Vocabulary Building Lesson Ideas

Prompt Cards

Vocabulary Lesson Ideas

Vocabulary Building Strategy:

A set of 3 cards to focus students on word meanings and expand vocabulary.

How to Use:

When doing small group reading sessions it is a great time to explore new strategies and add them to your teacher toolbox. So feel free to print these sets of cards out and when working with a small group I choose a card and focus on the teaching strategy described.

Vocabulary Lesson Ideas – Prompt Cards

Card One – Make a Wall Display:

Students prepare a creative card-based wall display of new vocabulary 

Each Card is to Include:

– given word
– pronunciation
– illustration or cartoon
– meaning
– word origins (if easily found)

Discuss each card before adding it to the display 

Vocabulary Lesson Ideas – Prompt Cards

Card Two – Incidentals – A couple of things to say & do throughout the day

– ‘Before you head to your next activity, just remind me of the meaning of…’
– Teacher uses some of the words incidentally in other activities & contexts
– Encourage students to use the words in other contexts. Ham it up and make a big deal of it when they do.

Vocabulary Lesson Ideas – Prompt Cards

Card Three – Shared Pronunciation – Which words in this text are important for us all to pronounce the same way? e.g. names, subject-specific language, place names, etc

– practice saying the words in unison
– write fon–et–ic pronunciation for later reference
– Where can we find the correct pronunciation? Some options – ask expert people; use the audio function at  http://www.dictionary.com/