Blog #9- Vocabulary Lesson

When I began thinking about a vocabulary lesson that could be used with Roll of Thunder, I instantly thought that the mini lesson that Jess, Sarah and I had planned for the class before spring break would be a perfect vocabulary development lesson to coincide with Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. The lesson teaches the students: vocabulary terms, comprehension skills, and also assesses their knowledge regarding verbs, nouns and adjectives. To begin this vocabulary lesson, I would have the students read a certain passage from the text (around 2-3 pages) silently at their desks. When they are finished reading, I will go over the three terms "verb, adjective and noun" with the class to ensure their understanding. Once we have gone over the terms, the class will be broken up into groups and assigned 3 terms (one noun, one verb and one adjective) for each table that will be written on a notecard by the teacher. The terms will be selected (by me) prior to the lesson and will be words that are not in their everyday vocabulary. The students will then decipher within the group to discover the meaning and the action of the word. They will choose one spokesperson to place the word on the board under the appropriate noun, verb or adjective column while I will ask each group to explain the meaning of the word and why they chose to place it in that column.
Overall, I really enjoy this lesson and had fun creating it for the class earlier in the semester because it seems fairly quick, easy, and straight-forward for the students to understand while assessing many different things from the teacher's stand point. The lesson is also simple for the teacher to prepare and incorporate into the classroom, while involving the rich and insightful vocabulary from Roll of Thunder. Obviously if adaptations need to be made for children with special needs I will be sure to properly assess those and group the students with the rest of the children to help guide one another and decode the meanins of each term. However, I think the lesson is pretty straight-forward and should not need many adaptations.