This week we’re launching a five-part “Tuesday Tidbit” series, which will provide you with a practical approach to structured literacy with older, striving readers. In this series, we’ll discuss engaging approaches to vocabulary building, reading comprehension strategies, phonics & spelling routines, fluency activities, and prompts for written expression.
Vocabulary is a cornerstone of reading comprehension. For struggling older readers, building a robust vocabulary is essential for academic success. Here are a few engaging activities to help your students expand their word power:
- Word of the Day: Introduce a new word each day and explore its meaning, pronunciation, and usage. Students can create flashcards or a vocabulary journal to track their progress.
- Context Clues: Encourage students to use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Provide excerpts from texts and have students identify and explain the meaning of new words.
- Word Walls: Create a visually appealing word wall in your classroom. Include high-frequency words, academic vocabulary, and words related to current units of study.
- Vocabulary Games: Make learning fun with games like word association, crossword puzzles, or charades.
- Read Aloud with Discussion: Choose texts with rich vocabulary and read aloud to students. Pause to define and discuss unfamiliar words.
- Synonyms and Antonyms: Explore the nuances of language by having students find synonyms and antonyms for target words.
- Previewing Vocabulary Words in a Text: Have students preview vocabulary words in the text before reading it. Emphasize that the vocabulary words are challenge words and that students are not expected to be able to decode them at this point (they’re called “challenge” for a reason!). Previewing the words will give students greater confidence when they encounter them in context.
- Interactive Oral Reading with Vocabulary Words: Because students are not expected to be able to decode all vocabulary words, you can read them aloud when they come up in the text in a “we do” approach to reading aloud.
Check back next week for Part 2: Boosting Comprehension for Older Developing Readers. In the meantime, take a look inside our Decodable Series Educator Companion for more tips on reaching struggling readers in grades 3-12.