Literature Guide Vocabulary

[Rayburn Girls]

As Im preparing for next year, I am noticing a swap in how the teacher guides suggest doing the vocabulary. What are the pros/cons of having your student read and define with a synonym as they go along verses looking the vocab up before reading? It seems more fluid to define ahead of time like it is done in lower grades, but are you missing out on using context clues if you do it beforehand? Ive seen many posts here about vocab guides that have been created and people use, so Im just confused. Do we use the guide? If its suggested we help them come up with a synonym, what are the vocab guides for? If Im being honest, I love the idea of giving my kid a dictionary and having it done beforehand. It just seems more fluid and quicker. But would this create missing out on an important skill that may not be addressed elsewhere? Just looking for feedback from more experienced people and have seen full circle how it works.

[jen1134]

As Im preparing for next year, I am noticing a swap in how the teacher guides suggest doing the vocabulary. What are the pros/cons of having your student read and define with a synonym as they go along verses looking the vocab up before reading? It seems more fluid to define ahead of time like it is done in lower grades, but are you missing out on using context clues if you do it beforehand? Ive seen many posts here about vocab guides that have been created and people use, so Im just confused. Do we use the guide? If its suggested we help them come up with a synonym, what are the vocab guides for? If Im being honest, I love the idea of giving my kid a dictionary and having it done beforehand. It just seems more fluid and quicker. But would this create missing out on an important skill that may not be addressed elsewhere? Just looking for feedback from more experienced people and have seen full circle how it works.

I’ve never seen it recommended to look up the vocabulary except in the second grade package. MP’s goal in 3rd and up is to teach the ability of determining meaning through context. This is why the vocabulary words are given in a phrase rather than as single words. We help them determine the meaning through context and write a synonym that shows the meaning. If they struggle to find the meaning even after hearing an alternate sentence with the word, then we simply tell them the meaning/synonym so they can write it down. This is still done before reading to prepare for what will be read. There is a suggestion to underline vocabulary words as they read, but that is optional and it’s separate from the actual guide work. I may have missed a change in the written guidelines, but everything I’ve seen from MP has said that defining comes before reading.

The dictionaries you see on the forum for the older grades were developed by moms who needed this part of the guides to be independent due to time constraints. There’s nothing wrong with using them, it just teaches a different skill than the one the guides were written for. We’ve done it both ways depending on the season we’re in!

[enbateau]

As an alternative, we use the dictionaries for the precise definition that will be on the quiz. We don't use them to "look up" a word that we haven't tried to create a synonym for first. Frankly, either you know the word (because you've seen it before and know what it means or the context is clear) or you haven't. Sometimes the context is great, like "answer yes or no without equivocation." But having "the man said morosely" or "and too gaudy anyhow" isn't going to help anyone who doesn't already know what those words mean. Sometimes, if it's an exceptionally interesting word, we'll look it up in the dictionary for its derivation. This part shouldn't take a long time. I think we're done in 2-3 minutes tops. As we come across vocab as we read, if the word wasn't known, I have my student repeat the definition. I do the same from MP1 to MP6 lit.

Can you describe which guide got a change? Everything I have seen has students defining vocab first (with the option of narrowing the definition to the specific context as you read along, especially if you used a standard dictionary with multiple definitions).

[Jessica Louise]

Like enbateau, I have my child try to define the word first, as this is MP's goal. However, after that I do have her look up the definition in a dictionary that has only words from third grade lit. We do both, but that is because I feel it necessary to work on both skills with my child. We get a lot of milage out of literature.

[Jessica Louise]

By the way, I think that almost everyone does complete vocabulary before they read. We actually read the entire book once (you can just read one chapter, but I'm a M. Adler fan), then go back and complete one lesson (chapter) at a time. We read the reading notes, complete the vocabulary, and read the comprehension questions. Then we read and mark up the chapter, circling vocabulary words and noting where each comprehension question is answered. Then we go back and work on answering the comprehension questions in the guide. We try to cover the discussion questions, writing answers down IF that discussion question is on a quiz. We really try to complete the Enrichment...we really try...but we often don't get it done. Especially with Mr. Popper's Penguins, you have to leave a lot of it behind.

[jenniferjb]

When the kids were younger, I would write all the definitions from the TG on the board in random order, and then my kids would figure out the word from context, choosing one of the answers on the board.

The upper level lit guides have the definition bank in a box above the vocabulary.