Vocabulary
Explore articles, free downloads, and practical instructional resources to support explicit, engaging vocabulary instruction.
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Word Play Fun: Puns and Riddles
Puns and riddles with teacher explanations of their double meanings to encourage word awareness and playful conversations about language.
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Morphology Instruction Lesson Planning Template
A step-by-step planning template to help students look within words for morpheme clues, connect related words, and develop word knowledge....
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What Is Explicit Vocabulary Instruction?
Learn a four-step approach to explicit vocabulary instruction that helps students understand, discuss, and use new words beyond memorizing definitions.
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Go Deeper, Together
The Six Shifts taught by Kari and Jan, with classroom video and practical routines.
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Shifting the Balance: Developing Readers
Grades 3–5 teachers, coaches, and teams strengthening upper-elementary reading.
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Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Template
A four-step template for planning explicit vocabulary lessons using kid-friendly definitions, word structure, context, and connections to known words.
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Multi-Year Plan for Systematic Morphology Instruction
A suggested scope and sequence for intentional morphology instruction across the upper elementary grades. An example pathway to systematically teach...
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Layers of Vocabulary Learning: A Slice of Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Discover four layers of vocabulary instruction that help engage students in word learning and enhance comprehension.
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Developing Word Power: How to Teach Morphology
Help students look within words for meaningful parts and connect related words, with a morphology lesson planning template and a...
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Looking for read-aloud titles to nurture word learning? We have a list for you!
Find read-aloud titles that invite curiosity about words and create opportunities to nurture vocabulary, word awareness, and a shared love...
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Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension
Explore why background knowledge matters for reading comprehension and how helping children build expertise supports their understanding of the texts...
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Talking With Children In Ways that Support Comprehension
Consider how everyday conversations with children can nurture language development and support the understanding they bring to reading.
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Explore classroom tools and professional learning designed to support vocabulary instruction.
The Shift in a Nutshell
In Shifting the Balance (Grades 3–5), Shift 3, “Recommitting to Vocabulary Instruction,” names a common practice to reconsider: “We rely on implicit or “in-the-moment” instruction as the main way to grow students’ vocabulary knowledge.” The shift it recommends: