Word Level Knowledge: Scaffolding Learning From 4.5
Indicators of Progress
- Students identify the meaning stem of two- and three-syllable words and work out a word’s meaning when the stem is not a known word, for example, they can suggest the meaning of ‘ject’ by analysing what they know about ‘reject’, ‘project’, and ‘subject’, or ‘vert’ in ‘convert’ and ‘invert’.
- Students describe the effect on the meaning of words when suffixes such as ‘age’, ‘er’, ‘ist’, ‘or’ are added to nouns or verbs, for example, passage, manager or chemist.
Teaching Strategies
During reading: tuning in to the text
The narrative for the learning and teaching sequence is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 1997.
Reviewing key words from the text
The students in small groups select key vocabulary from the text read over synonyms and antonyms, they discuss why these words might have been used.
-
Harry
- frying eggs
- sellotaped
- glasses
-
Dudley
- sweetums
- 36 presents
- tantrum
- wailed
- Duddydums
- pretend sobs
- nasty grin
-
Aunt Petunia
- scented danger
- bad news
-
Uncle Vernon
- chuckled
Have them suggest:
- What words tell us how Aunt Petunia talked to Harry? How does she treat him?
- What words does Aunt Petunia use to talk to Dudley?
- How words help us paint pictures? Aunt Petunia thought that Dudley looked 'like a baby angel'. Dudley thought he looked like 'a pig in a wig'.
Ask students to describe each picture in words.
Teaching Strategies for Non Fiction texts
During reading: tuning in to the text
The text used to model these teaching and learning strategies is Giant Pandas becoming extinct.
See San Diago Zoo Animal Bytes: Giant Pandas
Typical of web pages, the information is organised into columns. As well, the page includes various sources of multimedia information, video data, audio data and photographs.
Spelling words, phrases and synonyms
Students suggest words, phrases and ideas that the text might mention, how these words are spelt and synonyms for them.
The teacher asks the student What are words we use when we are talking about endangered animals?
Students brainstorm words, phrases and ideas that the text might say. These are listed and students discuss each term, what it means, synonyms, where it came from and other words that have a related meaning.
Words suggested may include:
|
Word |
What it means, synonyms |
Other words |
|
extinct |
notliving |
instinct |
|
endangered |
under threat, |
danger |
|
species |
a type of animal with its own features |
special specimen |
|
habitat |
where something lives, its environment |
|
|
heritage |
what an animal gets from its parents, grandparents |
inherited, inheritance, hereditary |