Before a child can learn to read, they need to have a good, well-rounded understanding of basic words and what they mean, and while that may sound a bit overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. There are very easy ways that you can build a preschooler’s vocabulary and introduce early reading concepts. In fact, you probably do some of these vocabulary tips already without even noticing it. From reading aloud to your preschooler to simply…
Reading is the way some find joy and spend the day unwinding—curling up with a favorite novel, poring over current news, or reading the latest trend in various topics. But for some, reading is a chore, another dreadful assignment to complete, and an anxiety-ridden task particularly when it involves reading in front of others. Reading instruction plays a central role throughout K-12 education, and much time and resources are allocated with the goal of ensuring…
Heather Bradley is an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she teaches adult ESOL students. When the English language proficiency assessment her program uses moved online several years ago, many of its corresponding course materials also went virtual, making her program’s transition to distance learning less difficult materials-wise. Yet towards the end of their first semester of virtual learning, Bradley began encouraging her students to write their notes…
Color-coding strategies are fun, but they also wield a deeper value–colors can have a positive impact on memory and attention. Using color-coding is a great way to provide scaffolding for students who need it and engage those who don’t. As a bonus, it can be applied to every aspect of ELA! READING 1. Want students to analyze a text? Ask them to read with color. This color-coding strategy helps them to delineate between a main…
Vocabulary influences fluency, comprehension, and student achievement, and a broad vocabulary is important for effective speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Vocabulary is a foundational component of an effective K-12 comprehensive literacy framework. And, vocabulary plays an important role in most academic standards. Since a broad vocabulary program includes both direct and indirect word-learning strategies, the following online tools can be easily integrated to support word learning and build vocabulary. In today’s 21st century classrooms, digital…
In order to perform well on the ISEE and SSAT tests, learning to study vocabulary effectively is crucial. The Verbal section of each test challenges the vocabulary skills of even the strongest students. It can be difficult to study vocabulary effectively with your busy schedule, but without making it a priority, you will not be able to perform well on the synonyms and analogies portions of the SSAT exam or the synonyms and sentence completions…
The key to performing well on the verbal sections of the ISEE and SSAT tests is mastering vocabulary. One of the main ways to understand how words are built is to study prefixes and roots. It is important to be able to break words that you do not recognize into pieces and decipher the meanings, because it’s better to be able to understand how words are made up than to just memorize them by rote. …
In order to perform well on the ISEE and SSAT tests, learning to study vocabulary is crucial. The Verbal section of each test challenges the vocabulary skills of even the strongest students. It can be difficult to study vocabulary with your busy schedule, but without making it a priority, you will not be able to perform well on the synonyms and analogies portions of the SSAT exam or the synonyms and sentence completions portions of…
Sometimes vocabulary words are too difficult to learn by rote memorization, and they don’t have any helpful prefixes or roots for you to dissect and make meaning from. Using mnemonic devices for difficult vocabulary can be a great strategy. Mnemonic devices are tricks that help you remember things. You can take words and try to think about chunks of those words that stick out to you and then make a story from them. For example,…
Another vocabulary strategy is identifying words from other languages you know, and thinking about the connections between them. You can do this because if you are taking French, Spanish, or Italian, these languages all derive from Latin roots, and you may not know a root on its own, but you may recognize it when it’s attached to a French, Spanish, or Italian word that you do know. For example, “amigo” means friend in Spanish, and “ami”…
