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Vocabulary for 5th-6th Grade


Kerry Blue
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I'd like DD10 to start a vocabulary journal with words pulled from reading and the subjects she is studying. I have tried to get her to make a vocab list of words that she didn't know while she read, but she never wrote any words down. She either infers what the word means from context, and assumes she knows what it means, or she is skipping over the words without realizing it. So I would like to be a little more proactive to increase her understanding of what she is reading. Ideally, I would pre-read her assignments and put together a vocab list that I would like her to look up before she gets to the reading. But here I have wandered into a quandary:

How many vocabulary words every day pulled from reading? I want her to have a better grasp at what she is reading, but I also don't want to overwhelm her.

About how many vocabulary words from all subjects every day? We have vocab for science, history/geography, Latin, etc.

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I would focus on similar words, if possible.  Pick a list of roots/prefixes/suffixes to work with, and have her use that to go through her own work and pick, say, 3 from reading and 3 from history/science combined.  Throw in a couple of odd words when you can and have her look up origin as well as definition.

If you are doing Latin that is a vocabulary program in itself.  What would you add to it, other than organized study?

FWIW, while I do in theory and in elementary years like the idea of side by side vocab study with subjects, by middle school I find it to hinder the student, slowing them down to the point where they are missing the information in favor of focus on the fact.  That's not saying they don't need a vocabulary study, but that it can work very well when it is separated and done as a side by side study in which it dovetails with their work because they are then looking for the words/roots in their studies.

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When I was in 9th grade (3-4 grades further along than you 5th/6th grader), my public high school English teacher had us pull 10 words a WEEK for vocabulary. (I just kept a notebook handy whenever I was reading and would jot down words, and then pull from that at a very separate time to do the vocabulary assignment of write the list of words, write the definitions, and write a short sentence using each word in context (so, a total of 10 sentences + 10 definitions).

All that to say: that would come out to 2 words per DAY, for a total of 10 words per WEEK, which is a manageable amount to "find" in the reading, but more importantly, is plenty of words to actually study and dig into. If you do that for 30 weeks of your school year, that's 300 words -- plus a lot of of practice in working with words, so she'll really start to see patterns in the roots/prefixes/endings even in words NOT being studied.

However, as HomeAgain suggests, I would do Vocabulary pulled from reading as a separate study at a separate time, rather than disrupting the flow of reading comprehension. Or perhaps consider considering coming at vocabulary from the opposite end -- do a Vocabulary root words study, and let that separate study naturally flow over into her reading and inform her comprehension -- something like Vocabulary From Classical Roots, or English From The Roots Up, or other.

Just my 2 cents worth! BEST of luck in your reading and vocabulary adventures, whatever you decide on using. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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I would also encourage you that inferring meaning from context and moving on is actually how we're wired to acquire language. That's what babies and toddlers do... And then the next time they meet the word the meaning gets refined and improved.

So she does actually have a working system in place already.

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5 minutes ago, Kiara.I said:

I would also encourage you that inferring meaning from context and moving on is actually how we're wired to acquire language. That's what babies and toddlers do... And then the next time they meet the word the meaning gets refined and improved.

So she does actually have a working system in place already.


This.  It could be she's just very good at this.  I remember my 4th grade teacher told us to take words we didn't know from our reading, but I never used to be able to find any.  I am very good at getting them - and remembering them - from context.  I actually still remember finding one - the word 'ladle' - ironically a fairly easy word - from Caddie Woodlawn.  But mostly that vocab journal remained empty...  At that point I was already in the 'top' reading level she had, so she didn't bother me much about it, and I just read what I wanted.  Forcing me to find 'words I didn't know' would have been busywork.  And made my reading a chore instead of a joy

I had always thought teaching vocab explicitly was dumb, because I thought if kids read widely, like I did, they'd pick it up from context (I also reverse-engineered the meanings of various Latin and Greek roots).  But then my kids didn't end up like me - at least not to the extent I was, and I did end up teaching them - though it was a roots program rather than pulling from reading.

One way to figure out if she's slacking or actually just good at picking up words from context would be to go through one of her books yourself, find words you think she wouldn't know, read her the whole sentence it's in (context does matter), and ask her to define the individual word you're targeting.

Also, maybe up the level of vocab in the books you're handing her?  Older books tend to have much richer vocabulary.

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6 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

I would focus on similar words, if possible.  Pick a list of roots/prefixes/suffixes to work with, and have her use that to go through her own work and pick, say, 3 from reading and 3 from history/science combined.  Throw in a couple of odd words when you can and have her look up origin as well as definition.

If you are doing Latin that is a vocabulary program in itself.  What would you add to it, other than organized study?

FWIW, while I do in theory and in elementary years like the idea of side by side vocab study with subjects, by middle school I find it to hinder the student, slowing them down to the point where they are missing the information in favor of focus on the fact.  That's not saying they don't need a vocabulary study, but that it can work very well when it is separated and done as a side by side study in which it dovetails with their work because they are then looking for the words/roots in their studies.

My original thought was to go through her reading for the day and pick out a couple words that I am not sure she knows, but feel knowing them would greatly increase the understanding of what she is reading. If she can give me an idea of what the words mean, then good. If not, look it up before reading. Would that make sense?

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2 hours ago, Lori D. said:

When I was in 9th grade (3-4 grades further along than you 5th/6th grader), my public high school English teacher had us pull 10 words a WEEK for vocabulary. (I just kept a notebook handy whenever I was reading and would jot down words, and then pull from that at a very separate time to do the vocabulary assignment of write the list of words, write the definitions, and write a short sentence using each word in context (so, a total of 10 sentences + 10 definitions).

