Assignment 3 (Week 7)

1) All words can be categorized into three levels. The first level encompasses all familiar words most children already know. These words obviously don't have to be taught because children automatically pick them up as they learn to speak and build their vocabulary. The second level indicates words that are a bit harder but come up a lot in books, the news and daily conversation that children should learn and know. The third level are unique words specific to certain disciplines or highly technical in nature and don't necessarily have to be taught as part of vocabulary instruction, but rather students will learn them as they come up in different subject areas. The ELA teacher should focus on the second group since students are not so familiar with those words but it would certainly expand and enrich their vocabulary.

2. "Chunking" is a great way of decoding unfamiliar words. Instead of isolating each letter, students who have advanced beyond the initial early reading stage can decode the word in chunks by isolating half of the word or the middle, beginning, and end of the word, to see if that helps them read it better. I would provide this instruction before reading a text that includes some new and somewhat challenging words by using a word that is familiar to them in definition but difficult to decode, and through "chunking" we would decode it together as a whole group. Then, when they come across difficult words in the text, they would be armed with the proper tools to decode it.

3) In my classroom, I would definitely combine vocabulary with literature. It makes word study much more meaningful when it's picked up in the context of a sentence or story the children can understand. It also gives them the opportunity to try to figure out the meaning, instead of just staring blankly at a new isolated word in a vocabulary list. I also like the idea of encouraging students to find a root word or if they can identify any part of the word they already know to help them.