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For more see: Rasinski, T.:
Daily Word Ladders, K-1, 1-2, 2-4. 4-6. Scholastic.
Vocabulary Ladders, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Teacher Created Materials/Shell Education
“The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music of its melodies, and sparkle in its brightness.” James Gates PercivalSPECIAL SECTION- DIFFERENTIATION
CLICK ON BOOK COVER OR BLUE WRITING TO GO TO EACH ITEM ON THE WEB
understanding by monitoring student learning and providing feedback to the students. The TC adapted the sentence part of the organizer. She provided grade level appropriate writing paper for students to write a sentence using one of the words and illustrating it with a picture as part of her independent practice and formative assessment. An example of the K.I.M organizer the TC had students complete is provided along with an example of a student’s sentence and picture.
Summary of the Use of the K.I.M Strategy
When working with this TC, it became evident that when teaching vocabulary, teachers need a variety of strategies they can choose from to tailor to the needs of the students and to take into their future classrooms. Working with this TC during the planning phase, allowed me the opportunity to coach the TC to select the K.I.M. strategy for her lesson. Although there are several strategies to help foster vocabulary development, selecting the appropriate strategy is important when considering the focus of the lesson.
An important part of the TC’s lesson implementation is reflection after teaching, which allows her to determine how she could teach the strategy in the future. The TC stated,
“When teaching this lesson on the future with kindergartners, I would shorten definitions and add more pictures to match with each vocabulary word. By doing these two things, the level of the activity would be adjusted to meet the needs of the learner to where students are able to read the shortened definitions and match them. Additionally, by adding more picture cues to match the words, students would have a chance at making a couple of different connections with the pictures and the words by seeing how one word can be portrayed in a few different ways.”
Additional strategies such as the word map would have been another strategy the TC could have implemented. The TC stated in her reflection that the K.I.M. strategy is an effective way to help students learn selected vocabulary words from a text.
The TC took a vocabulary strategy that is commonly used in middle school and adapted the used of the strategy with a read aloud by selecting key vocabulary words kindergartners may not easily recognize or understand. Johnson & Johnson (n.d.) stated, “Effective vocabulary development is a multifaceted process requiring a combination of direct instruction, discussion, and active encouragement of independent learning strategies” (p.4). The K.I.M. strategy can be used across grade levels and content areas to help students with unknown or words that students struggle with understanding, which in return will increase reading comprehension.
References
Chall, J.S. & Jacobs, V. A. (2003). Poor children’s fourth-grade slump. American Educator, American Federation of Teachers
Goodman, A. (2005). The middle school high five: strategies can triumph. Voices from Middle. 13(2).
Johnson, C. & Johnson, D. (n.d.). Why teach vocabulary. Retrieved from: https://www.engageny.org/file/2476/download/why_teach_vocabulary.pdf
Sedita, J. (2005). Effective vocabulary instruction. Insights on Learning Disabilities. 2(1), 33-45.
Dr. Angela Danley is an Associate Professor of Elementary Education at the University of Central Missouri.
Alisha O'Rear is a student majoring in early childhood education at the University of Central Missouri
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