5/2/06

Helping Special Students

Here’s a question for teachers. Are you aware of students who find the lunchroom experience to be the worst part of their day? Perhaps they don’t have friends to sit with or are teased by others. As a fan of “Dear Abby,” I’ve been reading letters to her from teachers who are providing quiet activities, sometimes called “clubs,” in their classrooms during lunchtime for these students.

It really bothers me that some children have miserable times at school that have nothing to do with their classroom activities, and I admire those teachers who’ve taken it upon themselves to provide solutions. I’ve been thinking about those kids, and I believe there is a wonderful way our curriculum can help these students whether you or your colleagues are now using Word Web Vocabulary in your classrooms or not.

I would be happy to supply a list with definitions of some of Word Web’s features for a “Pearls of Wisdom Club.” Periodical Pearls® are what I call vocabulary words found in any sort of periodical publication, such as newspapers and magazines. These “pearls” are far more prevalent than you might think and are an important part of every week’s lesson.

Then, there are words that share a common root, prefix or suffix or one of Word Web’s weekly Wicked Words, many of which often have a variety of meanings. During club time, students would look for these words in various types of periodicals that you’d keep in your classroom or they’d bring from home. When students found any of these words, they’d clip them out and paste them in a scrapbook.

In addition, Word Web’s Real World Word® should inspire many students. As their names imply, they are found outside of classrooms. In part, they include architectural details on buildings (columns and roof styles, cupolas, finials, keystones, etc.); sports team names (NY Knickerbockers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Utah Jazz, etc.); automobile names (Ford Taurus, Nissan Armada, Olds Aurora, etc.); acronyms for gasoline stations (Sunoco, Texaco, BP, etc.) and other acronyms (AKA, blog, CEO).

Students could keep a record in a notebook of where and when they were able to find these items. They could compete to see who could find the most in a specified time, rather like a scavenger hunt. Students who have digital or phone cameras could take pictures for validation.

In addition to meeting the needs of those who need a break from lunchtime hassles, there are other students about whom I have also been thinking, and I’ll bet you know them — those with some type of learning disability that prevents their participation in some of your regular classroom work. A question from one teacher who has a bright boy with a severe speech problem prompted me to think about ways he could participate in Word Web’s weekly lessons. I reached the same conclusion as I had for the students, described above, who receive club time during the lunch period.

What do you think? Would these words work with some of your school’s students? Let me know, and I’ll send you a PDF of the words you could work with.

That’s my word for now. Ellie

Word Web Vocabulary - recommended on Heidi Hayes-Jacobs' website - Moving vocabulary from the edge of language arts to its center