Building Background
KWL Chart
Component: Building Background
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual, partners, small groups or whole class.
Materials: KWL Chart
Time: Whole lesson/unit.
Description: The purpose of a KWL chart is to assess and activate student’s prior knowledge about a topic, uncover misconceptions and allow students to give input on what they would like to learn about a certain topic. Under the K students will brainstorm what already know about a topic, Under the W students will record what they would like to learn about the topic. This will be done at the beginning of a lesson. The L will be filled at the end of the lesson. The students will fill this in with what they learned.
Source: 99 Ideas and Activities for Teaching English Learners with the SIOP Model, MaryEllen Vogt and Jana Echevarria.
Student Thought Process: The student will activate prior knowledge when filling out the first section (K). With the second section (W) the students will be able to take some ownership of the learning by discussing what they would like to learn about the topic. With the final topic the students will be able to assess what they have learned, clarify any misconceptions they had when they first filled out the “K” section and add on new information about the topic. An “H” section can be added before the “K” for “How we found out”. This allows students to think about their thinking and reflect on how they came to their answers. It reaches most levels of blooms taxonomy except applying and creating.
Reflect/Extend: I think I would definitely use this in my classroom. I feel like it really lends itself well to Science. I feel that it lends itself to science discovery with making predictions and reflecting on the discoveries after. If I was working with higher grades I would modify it to include the “How we found out” section. Since I’m going for bilingual education I would also include sentence stems in each section to help my students develop their English and get used to using complete sentences.
Personal Dictionaries
Component: Building Background
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual, partners, small groups or whole class.
Materials: Individual comp books or journals
Time: 5 min
Description: The purpose of this strategy is to support students learning of key vocabulary. They are student created as vocabulary/spelling resources, and are added to as students come across words they don’t know. The teacher works with the students to clarify the meanings of new words. They can be categorized in different ways (Alphabetical, subject, sounds, structure, etc.) depending on the student/teacher. This is especially helpful with ELL’s.
Signal Words
Component: Building Background
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual
Materials: Signal Words Posters
Time: Ongoing
Description: The purpose of this strategy is to help students build relationships within topics. The teacher would make a poster of “signal words” to look for when reading/writing/working. This is especially helpful with ELL’s. (Example of poster included at bottom of page.)
4-Corners Vocabulary
Component: Building Background
Grade Levels: All
Subjects: All
Grouping/Configuration: Partners, Small groups or whole class
Materials: Large chart paper folded in fourths
Time: 15-20 min
Description: The purpose of 4-corners vocabulary is to allow students to contextualize words by creating a chart with an illustration, a sentence, a definition and the actual word. This is simply a paper/poster folded in 4. Can also be changed to include the word in the middle and make one of the four squares a room for examples. (Example included at bottom of page.)
Identifying and Using Cognates to Teach Vocabulary
Component: Building Background
Grade Levels: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual, partners, small groups or whole class.
Materials: List of cognates, list of Latin/Greek roots
Time: Ongoing
Description: This strategy is especially helpful with ELL’s. Cognates are words related in meaning and form to words in another language. Understanding cognates can help students build connections to information they may already know in the L1. (Example: the word “cause” in English is very similar in Spanish “causa”.)
Component: Building Background
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual, partners, small groups or whole class.
Materials: KWL Chart
Time: Whole lesson/unit.
Description: The purpose of a KWL chart is to assess and activate student’s prior knowledge about a topic, uncover misconceptions and allow students to give input on what they would like to learn about a certain topic. Under the K students will brainstorm what already know about a topic, Under the W students will record what they would like to learn about the topic. This will be done at the beginning of a lesson. The L will be filled at the end of the lesson. The students will fill this in with what they learned.
Source: 99 Ideas and Activities for Teaching English Learners with the SIOP Model, MaryEllen Vogt and Jana Echevarria.
Student Thought Process: The student will activate prior knowledge when filling out the first section (K). With the second section (W) the students will be able to take some ownership of the learning by discussing what they would like to learn about the topic. With the final topic the students will be able to assess what they have learned, clarify any misconceptions they had when they first filled out the “K” section and add on new information about the topic. An “H” section can be added before the “K” for “How we found out”. This allows students to think about their thinking and reflect on how they came to their answers. It reaches most levels of blooms taxonomy except applying and creating.
Reflect/Extend: I think I would definitely use this in my classroom. I feel like it really lends itself well to Science. I feel that it lends itself to science discovery with making predictions and reflecting on the discoveries after. If I was working with higher grades I would modify it to include the “How we found out” section. Since I’m going for bilingual education I would also include sentence stems in each section to help my students develop their English and get used to using complete sentences.
Personal Dictionaries
Component: Building Background
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual, partners, small groups or whole class.
Materials: Individual comp books or journals
Time: 5 min
Description: The purpose of this strategy is to support students learning of key vocabulary. They are student created as vocabulary/spelling resources, and are added to as students come across words they don’t know. The teacher works with the students to clarify the meanings of new words. They can be categorized in different ways (Alphabetical, subject, sounds, structure, etc.) depending on the student/teacher. This is especially helpful with ELL’s.
Signal Words
Component: Building Background
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual
Materials: Signal Words Posters
Time: Ongoing
Description: The purpose of this strategy is to help students build relationships within topics. The teacher would make a poster of “signal words” to look for when reading/writing/working. This is especially helpful with ELL’s. (Example of poster included at bottom of page.)
4-Corners Vocabulary
Component: Building Background
Grade Levels: All
Subjects: All
Grouping/Configuration: Partners, Small groups or whole class
Materials: Large chart paper folded in fourths
Time: 15-20 min
Description: The purpose of 4-corners vocabulary is to allow students to contextualize words by creating a chart with an illustration, a sentence, a definition and the actual word. This is simply a paper/poster folded in 4. Can also be changed to include the word in the middle and make one of the four squares a room for examples. (Example included at bottom of page.)
Identifying and Using Cognates to Teach Vocabulary
Component: Building Background
Grade Levels: All
Subject: All
Grouping/Configuration: Individual, partners, small groups or whole class.
Materials: List of cognates, list of Latin/Greek roots
Time: Ongoing
Description: This strategy is especially helpful with ELL’s. Cognates are words related in meaning and form to words in another language. Understanding cognates can help students build connections to information they may already know in the L1. (Example: the word “cause” in English is very similar in Spanish “causa”.)