Vocabulary Development Will Increase Reading Comprehension Skills in Children

Many students do poorly on comprehension tests not because they can't read, but because they don't understand what they are reading. This is often due to the fact that they don't know what the essential vocabulary words in the story mean. Here are some simple activities for teachers to do with their students to increase their vocabulary and understand the key vocabulary words in the story.

I went to training from Nancy Fetzer and learned some of these tips from her.

Find a Location in the Classroom and Use it as The Vocabulary Wall

When students have a consistent place in the class to go to for vocabulary assistance it will help them learn the vocabulary words. In my class I use a small bulletin board with a pocket chart to hold the vocabulary words and a chart paper to write my vocabulary story.

Read the Story and Find 5-8 Vocabulary Words That Students may have Trouble Understanding

Students shouldn't be overwhelmed by being introduced to every single word in the story beforehand. Pick 5-8 words that students may not know what that word means. Print the word on a large paper and try to find a picture from the computer or draw an illustration to help the students remember the meaning of the word.

Day One:

Introduce the 5-8 words to the students. If possible, use relia, or real items to show the vocabulary word. For example, if the word is crumbs, bring in a cookie and make crumbs for the students to see. Using hand gestures also helps students remember the word. For crumbs, I have the students rub their hands together as if they are making crumbs.

As each word is introduced, the teacher puts the words in the pocket chart on the wall.

Day Two:

Write an original story using all the vocabulary words. It's best if the story is written before the students come to school because it takes a while to write the story. I also try to use some of the recent high frequency words or last weeks' vocabulary words. Write the story using words that most of your students know how to read. Read the story together. Ask students to locate vocabulary words in the story and use highlighting tape to highlight the vocabulary words.

Day Three:

Read the story again together. I teach second grade where fluency, how fast a student can read, is very important. During Universal Access, or Independent Learning Time, I allow the students to use a timer and see how many words they can read in one minute.

Day Four:

I give the students a blank piece of paper. The students choose one sentence from my story to write on their paper and draw an illustration for the sentence. If students use one of the vocabulary words in their sentence, I ask them to use a yellow crayon to highlight the vocabulary word. I put some of the stories on the wall.
Once again, we read the whole story together. The students also read the story by themselves during the day.

Day Five:

During writing time students try to write their own story using the vocabulary words. I teach second grade and at the beginning of the year I tell them they need to use one vocabulary word. As the year goes on, I require all the words used in the story. We also talk about how this is different than just making sentences using the words. The story must have characters, a setting, and a plot. The students love this activity. If there is time, I allow the students to type their story on the computer and print it out. I also put these stories on the Vocabulary Wall.

Day Six and Seven:

At our school, we spend seven days on each story. If you spend only five days, this step can be left out. We read all the students' work that has been put on the vocabulary wall along with my story.

Vocabulary Development is Critical in Reading Comprehension

Vocabulary development is very important and is something that should be incorporated everyday in the classroom. It takes many times being exposed to a new word for a student to completely understand its meaning. I have found that the activities I do with my vocabulary wall have greatly increased my students' comprehension skills. A vocabulary wall is a very important component of any elementary classroom.

Sources:

http://www.nancyfetzer.com