Vocabulary Instruction

As I have mentioned before, our Reading Series is Wonders by McGraw Hill.  There is A LOT to this reading series, and there is no way to really fit it all in and have it be meaningful.  My team and I spent a lot of time deciding what we should focus on to make our third graders the best readers they can be.

Part of the reading series is of course vocabulary instruction.  There are bright and colorful cards that show each vocabulary word for each reading unit.  Increasing vocabulary through reading and practice is essential to becoming a better reader.  Any practice that students enjoy with vocabulary will only increase their reading comprehension!

This week we are on our second Wonders reading unit for the year.  We are taking two weeks for each unit, and we switched the order to best fit our students' needs.  We also looked at the scope and sequence of Wonders 2020 to help edit our own scope and sequence and use the materials we have.  We do not have Wonders 2020, but we are using the same scope and sequence because it is laid out in two week genre studies.

For Unit 1 Week 2, the main story is Yoon and the Jade Bracelet.  There are some really important vocabulary words in this text that I thought my students knew, but after playing the vocabulary game with them that I created, I realized that they really do not know how to use these words in context.  This might seem obvious, but spending time playing a fun game really helped my students practice these words in context.

The game board has each vocabulary word from the story repeated three times.  There are corresponding sentences on game cards with the vocabulary words missing.  The students get 24 game cards, each with a sentence on them.  These are cut up and placed face down.  Then partners take turns drawing a card, coloring the matching vocabulary word that is missing, and they try to "Connect Four"!

I walked around and talked with students while they played.  They tried substituting different words in the sentences on the cards, they talked about the words, and they asked questions.  It was really fun for them to try to get four in a row also!

This game is available in my TPT shop, and it is free now!  As I create more games for Wonders vocabulary, I will probably make a bundle for each unit that can be purchased.  If you use Wonders, click the link to download for free now!