• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Course
    • Teaching Every Reader
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Member Login

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Structured literacy
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Join Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK1239 Comments

How to choose words for vocabulary instruction

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

We know that it’s important to build our students’ vocabularies. And we know that talking about words here and there isn’t enough. But how do we decide exactly which words to use for vocabulary instruction?


Last week I told you ten mistakes to avoid when teaching vocabulary. This week we want to answer an important question …

How do you choose which vocabulary words to teach?

I wish I could tell you this question was easy to answer.

I wish I could wave a magic wand and the perfect word list would instantly appear in your hands.

But I can’t.

The fact is, choosing vocabulary words for your learners isn’t a simple process. Maybe you’ve felt like this teacher …

“Sometimes when I look at what my students are reading and try to figure out which words to teach and which words not to teach, I almost cry.”

-Sarah Kingsley, 3rd grade teacher quoted in The Vocabulary Book, by Michael F. Graves

No, choosing vocabulary words isn’t easy, but it IS possible.

Before we dive in, let’s talk about the context of these words. When are you going to teach them? How often?

For the purpose of this post, I am referring to daily vocabulary study with the whole class. After all, choosing words for content area study isn’t so hard. You simply look at the bold print words in your social studies or science curriculum. And choosing words for small group reading lessons isn’t terribly difficult, either. Usually the teacher’s guide will highlight words for you to teach.

But.

What if you are committed to systematic vocabulary instruction – spending at least 10-15 minutes each day on word learning? If this is your goal, I want to stand up and applaud you. The last thing I want is to see you stranded because you don’t know where to begin.

So let me give you some strategies for choosing those vocabulary words for whole-class study.

A simple process for choosing vocabulary
words for whole class instruction

1 – Page through a text you will be using with your learners and jot down potentially difficult words.

For example, if you’re doing a whole class novel study with fourth graders, you’ll want to choose words from that novel. If, on the other hand, you’re teaching kindergartners, you’ll want to jot down words from a word-rich picture book that you’re going to read aloud. Similarly, if you’re reading Charlotte’s Web to your second graders, you can choose the week’s words from the chapters you expect to read that week.

*Note: Ideally, you would choose words from literature, as it’s best for vocabulary instruction to begin with a familiar context. However, I won’t tell you that it’s wrong to choose 5-10 words each week from a variety of sources. If this is your preferred route, simply page through the grade level reading text or a book at your students’ reading or listening level. Or zip to the end of this post for links to word lists.

2 – Next, analyze those words and decide which ones are Tier 2 words.

Are you familiar with the concept of Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 vocabulary words? (Bringing Words to Life, by Beck, McKeown, and Kucan)

Tier 1 words are very basic words that most students do not need to be taught directly. They will learn these in everyday life and conversation.

Tier 2 words are words that students will encounter as they read but not so much through conversation. Knowing these words will help our students become stronger readers and writers.

Tier 3 words are content specific or extremely rare. Students benefit from knowing these words in isolated situations (such as when they are reading about blue whales) or may never encounter them even if they are avid readers.

It makes sense to focus on Tier 2 words during systematic vocabulary instruction.

3 – Choose 5-10 Tier 2 words that would be most beneficial to your students.

First off, let’s tackle the number of words. How many should you teach?

Since you’ll be teaching these words over five-ish lessons in the course of  a week, you want more than 3 words. But since you’re really going deep with these words, you don’t want too many. I’d err on the side of too few at first. Five words is a good place to start.

Now, assuming you have a hefty list of words to choose from, how do you narrow it down?

Choose words that your students are likely to encounter again (and often). Choose words that your students can learn to use in their own writing and conversation. In general, choose words that will help them become more literate.

A practical example

So this 3-step process sounds good, but how does it work in real life? Let me give you an example.

Imagine that I’m going to read the hilarious book Lulu’s Mysterious Mission, by Judith Viorst, to my second graders. As I page through the first few chapters, I jot down the following potentially unfamiliar words:

  • ransom
  • displeased
  • debate
  • soothingly
  • murmurs
  • interspersed
  • pitifully
  • contagious
  • bedecked
  • emphatically
  • sensible
  • frantically
  • astonished

That’s quite a list! How on earth am I going to narrow it down?

First, let me put you at ease. There’s no guilt allowed over words that don’t make the cut. Words don’t have feelings. Besides, you can still give them attention during the read aloud. (I’ll actually cover that in the next post.)

Our goal here is the find the words we want to go deep with. Which have the most potential for meaningful vocabulary discussion, are words that my students will be able to use in reading and writing, and are most likely to be unfamiliar to them?

I think it’s helpful to start by choosing words you won’t teach. Bedecked isn’t a word I see very often. I’m going to cross it off. Contagious is a good word, but I’ll bet most of my students know it. Off it goes. Interspersed is a good word, but probably not one they’re going to have many occasions to use. Strike it.

  • ransom
  • displeased
  • debate
  • soothingly
  • murmurs
  • interspersed
  • pitifully
  • contagious
  • bedecked
  • emphatically
  • sensible
  • frantically
  • astonished

As I make my final list, I’m going to choose words that can be used in many different contexts. Here’s my final list of five:

  • displeased
  • debate
  • pitifully
  • astonished
  • sensible

This is no exact science. I could have just as easily chosen five different words. We’re not going to get hung up on choosing the perfect words. We’re just going to choose some words and get started.

Join me next week for tips for teaching vocabulary in the context of read aloud.

P.S. If it’s important to you to find actual words lists, they do exist. But they’re not easy to find or access. Here are some links you might find useful.

  • A research group is working to identify the words students are most likely to encounter as they read across the grade levels. Request those word lists here.
  • Gardner and Davies have put together vocabulary lists that you can request here.
  • You can purchase a very reasonably priced list of Tier-2 words for grades K-12 from Mia McDaniel on Teachers Pay teachers.

Read the rest of the series!

 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

 

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Vocabulary, Reading Tagged With: first grade, second grade, third grade, kindergarten, vocabulary

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

Short i milk cap spelling mats Roll and read games for short e words Single player digraph games
Free printable pom pom activities
Spring-themed books

Reader Interactions

9 Comments

  1. Jemima Grace S. Gekin

    June 5, 2019 at 2:27 am

    Thank you very much maam. This article will be my great help in teaching vocabulary and since I am assigned to teacher grade 2 pupils.

    Reply to this comment
  2. Tisiga

    April 28, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    Thank you so much Anna and your articles are very useful for teachers.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 29, 2018 at 8:23 am

      You’re very welcome, Tisiga!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Trapti

    April 21, 2018 at 7:12 am

    Great Article.. I love ur posts.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 21, 2018 at 8:12 am

      I’m so glad you like it, Trapti!

      Reply to this comment
  4. Julie

    March 29, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    Thank you for the article. Since you already mentioned one teacher on tpt I feel like I can mention another one. I purchase my tier 2 vocabulary words from Miss DeCarbo.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 6, 2018 at 9:42 pm

      Thank you for that recommendation, Julie!

      Reply to this comment
  5. sarah wolf

    March 29, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    This is a great little article on choosing vocabulary!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 8, 2018 at 8:36 am

      I’m so glad you like it, Sarah!

      Reply to this comment

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

Shop these popular reading resources!

Editable Reading Games for Every Season – MEGA PACK!

$24.00

Phonics Books & Games – Complete Set

$49.00

Reading response sheets & Early chapter book lists

$18.00

Shop All Resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online course and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • My response to Jan Richardson & Michele Dufresne, Part 1
  • 6 Things to remember about the science of reading
  • What order should we teach the letters of the alphabet?
More Episodes

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2023 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs