Rocking Relationship Vocabulary!
Reading to Learn
Rationale:
Understanding vocabulary is essential in comprehending what one
is reading. If one does
not know what the words they are reading mean, then he or she
cannot fully comprehend the meaning of the text.
The best way to learn groups of words is to group them
into semantic groups in order to be able to actively compare and
contrast the alike words.
To gain ownership of the rules, the children will locate
the words in context, relate the words to one another, and
generate new sentences.
Materials:
Vocabulary list for each student: Working together and apart,
with words:
feud, ally, foe, conspire, diplomat, compromise, pact, harmony;
children's dictionary; assessment sheet for each student; Each
child's history book
Procedure:
1. Say:
Today we are going to be
looking at some new vocabulary words.
Remember that to be good readers, we have to know what
the words we are reading mean, in order to get the information
from what we are reading. One way for us to do that, is to learn
words in groups that way, we can compare the words.
Though we do our best to learn words, sometimes when we
are reading, we get to a word we do not know.
When we do this, we must use strategies to figure out the
word we do not know.
One of these strategies is to look the word up in the
dictionary. Let's
see if we can review looking words up in the dictionary with the
first word on our list, feud. Let's say it was in the sentence,
"The two families were feuding." And I wonder if it means friends
or enemies. (Begin
to look up the word, explaining what you are doing as you are
looking it up, if possible, show on a document camera for the
class to see). First, I
find the word in the dictionary.
I remember that the words are in alphabetical order, so I
go over to the "f's," then "fe." Then "feu," oh there it is,
"f-e-u-d." I know
that "feuding" is the word feud with the ending -ing
attached.
First we see how to pronounce it
\ˈfyüd\.
Then, I see that there are
two different parts of speech, a noun and a verb.
Since I knew that it was acting as a noun in the
sentence. The noun
definition says, "a bitter quarrel between two parties." I then
noticed that this meant that the two families were fighting.
2. Say:
So now, let's look at our
list of words and try to make them into words that we will
recognize when we see them and know what they mean. Today, we
will only learn about the first half of the words: feud, ally,
foe, and conspire. (Repeat the following procedure with the
other half of the words on the following day).
All of the words are ways
in which people relate.
For example, you might say someone is your friend. That
is how you relate to that person.
You might say that someone else is your enemy, again that
is how you relate to that person.
Not everyone relates with the same person in the same
way. Think about
how someone who is your enemy might be someone else's friend.
Let's take a look at some words that talk about how people
relate:
·
Our first word is feud. A feud
is an argument, especially when you are talking about groups or
families. You might
say that a feud broke out between families over who would get a
piece of land. It
is not an agreement.
·
Our next word is ally.
An ally is someone who joins together for a purpose.
For example, two countries who fight on the same side in
a war are allies.
Two allies are not usually in a feud with one another, but with
someone else. An ally is someone on your side, not someone you
are against.
·
The next word is foe.
A foe is an enemy, it is someone who you are against.
It is not someone who is on your side.
A foe is not an ally. You might say that the Alabama
football team is a foe of the Auburn Football team.
·
The last word for today is
conspire. When you
conspire, you plan with someone to do something together,
usually something that is a crime.
For example, you might conspire to rob a bank with your
brothers. Usually
when you conspire, it is secret.
You do not want other people to know your plan.
When you conspire, you do not just casually plan
something, it is planned down to every last detail.
You could conspire with an ally to take out a foe who you
are in a feud with.
3. Say:
Now that we have looked
at all of the words, let's practice taking ownership of these
words. I want each
of you to find a partner, and in pairs I want you to compare the
words. I will put a
list of words on the board and you decide if the two words could
go together. If
they can, show me how in a sentence.
You can use my sentence to see how to do this.
(Have the sentence written on the board).
I conspire with an
ally to take out a foe that I am in a feud with.
4. Write
the following on the board (this could be done the same day or
the following day):
Foe--Ally
Feud--Foe
Ally--Conspire
Conspire--Feud
Conspire--Foe
Ally--Feud
I want you guys to look at each
pair of words and discuss how the two words can or cannot go
together. If you
think you have a good way for them to go together, write it down
so you will remember and after everyone has had time to discuss,
we will come back together and talk about it as a group.
Come back
together as a group and discuss the class' findings.
4. Say:
Now we are going to use
these words to read.
We will be reading from our history books about World War
II. This is one of the most famous wars that the United States
was involved in. During this time, the United States were allies
with England, the Soviet Union, and France and these were all
called the Allied Powers.
As you read, make a list of the allies for each side, the
Axis Powers and the Allied Powers, this will help you not become
confused as to who is feuding with who. Allow each child to
read the book silently, referencing dictionaries if needed for
unknown words.
Assessment:
Each
child's understanding will be assessed through their ability to
accurately complete the sentences given.
This will be an assessment given to each student in which
they should work alone.
The assessment should not be given until after the
children have had multiple times to practice with the words.
(A suggested weekly plan is to introduce words 1-4 on day
one, introduce words 5-8 on day two, have the children work with
the words in partners on day three, and possibly day four, and
then on the last day assess [this could be on day four or five,
depending on how many days the children work with the words in
pairs]).
Reference:
Murray,
Bruce. Making Sight
Words: Teaching Word Recognition from Phoneme Awareness to
Fluency. Chapter 11:"Looking
Ahead: Teaching Vocabulary and Comprehension Strategies."
Ronkonkoma: Linus
Publications, 2012. Pages 193-197. Print.