Vocabulary · Tier 3: subject words
Student unit word banks
Students build their own word bank for each unit, with the word, a picture or example, a translation if helpful, and a sentence. It becomes their personal reference for the unit and for revision.
- Bands
- 1 to 4
- Stages
- Lower elementary, Upper elementary, Middle school and High school
- Settings
- Mainstream class, Push-in support, Pull-out support and At home
- Prep
- Low prep
How to do it
- Give each student a simple word bank page or booklet for the unit.
- At key points in lessons, ask students to add new words.
- Each entry has the word, a picture or example, an optional home language word and a sentence from the lesson.
- Build the word bank into tasks, for example “Use three words from your bank in your answer.”
- Use it for revision before assessments.
In a lesson
Humanities (middle school)
During a unit on ancient Egypt, a band 2 student adds pharaoh, tomb, irrigation and papyrus, each with a sketch and a sentence from the lesson. Writing about farming, she uses her word bank to write, “Farmers used irrigation to bring water from the Nile.”
What commonly goes wrong
- The word bank is filled in once and never used.
- Students copy definitions without examples.
- Too many words are added, including ones students already know.
Adapting it
For a lower band
Provide some entries partly completed, with pictures.
For a higher band
Add word forms and common partners to each entry.