Lauren Salter

Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy

Science Connection Overview

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom strategies for interactive learning (4th ed.). Newark, DE:
International
Reading Association.

Instructions:
1. Teachers will explain to the students the different ways that science helps
them understand different parts of their lives or world. Different examples of
readings about science should be given in order to teach to students how
their lives are connected to their lives. For example, one of these reading
passages assigned for the students to read could be based on different types
of weather that they all experience day to day. Different reading passages
may be assigned based on the depth of the subject matter. Chapters and
units will have reading passages that are based on different, broader topics.
Students will make reflections after reading these articles and to question the
text.
2. Teachers will hand out the Science Connection Overview chart and students
will follow the teacher along while skimming over part of the science text.
While reading, the teacher should make connections to parts of the text that
students will connect to if they information is familiar. Technical terms should
be ignored along with any information that may seem unfamiliar to the
students.
3. Students will work with partners to complete their charts. The first section to
be filled out will be the Whats familiar? section that which will only focus
on familiar information that is not technical that they heard while the teacher
was skimming over the text. Pictures in the chapter should be used by the
students to help them make connections with what is familiar to them.
Students should also be aware of where these familiar parts are within the
text.
4. Students should read the chapter summary to get an overview of the chapter.
After doing so, they should point out different topics that the chapter focuses
on. This should encourage students to use this to look over information they
already are familiar with before they dive into the new information.
5. Students will then make up their own questions that they have about the text
and then work with their partners to think about what each other know about

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy
a part of the topic and what they may be wanting to know. In order for the
students to do this teachers will need to give some examples of questions to
give students an idea of what they may be wanting to think of about science
and the topic. These questions will be written in the What are you
wondering? section of the chart.
6. Students will then complete the What will the author tell you? section of the
overview chart. The organization of the text will be pointed out by the
teacher to the students. Specific categories that the information falls under
will be pointed out by headings or titles under specific sections of the text.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the new information, students will then be
focused on making connections with the information.
7. Students will then be asked to read the first section within the text. Index
cards will be filled out accordingly as to what new science words students
come across from reading the passage. The front will have the new
vocabulary word with a word or phrase written underneath the vocabulary
word that the student thinks of whenever they think of the word like a
memory clue. On the back of the card the definition will be written into words
that are easy to understand.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Science Connection Overview possesses both strengths and weaknesses
as a part of using this strategy. Some of the strengths in this strategy are that
students are able to connect with the different parts of the text they are reading
with something that they are already familiar with. This way students will be better
off understanding the new, more technical information presented to them. Students
will also be encouraged to think of questions that they may have and ask them
whenever something that they are unfamiliar with is presented to them along with
the more technical side of information that they are learning about. Students will
also be working with partners, which will encourage their skills involving working

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy
with others. They are able to communicate and learn about information that each
other already know.
The weaknesses within this strategy are that this is a more complex strategy
that will take longer to complete than other strategies. Students will need to be
focused and listen to what their teacher actually skims over or several questions will
be asked by students. They will not be able to fill out their chart from the beginning
if they are not paying attention to the teacher while he or she is reading.
Overall this would be a great to use when introducing new information that is
on a more technical level to students. The familiarity of the way this topic is used
would help students be able to connect to these students. As long as these students
pay attention to what the teacher is introducing to his or her students and can
provide assistance to students who may need more help, then this strategy would
be perfect for a science or social studies class.

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy

Student-Friendly Vocabulary Explanations

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom strategies for interactive learning (4th ed.). Newark, DE:
International
Reading Association.

Instructions:
1. Teachers will decide which words students need to learn more than others
based on the amount of class time that may be allotted. These words should
be part of the second and third tier and should be divided into four different
categories these being Big Idea Words, Academic Tool Kit Words,
Disciplinary Tool Kit Words, and Polysemous Words. Big idea words are
tier three words that would consist of science, social studies, math, and
language arts terms for example. Academic tool kit words are tier two words
with are often occurrences in texts, but are often not taught so definitions of
these words are often hazy. Disciplinary tool kit words are tier two words that
are used often in certain subjects such as science or social studies terms. The
last type of words are the polysemous words which are tier three words
consisting of words that possess several different definitions.
2. The teacher will then display how a word should be explained instead of
looking in a definition for an explanation. The basis for explaining words
would be to describe its use in everyday language rather than giving a
dictionary definition, explaining words in connection with one another, giving

