SELECTING Key Topic Vocabulary BEFORE Teaching the Topic

Selecting Essential Vocabulary Decision points for prioritising what words to teach SIs the word essential for students’ in-depth understanding of topic? SWill the word be used repeatedly in my teaching? SWill students have multiple opportunities to use the word in their oral discussions and written work? SIf the word is complex, do I have a strategy for supporting students’ word learning? S multisyllabic, unusual spelling, not often encountered in everyday language SLooking for clues, word mapping

Tiers of Vocabulary ©Henrietta Mc. Lachlan and Liz Elks 2015

10 mins Tiers of Vocabulary 10 minutes

The Lives of Stars “The sun is just one among a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, each with its own cosmic tale to tell. ” Timothy Ferris in the film ‘Seeing in the Dark’. The stars seem to change little if at all, night after night, century after century, so people used to assume that they lasted forever. The Greek philosopher Aristotle even proposed that the stars were made of a special element found on Earth that never changes. Since Aristotle’s time, astronomers have discovered that stars, like people, have finite lifetimes. Stars are born from the great reservoirs of cosmic material (mostly hydrogen and helium, the most common elements in the universe) and they shine with exuberant energy for millions of years. Eventually however, they exhaust their energy supply, then shudder and die.

Tiers of Tier 3 Vocabulary Specialist Low Frequency Topic Specific Describing Tier 2 Abstract words Cross-curricular Descriptive Adjectives, Adverbs, Vocab of time Can often be explained using easier more familiar words Tier 1 Core High frequency words, objects Rarely taught at Secondary level

Tiers of Vocabulary Tier 3 ion cosmos, hydrogen, helium, milky way, astronomer Specialist Low Frequency Topic Specific Describing Tier 2 Abstract words Cross-curricular Reservoirs, philosopher, Descriptive exuberant, assume, proposed, Adjectives, element, finite, universe, Adverbs, eventually, exhaust, shudder Vocab of time Can often be explained using easier more familiar words Tier 1 Shine, dry, stars, tale Core High frequency words, objects Rarely taught at Secondary level