Inquiry 2023: Spicing up the vocabulary

This term I have been to and froing with inquiry ideas. After changing my inquiry focus completely, I finally came down to this question..

How can I support my learners to develop an interest in acquiring new vocabulary to accelerate their reading and writing?

After a lot of thought, I realised that I want vocabulary acquisition to be a focus this year because:

1: I have many learners who are reading at or above their age who need to expand their vocabulary in order to comprehend difficult texts

2: I have many very capable writers who needs to make their writing more creative

3: Teaching students how to add flavour to their writing has not been a strength of mine in past years and I want to get better at this.

4: I've had many instances this year when I've watched my class soak up new words like sponges... I forget how quickly children can take on new words!

Focus Group:

My focus group consists of 6 students who are all in my reading and writing class. They are all reading at 8.5 - 9 years of age which is above their reading age. The students in this group have already begun to show an interest in vocabulary acquisition through reading chapter books at home and eagerly discussing new words during reading discussion time. One of them in particular has been showing curiosity and asking 'what does that mean' every time he comes across an unknown word. I want to foster that eagerness that some of them already have!

How?

• Integrate reading, writing and inquiry
• Visuals eg:
  Interactive word walls, word wall for class read alouds, posters, childrens vocab work on walls
• Poetry
• Equal mix of non-fiction and fiction
• Personal word banks.. diary? Little notebook?
• Synonyms, similes, phrasing, adjectives
• Read alouds every day but with even more focus on the vocab and meaning

How will I track/see progress?

-I will compare the specific score of vocabulary in Term 1 - Term 4 Easttle writing tests

-Compare results in running records for the comprehension and vocabulary section from mid year to end of year tests

-Compare an independent narrative sample from beginning of year to end of year 

What has already been working well?

• Read alouds! I've made sure to do a whole class read aloud every day the past few weeks. When we've come across interesting vocabulary in the stories, I've written the words up on the board/a poster instead of just discussing it and moving on. I have actually seen some students use those new words from the book in their writing without being prompted to. What a great start!
• Visuals. I did a fun and creative synonym activity with the class. I printed their work and hung it up. The class has been excited to look at the hanging words and use them in their writing.