has anyone purchased Rock the SAT for their students? If so, how does that work well? Maureen Robins On 1/23/08, Margaret Morton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Susie said, > > >My students really enjoy playing Apple to Apples, and they actually > >learn some vocabulary while they do it. > > I've been wanting to purchase Apples to Apples but can't decide which > version to get for my 7-8th graders. What grades are you using this > with? Which version of the game? > > Thanks, > Margaret > -- > Margaret Morton > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive. End of lit Digest, Vol 27, Issue 13 *********************************** ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