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy
an explanation that has multiple uses depending on how the word is being
used, and then explaining the word in a familiar sense.
3. The teacher should ask students to give their own examples of whenever a
word may be used. Students will have more practice this way if the teacher
had the students come up with ways to use the word. They should then be
encouraged to use the word in different forms. This should clear up confusion
on the meaning of a word and the way a word is used.
4. Students should be asked to think about the different types of people that
would use a specific word along with how they would use it.
5. Students will take note of the new words they are learning in a notebook. A
word study guide can be created to help define a word fully. This organizer
involves writing the word, what sentence the word was found in, an
explanation of the word, examples and a picture of the word.
6. Vocabulary exercises can be created that will provide different ways to review
the vocabulary that was written in the word study guide. Different examples
of reviewing could be to write examples, non-examples, word associations,
and to create situations, contexts and examples of using words for example.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Student-Friendly Vocabulary Explanations and the Word Study Guides
strengths would be the way vocabulary words are selected for students to learn
and the way that they are taught. Vocabulary words are selected based upon the
tiers of vocabulary and the way words are used along with when they are used.
By learning these words, students are capable of broadening their vocabulary
and their understanding of words. The Word Study Guide lays out the complete
meaning of a word, providing every way to understand a word to its entirety. By
proving examples and a visual, students can refer back to the guide and
understand the word better whenever they see the picture or read the example.
There are not many weaknesses within this strategy except that a lot of
repetition must be used along with quite a bit of class time. To cover several

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy
words that students on their specific reading level should know and completely
understand, a lengthy amount of time would need to be set aside. Repeating
words will take quite a bit of time also. Students who already know words or
learn a word in a short amount of time may become bored as well, which may
cause disturbance within the classroom. Teachers will have to adjust their lesson
planning in order to avoid these issues and accommodate to those who need
more work or different words.
There are more strengths than weaknesses within this strategy to help
students understand a word clearly and fully. Classroom time spent on words and
the way a word can be covered will create a more effective environment. This
way the strategy would be great to use in a classroom.

Word Study Guide for __________________

Word

Found in This
Sentence

Explanation

Examples

Visual Image

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy

Vocabulary Overview Guide

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom strategies for interactive learning (4th ed.). Newark, DE:
International
Reading Association.

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy

Instructions:
1. Teachers should pull vocabulary words from whatever his or her students are
reading as a class that connect to main ideas in the text. Tier two and tier
three words should be picked out for students to learn.
2. Students should be asked to figure out their level of knowledge at a certain
time period, which may be done so by labeling words with a K, H, S, or N. K
meaning that they know the word, H meaning that they have a hunch about
what a word means, S as they have seen it but do not know what the word
means, and N that they have never seen the word before. The actual use of
this word should then be given to the students so that they are able to
understand the full meaning and the use of the word. They will then be asked
by the teacher to describe the tone of the context of the sentence the word
was used in. By doing this students may be able to think of synonyms within
words. Students will be able to understand a words definition in more depth
and not need to pull out a dictionary in order to define the word.
3. Students will then read the selection again that the words were pulled from
so that they will pay attention to the meaning of the new words along with
the entire context of the text.
4. Students are then asked to explain all of the words that they learned from the
text in terms that they are very familiar with. Teachers should specify to the
students that he or she is not looking for a perfect definition, but rather be
able to see that they know the word very well and could use it. Students
should state what they thought the word meant before and tell what they
know the word means now and whether or not they thought correctly.
5. The Vocabulary Overview Guide will then be passed out to help students write
down their new understanding of a word. Teachers should discuss the main
idea of the text and state how the words connect to the main idea. They
should be encouraged to think of mnemonic clues that will help them
remember the definitions of a word and help link background knowledge.
6. Teachers should place these words in other classroom activities to trigger the
thinking of a word so that they also do not forget about the word. These
words should be placed into test questions as well.
7. Students will later create their own Vocabulary Overview Guides when coming
across unfamiliar words while reading rather than having a full class
assignment about introducing and learning new vocabulary.

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Vocabulary Overview Strategy is a great way to introduce, discuss, and
become familiar with unknown words in the text that students are reading in class.
By providing clues, an explanation, and the use of a word students are able to fully
understand a word and later look back at the guide when they need to refresh their
mind about a words definition. By going over a word in class multiple times in
different ways such as in class discussions and assignments along with the text,
students are more likely to completely understand a word. Students will be able to
understand words without having to look up a definition in the dictionary.
With all of these strengths there are also going to be weaknesses, those of
which are that students may become bored in class if they are on a higher reading
level than other students and know the words that are being gone over. A great
amount of classroom instruction time would also be taken up in order to teach these
vocabulary terms multiple times and in such depth. Students who are bored in class
may cause disruptions in the classroom and in this case teachers would need to
provide a separate set of words from the text for these students to learn.
Overall this would be a great vocabulary strategy to use in class to help
students understand a word to its full extent and not need to look up a definition in
a dictionary. Students will also learn how to do this strategy eventually without
needing to use a physical form of the guide to define and understand a word.

Word Family Trees

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom strategies for interactive learning (4th ed.). Newark, DE:
International
Reading Association.

