Robust Vocabulary Development

LKSD Best Practice #14

Students need a minimum of 17 interactions with a word in order to commit the word to long-term memory! The primary goals related to achieving retention include:

the teacher uses the target vocabulary all week
students interact (hearing/ speaking/ reading/ writing) with new words over and over all week during paired activities
students are asked to use "target vocabulary" in their reflective journals

The target of this best practice is robust vocabulary development through:

Robust Vocabulary Development: Reflective Tool

Use this checklist at your leisure to self-assess your classroom environment & instructional practices

Focus Friday: December 9, 2022

Elementary

Credit: Suzanne Walters, Quinhagak

Classroom Labels

The 20+ classroom labels should be varied and grade level appropriate. Labels should be written in complete sentences by the students and reflect grade level writing ability.

Emerging: 1-9 grade level appropriate labels

Developing: 10- 19 grade level appropriate labels

Robust: 20+ grade level appropriate labels

Student Generated Alphabets (SGA's)

Student generated alphabets (SGA's) should display a relevant drawing and complete sentence with the associated word included for each letter of the alphabet. All components should be original work by the students and reflect grade level expectations.

SGA's can be housed anywhere there is space and should be changed at least once per semester.

Special Note for KG teachers: the SGA's should be below the board to better match students' eye levels.

Credit: Teacher Annie Kassel, Akiuk

Criteria: all letters are present, grade level appropriate word/ sentence, work is error-free, & clearly visible

Emerging: 1 element present

Developing: 2- 3 elements present

Robust: All 4 elements present

Frequently Asked Questions: Student Generated Alphabets

How often should I update my SGA's?
1. Once per semester
When in my schedule should I have my students work on their SGAs?
1. This is a great Language of the Day (LOD) activity; SGAs don't need to be finished in one sitting, so students work over the course of a few days. For non-DLE schools, making SGAs are great bellringer/ warm- up activities or as a small component of a language arts class. Another opportunity would be during a testing week when students have more down time than usual.
Do SGAs have to be focused around a specific theme/ content area?
1. No. Teachers and students have full autonomy on how they want to complete their SGA.

Credit: Teacher Richard Cleveland, Quinhagak

Robust Word Walls

Word wall words should reflect all areas/ activities (not specific to any content area).
Teachers should aim to add 5 words per day.
Words should contain grade level read/ write words as well as high frequency words.
When possible, words should be interactive, i.e., the students should be able to remove the words when needed to support their writing.

Emerging: 0- 30 grade level appropriate words

Developing: 31- 59 grade level appropriate words

Robust: 60+ grade level appropriate words

What They Are

Interactive
Words from the students
Written by the students
Correctly spelled and easily readable
Changed often but not connected to specific units of study
Voluminous
A tool for comprehension and writing

What They're Not

Key vocabulary of the week
Taken from a word list
Purchased and hung as decoration
Created on weekends
Lacking in organization
"Busy"

Content Boards

Content boards provide an academic reference to students. They should be specific to the subject area being displayed and include:

unit objectives or state standards
anchor charts,
key academic (target) vocabulary,
paired student work from the recent past, and
sentence stems/frames.

The teacher should use the target vocabulary all week and students should be asked to use key academic vocabulary in their reflection journals.

Content boards can be housed anywhere in the classroom, including bulletin boards, cabinets or windows, as long as there is a designated space in the classroom.

Credit: Teacher Delsey Paul, Kipnuk

Emerging: 1-2 elements present

Developing: 3-4 elements present

Robust: All 5 elements present

Secondary

Word Walls

Word wall words should reflect all areas/ activities.
Teachers should aim to add 5 words per day.
Words should contain read/ write words as well as high frequency words used at the secondary level.
When possible, words should be interactive.

Emerging: 0- 30 grade level appropriate words

Developing: 31- 59 grade level appropriate words

Robust: 60+ grade level appropriate words

Credit: Teacher Carmen Wessels, Distance Delivery Math, District Office

Content Boards

Content boards provide an academic reference to students. They should be specific to the subject area being displayed and include:

anchor charts,
key academic (target) vocabulary,
paired student work from the recent past, and
unit objectives or state standards.

The teacher should use the target vocabulary all week and students should be asked to use key academic vocabulary in their reflection journals.

Content boards can be housed anywhere in the classroom, including bulletin boards, cabinets or windows, as long as there is a designated space.

Teachers only need content boards for the subjects they teach.

Credit: Teacher Carlo Mandras, Secondary Science, BRHS

Emerging: 1-2 elements present

Developing: 3-4 elements present

Robust: All 5 elements present

Secondary Showcase

Teacher EJ Dorsey, Quinhagak

Health II students in Quinhagak made a thematic student generated alphabet on personal health. Students worked in small groups to draft an overall plan then completed each letter of the alphabet independently.

What we love:

On each letter we see error-free writing that aligns with the overall topic
Differentiation is embedded in this activity with students expected to perform at their skill level

Secondary Showcase

Teacher Alyssa Mills, Quinhagak

I'll be the first to admit that I had a negative view of SGAs. I thought they were geared for elementary students, and I really couldn't see myself using them.

BUT...

I've had a change of heart! My Juniors and Seniors completed an SGA project based on our reading of Hamlet and they loved it.

Students came up with their own words and found textual evidence. They actually got into it way more than I thought they would, and it was such low prep on my end.

Exemplar Photos

Secondary Word Wall

Secondary Word Wall in Mekoryuk. Credit: Teacher Katrina Gutknecht

Limited Space Word Wall

Making the most of your classroom space
Credit: Nesty Anggil, Chefornak

Limited Space Word Wall

Credit: Teacher Timothy Kinegak, Chefornak, 1st grade

4th Content Board

4th Grade Social Studies
Credit: Teacher Roy Womack, Kipnuk

HS ELA Content Board

Secondary English Language Arts Content Board
Credit: Teacher Anelyn Labadan, Kipnuk

Interactive Content Board

Students can interact with the components of this content board
Credit: Teacher Anelyn Labadan, Kipnuk

Content Board

In this photo we see an ELA content board, part of the student generated alphabet (SGA), and part of the English word wall.

Credit: Ginny Woodworth

Come visit the DLE Model Classroom in the District Office to see more.

Classroom Labels

Secondary Word Wall

Credit: Teacher Katrina Gutknect, Mekoryuk

Secondary Word Wall

Credit: Teacher Spenser Nelson, Nightmute

Middle School Word Wall

The word wall in this 6th grade classroom is color coded by subject with the subjects listed above.
Credit: Teacher Athos Spinola, Quinhagak

Yugtun content board

Yugtun Science/ Social Studies content board

Credit: Teacher Delsey Paul, Kipnuk

Why we love it: we see the content & language objectives, the key academic vocabulary, anchor charts and student work as it relates to that unit.

Reflective Tool