Word Aware (Spiral Bind): Teaching vocabulary across the day, across the curriculum

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If you would like to arrange online training for your school or service go to commissioning training

This rigorously tried-and-tested approach is an outstanding resource that will be an essential addition to any early years’ setting or preschool classroom. It is also an important addition to the materials used by speech and language therapists. It is particularly suitable for ages 3 to 5+

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Teaching vocabulary: Teaching topic related vocabulary using STAR approach. S- Select words from the curriculum Treasure Hunt– on the way to and from school, look for things you could describe by a particular word like shrivelled or spiky. Categories such as living things, things with circles, things with engines. Book 1: Teaching Vocabulary across the Day, across the Curriculum (age suitability: 5-11+) – Second Edition – Sep 2021 For many children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or those whose home language isn’t English (ELL or EAL learners), the vocabulary of the classroom can be a barrier to learning. This book outlines how to best support these children who require extra help, offering concrete, easy-to-implement activities and resources for use in small groups, to maximise the impact on learning and open up access to the curriculum. Set one: Longer version for schools which are still open for selected children. These activities may also be adapted and sent home.

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We can place a therapist trained in Word Aware in your school, to set up whole class approaches, small group and 1;1 Word Aware work. This comprehensive and practical book provides an ideal platform for the provision of effective vocabulary development in children of all abilities. This rigorously tried and tested approach is an outstanding resource that will be an essential addition to any school and classroom and is also an important addition to the materials used by speech and language therapists.

In July 2014, I went on the Word Aware training delivered by Anna Branagan to see if the strategies could be used within SEN intervention groups. However it soon became apparent that all of our children would benefit from the approaches used! The training was very informative and focused on many aspects of vocabulary teaching and learning. It gave lots of practical activities and games to support the acquisition of vocabulary and to enable children to develop ways of working out what words mean. We also felt that these methods would build on the Read, Write, Inc ‘power words’ strategy that was already embedded in Key Stage 1. Once a word is taught, it is placed on a word wall. These words then need to be reviewed (repeated) by the class in both their writing or their spoken language (both needed in the right context). In addition, we play games to consolidate our understanding of these words and will send out a list of words (fridge words) we will teach each half term to allow you to discuss and review these words with your child at home. Word group spinner– as demonstrated when the computer failed you don’t really need anything fancy, just something to point with or a pot to hold the cards. On one side have 4 letters and on the other 4 categories such as noun, verb, adjective, living thing, food etc. then choose one from both sides and see if you can find 5 words to fit the sound and category. Either do it together or turn it into fastest wins! Book 3 is a comprehensive, practical and engaging resource that focuses on teaching vocabulary and word learning skills to children aged 6 to 11 years who have vocabulary learning needs. We began by introducing the STAR literacy approach. The Select, Teach, Activate, Review process meant that we chose words from the class text, we then taught and activated them using a range of Word Aware strategies and then built in review time to enable the children to develop a secure understanding of these words.At Hobbayne, we understand that words are important. We all need to understand and use a wide range of vocabulary to succeed at school and in life. To progress with reading children need to understand the words they decode. To write well they need a wide and varied use of words. To understand all subjects including maths, science and social studies they need to understand the words that are used. We want to have fun with words. We seek to promote speaking and listening as these are foundation skills for reading and writing. We are all very excited about this new programme and where the approach has been trialled children have enjoyed the experience. Fun with words: Big Brain (I think with my big brain something that is (meaning clue) and it starts with a (letter clue) Children need twelve meaningful encounters of a word before they really know it. Word Aware promotes a method called STAR, which stands for Select, Teach, Activate and Review. This process ensures the children encounter the new words many times and many different ways. Remember to try and use these new words in your conversations to embed them into your child’s vocabulary Hjetland et al (2017), in their systematic review found that spoken vocabulary predicted children’s latter reading development. Vocabulary relates to reading comprehension, but impacts equally on curriculum areas that require specific word knowledge such as mathematics and science.