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy

Instructions:
1. Students will be given the Word Family Trees chart and the teacher will
explain what a genealogical family tree is to help make the connection
between the two types of family trees.
2. Make it aware to students that words have multiple endings which make up
word families. For example, run, running, and runner. Teachers should use all
of the varieties of a word to teach students the several different words in the
tree.
3. To begin the Word Family Tree, the teacher should assign a word from the
text. This will show how the word is connected to other words through the
root of the word.
4. Tier two and tier three words will be chosen for students to learn and explore.
These words should be important words in a reading passage, key vocabulary
words, or important vocabulary words that may be used day to day.
5. Students should get into groups or get with a partner to complete their Word
Family Trees organizer by using dictionaries or thesauruses to complete it.
6. Students will brainstorm mnemonic clues along with what types of people
would use these words. They should also think of different sentences that
these people would use the word in.
7. Students will share their trees with the class to learn about other related
words, synonyms, and contexts where the word might be used.
8. Teachers should then take the chance to go over difficult words first by
finding their prefixes or suffixes and then take them off of the word. From
there you will find the root of the word based upon whatever was left. After
this students will think of words that come to mind whenever the root word is
said. At this point the suffixes and prefixes can be added back onto the word
to find the meaning of the word and put the word into a sentence.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Word Family Trees strategy has both strengths and weaknesses when
using this strategy. Some of the strengths of using this strategy are that the
vocabulary words are completely defined and analyzed to its entirety. This way they
are able to completely understand the vocabulary term. Students are also able to
learn and understand what a root, prefix, suffix, and synonym are by dissecting the

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy
whole word. By analyzing every different part of the word, students are more likely
to be able to recall a vocabulary words that are defined by using this strategy.
The weaknesses within using this strategy are that the process is very
lengthy to dissect a whole word and then fill out the entire organizer. Students who
have a higher reading level may be more acceptable to use this strategy because of
the depth the student would have to think to complete this strategy. Students would
also need to also be at the grade level and have prior background knowledge of
what a prefix, suffix, root, and synonym are in order to complete the word family
tree chart.
Based upon all of these strengths and weaknesses, the Word Family Tree
strategy would be great to use as a vocabulary strategy and can be used while
teaching any subject. Students are going to be able to completely understand any
word that they define and analyze with this strategy due to the entire dissection of
a word and the repetitive use of the word throughout the process of completing the
chart. For these reasons, students will be completely familiar with these vocabulary
terms and will be able to use the word with multiple endings and in different
situations.

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy

Fiddle Sticks
Kagan, S. (2009). Kagan Cooperative Learning. San Clementine, CA: Kagan
Publishing.

Instructions:
1. The teacher will produce a list of vocabulary terms that his or her student
should know based upon the reading in class.
2. The students will read over the whole list of vocabulary words and mark the
vocabulary term that they do not know the definition to or are not familiar
with the word itself.
3. The students will then get into small groups of about four where they will all
discuss which words they know and which ones they do not know. The
teacher will give each group a cup with Popsicle sticks with the vocabulary
words written on them. All of the words should be at the bottom of the cup
rather than having the word stick out of the top. One Popsicle stick will have a
red mark on the bottom of it.
4. Students will leave their vocabulary list face down whenever they are
drawing a stick, but everyone else can leave their list flipped face up.
5. The youngest person in the group will pick a stick and then define the word. If
they do not know the word or do not define the word correctly then the stick
goes back into the cup. Peers in the group will decide if a definition is
acceptable or not.
6. The next person will draw and if they define the word right then they get to
keep the stick. If someone draws the stick with the red end, they must put
back all of their other sticks in the cup and start over. This will continue until
all of the sticks are gone or until time is up.
7. Whoever has the most sticks is the winner.
8. Whenever the sticks are all put up, the students will fill out a journal entry
about what vocabulary words they learned and write the connection that was
made between the text the students are reading in class with the vocabulary
words they learned.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy
The Fiddle Sticks strategy has both strengths and weaknesses. The strengths
of this strategy are that students are able to repetitively review a word and its
definition until they make sure that they know the vocabulary word. By doing so,
students will be able to familiarize themselves with a word they did not know and be
able to define it at the top of their head. Another advantage to using this strategy
would be that students are able to communicate with one another and make their
own judgments as to if a student gives a definition to a word that is correct or not.
This way other students in the group are able to have an interactive activity rather
than simply completing a worksheet. This way students will be more involved and
focused especially since there is the competitive aspect to the strategy.
With every strategy there are weaknesses and in this case some students
may not be learning vocabulary words other than the vocabulary words on their own
sticks that they draw. Another disadvantage of this strategy would be that some
students may not be very skilled in verbally defining words or their thought process.
This would make it very difficult for a child with this set back to earn sticks in this
game. Although the competitive aspect in this activity may be exciting for a child,
some students may cheat throughout the judgment of whether sticks are correct or
not especially if they decide to choose sides in the game and let their friends win
and make other classmates lose.
Overall this would be a great strategy to use in the classroom in order to
teach new vocabulary words and re-familiarize students with vocabulary words that
the students have already seen before. This interactive activity would keep students
focused along with the competitive aspect of the strategy. Students will be more
interested in learning vocabulary words though this activity rather than a worksheet
due to the interactive aspect. By repeatedly reviewing the vocabulary words,

Lauren Salter
Miller-Levy-Content Area Literacy
students will remember the words making this an appropriate vocabulary strategy
to use.