Dig into some prehistoric vocabulary in Bob Barner's informative book Dinosaur Bones. This works best if you introduce the primitive words before reading the story. These are the focus terms in the text: ancient, climate, extinct,...

William Steig's story of a witty mouse couple will have scholars intrigued as they listen for new vocabulary words and context clues. Doctor DeSoto can be found on YouTube in case you don't have it. Emerging readers expand...

Use Norah Dooley's culturally inspiring book Everybody Cooks Rice to explore delicious new vocabulary in context with beginning readers. The recommended words here are: delicious, grumbling, and gulp; pre-teach them...

What new adventure is Madeline on now? Emerging readers expand their vocabulary in Ludwig Behelmans' story Madeline's Rescue. Although there are many words you could focus on here, five have been furnished with comprehension...

Combine counting and vocabulary practice with Susan O'Keefe's engaging story One Hungry Monster, which you can find on YouTube if needed. Introduce learners to the following in-text words: doubt, gargle, rude, swear, and...

If you're reading the classic story Over in the Meadow, consider this strategy to cover vocabulary in context with budding readers. After a brief introduction, listeners raise a hand when they hear each word (bask,...

Although the title of Elizabeth Kann's story Pinkalicious isn't a real word, the book is an excellent way to explore some new vocabulary in context: acute, mushy, rare, steady, and surrounded. Find the...

It's the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood retold by James Marshall; scholars listen for six new words as you read: bouquet, charming, escort, horrid, tarry, and wicked. Introduce the words before reading so they can...

Can Dan make a conjecture about dividing fractions with the same denominators? That is what your scholars are to determine. They must show that if the statement is true, they understand how the quantities were determined, and how...

Introduce your young readers to fiction written by women authors. For each story, they explore the way these daughters discover and claim their own identities. Individually, class members use the literature to examine their role in their...

That it is better to give than receive can be a difficult concept for little ones, especially during the Christmas holiday season. A reading of Jan Brett’s, Christmas Trolls, helps children focus their attention away from what they want...

Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...

Learn new words in the context of Kathleen Hague's whimsical alphabet book, Alphabears: An ABC Book (note: you can use these strategies for any text). Get pupils ready by introducing the new words they will...

Get in touch with Charlie Parker's jazz beats as learners explore new words in Chris Raschka's onomatopoeic book Charlie Parker Played Be Bop. Scholars are acquainted with some musical terminology before they hear these terms in the...

Lorinda Cauley's book Clap Your Hands is a fun way to expand budding readers' vocabulary in context (although you could use any book for this strategy). To prepare kids, introduce the following terms before...

Explore the world's beauty with Jean Marzollo's colorful book I Am Planet Earth, the context of a vocabulary study focused on the following in-text words: globe, jungle, paddy, planet, and valley. Discuss the...

Animals are amazing at disguise! Explore the different ways they escape view as scholars learn vocabulary-in-context through Jim Arnosky's book I See Animals Hiding. Prepare pupils to raise their hands when they hear...

Explore pond life and action words through Denise Fleming's In the Small, Small Pond, which you can find online if you don't have it on hand. Learners explore the following verbs: doze, hover, plunge, scatter,...

What is Miss Bindergarten up to now? Joseph Slate's story Miss Bindergarten Stays Home is an excellent resource for budding readers to practice five vocabulary words in context: advise, lesson, lovely,...

Your classroom may feel like a zoo sometimes, but it's nothing like this! Stu Smith's book My School's a Zoo is an excellent way to introduce some fun vocabulary words in context, and it's available on YouTube in case...

Patricia Polacco weaves an engaging tale for budding readers in her book Some Birthday!, an excellent resource for vocabulary in context. You can use this text to introduce the following words: investigate, snarl, and squawk....

First graders place some specific types of objects (e.g., shoes, favorite food) on concrete graphs and pictographs. They listen and respond to others in a variety of contexts (e.g., pay attention to the speaker; take turns speaking in a...

Learners research historical events of the past century to recognize that society impacts the themes within art and literature. They then interview an individual to develop a biographical narrative, a collage and finally an oral...

Your budding readers know what it's like to get to a word and think, "What does that mean?" Expand their vocabulary in context using Christopher Mitten's nonfiction picture book Firefighters. Get them ready by pre-teaching the new...