Reading Seed Strategy Cards for Building Vocabulary
How to Approach Building Vocabulary
1. Preparation Strategies:
a. Preview the book to anticipate words that may be difficult for students to comprehend. Select at
least TWO words to target for meaning.
b. Consider how you will build/activate student’s background knowledge on the subject of the book.
What questions will you ask? How will you ensure that he/she understands the subject of the book?
c. Look for common sight words to review with your student before you read.
2. Before Reading:
a. Build/Activate student’s background knowledge of the subject by discussing it.
i. Say things like, “You have chosen to read the book about _____. Why did you choose that?
What do you know about the subject? Have you ever been to ___?”
b. Briefly review common sight words to reinforce student’s vocabulary.
i. Say, “In this book, there are words like is, am, say, and can. We have read those before.
Let’s go over them really quick just to make sure we can read the word when we get to it.”
3. During Reading:
a. Use Read Aloud Strategies to give your student a better understanding of the word he/she does not
know (examples found below). Use student-friendly definitions, not the dictionary.
Remember: you don’t have to spend too much time on Tier 1 or Tier 3 words.
b. Emphasize meaning of the targeted words you have selected by repeating the word, giving
examples, non-examples, using it in a sentence and having the student apply it to his/her life
verbally. (Multiple Exposures)
4. After Reading:
a. Spend time discussing the new words you have learned. Have students review what they think the
words means in their own words.
b. Use Vocabulary Building Strategies to further develop the student’s understanding of the two words
you had previously targeted.
Activities for Building Vocabulary
Questioning
Providing Definition/Synonym
Goal: Engage student in the text and condition
him/her to think about what is being read.
Goal: Give the student a better understanding of the
word.
Example: Do you know what a bonnet is? What is a
bonnet like? Do you think people still wear bonnets
today?
Example: The boy was thrilled to get a new toy.
Thrilled is like when someone is really excited or
happy about something.
Tip: Weave questions into the text, but save more indepth discussion for the beginning or the end so as
not to disturb the flow of the text.
Tip: Use child-friendly language when defining a
word and use synonyms that the child already knows.
Providing Examples
Clarification & Correction
Goal: Help students learn how a word is connected
to other words and concepts by providing examples.
Goal: Help students refine their understanding of the
meaning of a word.
Example: The people talked with an accent. Some
people from different countries like England or even
different states like New York speak English, but it
sounds different. (Try your best to demonstrate a
different accent). Have you ever heard anyone that
talks with a different accent?
Example:
Coach: What does glare mean?
Student: Stare
Coach: Like a friendly stare or a mean stare?
Student: A mean stare
Tip: Make sure your example is something that the
child is familiar with. Also, have them come up with
their own examples.
Extension
Goal: Provide additional information about the word
such as historical context, function, etc., to deepen
student’s knowledge.
Example: During the prairie days, women wore
bonnets to keep their hair from flying all over the
place when they traveled in windy weather.
Imagery
Tip: Be sure to give the student a chance to figure it
out and provide correction in a gently way.
Labeling
Goal: Associate a word with a picture.
Example: Daffy Duck mowed the lawn. Do you see
Daffy Duck mowing the lawn in the picture? That
(pointing to the illustration) is a lawn mower.
Morphemic Analysis
Goal: Use facial expressions, sounds, visual aids,
Goal: Help students learn word parts to determine
demonstrations, etc., to help students understand the meaning.
meaning of a word.
Example: prefixes, suffixes, root words
Example: The boy grinned. (Grin while reading)
Unhappy, recount, lovely
She nodded. (Nod while reading)
Un- on the front of a word means not. You know
what happy means, so what do you think unhappy
means?
Picture Dictionary
Goal: Provide student with a child-friendly reference.
Having them draw their own picture and write the
definition in their own words will reinforce learning
the word.
Take a 3x5 index card and draw a picture
representation of the word on one side, and put the
definition, part of speech, and an example sentence
on the other side.
Semantic Mapping
Goal: Show relationships between words and
develop a deeper understanding of a word.
Put the vocabulary word in the middle and ask your
student to brainstorm ideas related to the word. Help
your student categorize their ideas in a concept map.
Example:
Tip: Old recipe or index card boxes are a good way to
organize your student’s picture dictionary.
Would you Rather?
Word Sorts
Goal: Associate newly learned words with contexts
and activities from their own experiences.
Goal: Learn more about new vocabulary words by
associating them with other items in a category.
Example,: Students are asked, “Describe a time when
you might…” or “Tell about someone you know who
is…” or “Describe a time when you felt…”
Have student sort vocabulary words into different
categories such as: animals, food, nouns, verbs,
adjectives, number of syllables, beginning letters,
plural and singular, alphabetical order, endings (ing,
ed, es…)
Example 2: Students are asked to consider the
meaning of the word and apply it to themselves,
“Would you rather be victorious or defeated?”
Bananagrams
Goal: Reinforce new vocabulary in a tactile way.
A game where lettered tiles are used to create words.
Similar to Scrabble and Boggle. Play the game by the
rules or make up your own.
Example: Animals
Dog
Cat
Mouse
Food
Cake
Apple
Cheese
Movement
Goal: Help students understand and remember new
vocabulary in creative, fun ways.
Examples:
The mouse tiptoed across the floor. Let’s get up and
tiptoe around the table.
Example:
The rain fell softly. What do you think softly feels
like? (Have the student come up with a movement
such as gently tapping their fingers on their arm to
demonstrate soft rain)