Teachers are advised to “teach vocabulary in context.” Yet, our textbooks often have just a few word-building questions or activities. Students–particularly middle school students–aren’t likely to retain those new words without repeated practice. (To dig deeper into that research read my posts on the Fab Five Vocabulary strategies and using the spacing effect to bolster learning.) To bridge this gap, I created supplemental vocab activities for the textbook selections my students were reading. Last year, I shared resources created for the 6th grade textbook. This year, I’ve started adding units for the 7th grade textbook as well.
I just uploaded the latest addition–a unit targeting vocabulary from the myth “The Flight of Icarus” and the poem “Icarus’s Flight.” For the next couple of days, you can try it for FREE! Just log into my TPT store to download the new “Icarus Vocabulary Extension for HMH Collections. Use the TPT link or click here. A “Rogue Wave” vocabulary unit is already available, and I’m working on one now for the informational texts in Collection One. If you like “Icarus” please share your experience with other TPT users. You can also comment below.
Each set includes 5-pages of activities, each designed for use as a daily warm-up or self-contained literacy center. On average, it takes students about 10-minutes to complete each activity. You can review the answers using the included key.
In addition to learning new words, each unit focuses on a different type of context clue–with a mini-lesson that includes a list of common signal words. Each unit also includes a language component–with either a grammar mini-lesson or word part analysis. So, this resource goes beyond most vocabulary activities–by teaching students strategies they can apply to ALL future reading. There’s also a word puzzle included in each set because… language should be FUN!
In designing this resource, I tried to incorporate many “best practices” for word acquisition, including repeated encounters with the word in different contexts and a progressive sequence of instruction for context clues and grammar (this will be most notable if you use multiple units or bundles).
I’d love to know how you use this unit. Comment below or leave feedback on the TPT product page.
