RM Winter 2016 FLIP

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Reading Matters
Teaching Matters
Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 | |49|
students: “The words ‘gardener’ and ‘tractor’ could be put into
a group, because the gardener may use a tractor to work in her
garden. Now we need to see if we have other words that could
go in this group too.”With the guidance of Miss Brown, students
continued to sort words, glue them down on large paper, and
determine a label to summarize each group. For example, the
group of words containing “gardener” and “tractor,”may be
labeled as “gardening.” Once the small group has finished their
sort, using the words they have predicted, each group must come
up with a word that they believe no other group predicted, an
unique word, and a word that they believe every group predicted,
a common word. One of the small groups decided their unique
word was ‘angel,’ and their common word was ‘orange.’ Miss Brown
wrote these words on a sentence strip for students to share later.
After literacy centers, the class comes together and Miss
Brown leads a discussion on the sorts and special words chosen
by each group. As the sorts are shared, the members of the group
come forward and help Miss Brown discuss their work. Students
choose a word and justify why they chose it. After sharing their
predicted words, Miss Brown reads The Pumpkin Book aloud to
the class, confirming
some predictions as the
text is read. Following
the read-aloud, the class
compared and contrasted
their word selections
with the author’s use
of words, writing down
additional vocabulary
words students did not
predict. Groups were
given the opportunity
to draw pictures next
to words on their sorts,
to make identification
easier. These were
then displayed in the classroom as a reference
throughout the thematic unit (See Figure 1).
Listen Sketch Label
Listen Sketch Label (Herrera, Holmes, & Kavimandan, 2011)
is a strategy that taps into the students’ existing schema
and harnesses the use of visualization to make meaning.
Students are asked to use what they already know and make
connections to vocabulary used in the informational text.
Critical to the Listen Sketch Label strategy is the idea that
students enhance their understanding of the text through
repeated exposure to vocabulary words and concepts, and
make sensory connections as they do so. Components of
the Listen Sketch Label strategy are: (a) activation of prior
knowledge; (b) connecting the known and unknown by
interacting with others; and (c) affirmation of what we know.
Listen Sketch Label in the classroom.
Mrs. Oliver, a first grade teacher, used the Listen Sketch Label
strategy with “Penguin Power” an article from the National
Geographic Extreme Explorer magazine during her January
thematic unit on polar animals. Mrs. Oliver read sections of the
article over two days, using the Listen Sketch Label strategy
on a portion of the article entitled “Some Like It Hot.”
Mrs. Oliver gave students the Listen Sketch Label template
that she modified to limit the number of vocabulary terms
and enlarged sections to accommodate the larger writing and
drawings of her young students. The template included three
terms she wanted her students to understand: glacier, survivor ,
and burrow. Instead of asking students to immediately sketch
their understanding of each word, Mrs. Oliver realized that
many of her students would not have prior experience with
this vocabulary, so she provided the words in context before
she asked them to sketch their understanding of the word. She
permitted students the time to turn-and-talk to a neighbor to
activate any prior knowledge of the term they have. As Mrs. Oliver
read aloud, she read small chunks from the passage twice so
that students could listen and then sketch their interpretation
of the word on their paper. Students were asked to create a
visualization in their head before they sketched it on their paper.
Mrs. Oliver modeled this
strategy for her students
using the first chunk of
information, focusing
on the term ‘beach’ for
understanding: “You can
find African penguins
in an even hotter place.
They live on sunny,
sandy beaches along
the southern tip of
Africa” (Ebersole, 2014,
p. 8). Mrs. Oliver drew
the outline of sand and
shells beside the ocean,
which is indicated
by the waves. As Mrs. Oliver talked, she thought aloud for
students to understand why she is making this connection: “I
went to the beach before with my family, and like the article
says, it was sandy and sunny there. I remember stepping
on seashells and kicking my feet in the ocean. So I should
draw shells and the water, with big waves. The ocean had
big waves that knocked me down.” Mrs. Oliver also labeled
the picture with the words, ‘ocean,’‘sand,’ and ‘seashells.’
As Mrs. Oliver continued to read, she asked students to
listen to how the vocabulary word was used, then to sketch
their understanding of the word as she reread the information.
Students had the option of writing sentences, phrases, or words
that elaborated on their understanding of the vocabulary. Mrs.
Oliver finished reading the section and asked students to sit in a
rectangle along the edge of the carpet. Students were given one
minute to turn, talk with a partner, and share the information
they wrote and sketched on their paper. As a whole group,
the students and Mrs. Oliver came to a consensus about the
meaning of the words. She then reread the entire passage to the
group, emphasizing the three vocabulary words (see Figure 2).
Figure. 1. An example of using the Preview-Predict-Confirm vocabulary strategy in kindergarten.
PREVIEW: Flip through the images
of the informational text, The
Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons.
PREDICT: Write down on blank cards the words
students predict the author used in the text.
STUDENTS’ LIST OF PREDICTEDWORDS
farmer flowers corn
seed weeds pumpkins
apples leaves digging
garden orange green
shovel rakes tractor
RESULTS OF STUDENTS’SORTING
garden plants colors
farmer seed green
garden flowers orange
shovel weeds
rake leaves
tractor corn
digging apples
pumpkins
Common Word: pumpkins
Unique Word: rake
CONFIRM: Allow groups to share their sorts, their common word, and unique word.
After reading the book discuss whether the predictions were correct or incorrect.