All that to say: that would come out to 2 words per DAY, for a total of 10 words per WEEK, which is a manageable amount to "find" in the reading, but more importantly, is plenty of words to actually study and dig into. If you do that for 30 weeks of your school year, that's 300 words -- plus a lot of of practice in working with words, so she'll really start to see patterns in the roots/prefixes/endings even in words NOT being studied.

However, as HomeAgain suggests, I would do Vocabulary pulled from reading as a separate study at a separate time, rather than disrupting the flow of reading comprehension. Or perhaps consider considering coming at vocabulary from the opposite end -- do a Vocabulary root words study, and let that separate study naturally flow over into her reading and inform her comprehension -- something like Vocabulary From Classical Roots, or English From The Roots Up, or other.

Just my 2 cents worth! BEST of luck in your reading and vocabulary adventures, whatever you decide on using. Warmest regards, Lori D.

I had thought about a root study, but was unsure about adding another thing to our day. (It always feels like so much) But even a root study wouldn't help with immediate concerns.

What are your thoughts about pulling vocab from the reading and defining it before reading?

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1 hour ago, Kiara.I said:

I would also encourage you that inferring meaning from context and moving on is actually how we're wired to acquire language. That's what babies and toddlers do... And then the next time they meet the word the meaning gets refined and improved.

So she does actually have a working system in place already.

I do agree with this, but the question that I have is this - is it enough for a student? Wouldn't comprehension increase if someone was given the definition of a word before reading a passage containing it?

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1 hour ago, Matryoshka said:

One way to figure out if she's slacking or actually just good at picking up words from context would be to go through one of her books yourself, find words you think she wouldn't know, read her the whole sentence it's in (context does matter), and ask her to define the individual word you're targeting.

Also, maybe up the level of vocab in the books you're handing her?  Older books tend to have much richer vocabulary.

Would it make better sense to ask after the reading or give the sentence before the reading to test the word?

I agree that older books have a larger vocabulary than modern books do. But wouldn't increasing the unkown/unsure vocabulary make it more frustrating to the reader?

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1 hour ago, Kerry Blue said:

Would it make better sense to ask after the reading or give the sentence before the reading to test the word?

I agree that older books have a larger vocabulary than modern books do. But wouldn't increasing the unkown/unsure vocabulary make it more frustrating to the reader?


Babies have no vocabulary.  We just talk to them.  They build vocab from there.  Reading can work the same way.  Some kids do have a harder time picking up vocab from context, but practice and a bit of stretching is good even for them.  For kids who pick it up kind of by osmosis, it's not even that noticeable unless maybe you give them Shakespeare in 3rd grade.  I always just read - I never got frustrated.  If I didn't know a word the first time I saw it in the book, I'd know it by the end - authors do tend to use the same words over and over and that's how you get them from context.  Have you noticed her being frustrated with what she's reading now?  If she's really understanding everything, give her more meat. :wink:

As for what order to do it in - after she's read a book and says she understands everything, if you flip through it and think 'oh really?  you know all these words?' - pick out some sentences with words you don't think she'd understand, read her the whole sentence, and then have her define the word you think is hard.  If she knows them all - yay!  Give her harder and more complex (but still engaging!) books to read - and maybe consider a roots program like Caesar's English.   If she's stumped by the words you think are hard, then you've found out she just doesn't want to stop her reading to figure them out - then I might consider pre-reading books you give her and finding words yourself you think she should study?  If she is skipping words and not getting them from context, you could continue to encourage her to write them down herself, but if that kills her love of reading for pleasure, then picking them out yourself or using a separate vocab program is probably better.

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3 hours ago, Kerry Blue said:

I do agree with this, but the question that I have is this - is it enough for a student? Wouldn't comprehension increase if someone was given the definition of a word before reading a passage containing it?

Depends on the kid, I guess. It was enough for me. Maybe it isn't for some.

But, as a lover of books... I'd really suggest you not to try to make her stop and look things up. Either pull the words or yourself, or give her a separate program and let her go. Trying to get a reader to stop and look up a word in the middle of a good story? UGH!

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15 hours ago, Matryoshka said:


Babies have no vocabulary.  We just talk to them.  They build vocab from there.  Reading can work the same way.  Some kids do have a harder time picking up vocab from context, but practice and a bit of stretching is good even for them.  For kids who pick it up kind of by osmosis, it's not even that noticeable unless maybe you give them Shakespeare in 3rd grade.  I always just read - I never got frustrated.  If I didn't know a word the first time I saw it in the book, I'd know it by the end - authors do tend to use the same words over and over and that's how you get them from context.  Have you noticed her being frustrated with what she's reading now?  If she's really understanding everything, give her more meat. :wink:

As for what order to do it in - after she's read a book and says she understands everything, if you flip through it and think 'oh really?  you know all these words?' - pick out some sentences with words you don't think she'd understand, read her the whole sentence, and then have her define the word you think is hard.  If she knows them all - yay!  Give her harder and more complex (but still engaging!) books to read - and maybe consider a roots program like Caesar's English.   If she's stumped by the words you think are hard, then you've found out she just doesn't want to stop her reading to figure them out - then I might consider pre-reading books you give her and finding words yourself you think she should study?  If she is skipping words and not getting them from context, you could continue to encourage her to write them down herself, but if that kills her love of reading for pleasure, then picking them out yourself or using a separate vocab program is probably better.

Thank you for taking the time to write this all out. I understand better now, what you are saying.

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13 hours ago, Kiara.I said:

Depends on the kid, I guess. It was enough for me. Maybe it isn't for some.

But, as a lover of books... I'd really suggest you not to try to make her stop and look things up. Either pull the words or yourself, or give her a separate program and let her go. Trying to get a reader to stop and look up a word in the middle of a good story? UGH!

I agree with you about stopping in the middle of a story. You have to be a person who likes doing that (like my DH).

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