Learning Words Inside & Out

Make It a Priority: Creating a Schoolwide Focus on

Word LearningFrey, N., & Fisher, D. (2009). Learning Words Inside & Out: Vocabulary

Instruction That Boosts Achievement in All Subject Areas. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Today’s Purpose

Today we will discuss schoolwide approaches for promoting vocabulary learning.

Prioritizing Vocabulary: Words of the Week and Wide Reading

The school has implemented the plan and teachers receive regular professional development to refine practice.

The school has created a plan for schoolwide vocabulary and wide reading (SSR and independent reading)

The school has created a plan for either schoolwide vocabulary OR wide reading.

The school is studying schoolwide vocabulary and wide reading for future planning.

There is no plan, and no current initiative to examine these schoolwide practices.

Why Go Schoolwide?

• Schoolwide focus is one of the most important actions a elementary school can take to improve achievement (Reeves, 2000)

• Focus on literacy schoolwide leads to long-term improvement in climate and achievement (Fisher & Frey, 2007)

Two Schoolwide Initiatives

• Words of the Week (WOW Words) to focus on high- frequency words and words with common affixes, roots, and bases

• Wide Reading to build background, increase exposure, and foster interest in reading

Words of the Week• Five words a week (mal: bad)

– malice, malign, malodorous, malady, malnourished

• Grouped by affix or derivation• Grade levels propose words• Goal is to build vocabulary and teach patterns

for unfamiliar words• Consider creating separate K–2 and 3–6 lists.• Primary lists can draw from Dolch and Ogden

Basic English word lists

Ideas for Extending WOW Efforts• Post the words on classroom word walls• Extra credit for using WOW words in

writing• Post words each week on school

website and in newsletter• Use words in games (Bingo, Password,

Concentration)• Others?

Incidental Learning Through Wide Reading• Cumulative effect of reading:

60 minutes per day x 5 days a week= 2,250,000 words per year

• 2,250 words learned per year this way (Mason, Stahl, Au & Herman, 2003)

A bargain, considering that only 300–500 words can be taught directly each year

Who benefits? How?• Text must be at independent

level (you can’t learn from books you can’t read)

• Older readers learn more words than younger readers

• Stronger readers learn more words than struggling readers (Matthew Effect)

• The words they are likely to learn are those they know a little bit about

8 Factors for SSR• Access• Appeal• Environment• Encouragement• Staff training• Non-accountability• Follow-up activities• Distributed time to read

Pilgreen, J. (2000). The Sustained Silent Reading Handbook. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Independent Reading

• Choice

• Relevance

• Differentiation

Table Talk

How would we measure the success of a wide-reading effort?

Next Steps

• What are we currently doing that works well?

• What are the areas in need of improvement?

• How should we collaborate with one another within and across grade levels?