English Language Arts Grade 2
Language Standard 4 a.
1 class periods of 15 minutes each
Large Groups
This is a sample lesson that can be applied to any book to help students learn new vocabulary words.
This lesson can be adapted to any story. Here is a basic sequence of the lesson:
Repeat steps 3-7 for each word:
This lesson can be used with any book, but we have chosen Penguin Post, by Debi Gliori.
Now see if you can say a sentence to answer my questions about expedition. What would you take on an expedition to the South Pole? (Have the students start their sentence with "If I went on an expedition to the South Pole, I would need to take... so that I could..."
What would I be doing on an expedition to the moon? (Have the students start their sentence with "If I went on an expedition to the moon I would..."
Ask then, what is our word?
If I said that the young boy received a parcel from his grandmother for his birthday - what would that mean?
Now see if you can say a sentence to answer my questions about the word parcel. What could you send in a parcel? (Have the students start their sentence with "In a parcel, I could send...")
If our class received a parcel, what could we be receiving? (Have the students start their sentence with "In the class parcel, we could receive..." Ask then, what is our word?
Let's think about what peculiar means. If I said that the dog was acting peculiar - what does that mean?
If I said that there was a peculiar smell coming from the lunch room - what would that mean? Now see if you can say a sentence to answer my questions about the word peculiar.
How would a fish act if it was acting peculiar? (Have the students start their sentence with "A fish that was acting peculiar would be...")
If your dad built a tree house and it looked peculiar, what would it look like? (Have the students start their sentence with "The peculiar looking tree house was..."
Ask then, what is our word?
This same activity can be done in a small group setting - guided reading.
You can extend this lesson, by asking the students further questions. For example:
Teacher will assess the student knowledge of the words by the student oral responses to the questions and their written definitions of the words.
Penquin Post, by Debi Gliori ISBN 0-15-216765-X
Lesson adapted from Bringing Words to Life, by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan.
(An excellent teacher resource for teaching vocabulary.)