Standard 4: Vocabulary

Students will expand their working vocabularies to effectively communicate and understand texts.

5.4.R.1 Students will increase knowledge of academic, domain-appropriate, grade-level vocabulary to infer meaning of grade-level text.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students increase knowledge of vocabulary through reading, word study, discussion and teacher led instruction.

• Students apply their knowledge of vocabulary to infer the meaning of grade level text.

• Students experience multiple exposures to a new word, in a variety of contexts.

• Students discern between examples and non-examples of vocabulary terms.

• Students create and build on lists, word walls, vocabulary notebooks, journals, or banks.

• Teachers involve students in the selection or academic, content-specific, grade level words that students need to know.

• Domain Specific Vocabulary Instructional Routine Example (website)

• Integrate content areas by pulling content-specific, academic words from 5th grade Oklahoma Academic Standards in mathematics, science, and social studies. 

• Teachers use effective instructional routines such as:

• Using the word in several contexts, pronouncing it clearly.

• Providing a student-friendly definition, explanation, or example of the word.

• Associating a picture, graphic, or something memorable with the word.

• Use activities and games to provide practice for students, saying and using the word.

• Show the word’s relationship to other words.

• Building background knowledge gives students context for new words.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to use new vocabulary in conversation and writing.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to apply knowledge of vocabulary to infer meaning of grade level text.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback when making inferences.

• Have students generate their own examples or complete a quick draw of an example.

• Have students discern between examples and non-examples.

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights 

ELA OAS Glossary

Domain Specific Vocabulary Instructional Routine Example (website)

Using Concept Circles to Develop Academic Vocabulary (website)

Word Splash Vocabulary Introduction Game/Activity (website)

Vocabulary Building Graphic Organizers and Mini-Lessons (pdf)

Vocabulary Strategies (pdf)

Content Area Vocabulary Graphic Organizers (TPT freebie)

Engineering the Perfect Poem by Using the Vocabulary of STEM (website)

Vocabulary Solutions: A Mixture of Science, Conversation, and Writing (website)

Introducing Ideas and Vocabulary with the Concept Sort (website)

ABC Bookmaking Builds Vocabulary in the Content Areas (website)

• Academic Vocabulary refers to words associated with content knowledge. Within every discipline, there is a specific set of words to represent its concepts and processes.

• Domain-appropriate vocabulary refers to words that are “relatively low-frequency and content-specific that appear in textbooks and other instructional materials” (Blachowicz, C. & Fisher, P., p.1). Furthermore, domain-appropriate words include technical words related to specific academic disciplines. 

• An inference is an act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true; the conclusions drawn from this process.

• It does not refer to using context clues to breakdown vocabulary.

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.