Bend I: Working with Content Words
Session 2: Practice Using New Words: “Which One?” and “Idea Completion” RALLY/TRY IT #1 Play “Which One?” Show students a picture, and invite them to discuss which word best fits the picture and to try to convince their partners. “Yesterday you learned some words that will help us talk about trees. Let’s play some games to practice using these words. First we’ll play ‘Which One?’ I’ll show a picture–you’ll decide which of our words fits that picture best, and convince your partner. There could be several different answers so make sure you tell your partner why you picked your word!”
Session 1: Start a Collection of Content Words about Plants RALLY/TRY IT #1 Begin a class content word collection. Introduce words one at a time, asking students to repeat the pronunciation and indicate familiarity with the word. “Readers, in this unit we’re going to learn a lot about trees and plants–and, most impor- tantly, we’ll learn how to learn a lot from books on any topic! One of the things that is almost always true in nonfiction is that you’ll learn lots and lots of fascinating words, words that help you sound more expert when you talk about the topic. Let’s start a collection of words that will help us sound more expert about plants.” Read each word and have students repeat the pronunciation. Ask students to give a thumbs up if they’ve heard the word and know what it means, thumbs down if they’ve never heard it, and thumbs to the side if they have heard the word but aren’t sure exactly what it means. vegetation seedling species roots TRY IT #2 Define each word and show the vocabulary card. Then, channel partners to create sentences using the words. “I’ll give you a quick definition of each word–get ready, because then you’ll turn to your partner and say some sentences with these words!” Show the corresponding vocabulary card as you define each word. “ Vegetation means all the plants and trees that grow in a certain area. So the vegetation here at our school includes all the trees and grass on the playground and all those little bushes by the school door. “ Species is a group, or kind, of living things, so out of all that vegetation around our school, there are a number of different species . The oak tree is one species , the grass is another species , the pine tree over there is another species . “You know what seeds are–plants and trees usually grow from them. But seedlings are what we call little tiny plants that have just grown from seeds. “And all plants have roots even though we don’t always see them–they hold the plant in the ground and they’re like tubes that carry water and food up to the plant.” “Turn to your partner, and say some sentences using these words. Think about all the plants and trees you’ve seen and might talk about! Go.” “Let’s be on the lookout for these words coming up in our books and in our lives. I’ll start a Vocabulary Word Wall with these words, and as we learn more, we’ll collect lots of other expert words to add.”
Student answers might include, for the first picture, “I think species fits best because that looks like all one kind of tree” .” For the second picture, students might say, “I think vegetation fits best because I think that shows all the plants in that area.”
TRY IT #2 Play “Idea Completion.” Say the start of a sentence, using one of the new words, and invite partners to finish the sentence. “Now let’s play another game: ‘Idea Completion.’ I’ll say an idea using one of our words and you’ll finish it off with your partner. Think of what could make sense to end the sentence.” z Roots are important to plants because… z A seedling might get hurt if… z Vegetation is good to have in a town because… z Here’s a challenge! The vegetation in our area contains a lot of different species like…
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GRADE 3 • Unit 2 • VOCABULARY EXTENSIONS
Bend I • Working with Content Words
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