Words Of the Week Vocabulary Project Cedar Rapids, Iowa Grant Early Childhood Center

Grant A ction R esearch T eam Principal Grade level teachers Special ed & preschool teachers Reading Coach & Title I teachers Media Specialist

PLAN ACT STUDY DO Plan for Continuous Improvement Standardize Improve- ments Study the Results Try Out Improvement Theory PLAN Analyze Causes Define the System Access Current Situations ART process is based on a cycle called PlanDoStudyAct

PLAN Spring 2006 Only 64% of 2 nd grade students were at the proficient level in vocabulary 2005/2006 ITBS Vocabulary Subtest

PLAN Why are vocabulary scores so low on 2 nd grade ITBS? Teachers Want a process to teach words and their meanings that is aligned in the building. Methodology We teach sight words explicitly to students. Want and need a process for word knowledge. Materials We are not using a standardized curriculum for vocabulary instruction. K/1 Students *Lack of extensive working vocabulary for many students. *Many Tier 1 and 2 words are unknown to many of our students.

DO Spring 2006 Looked at systematic and research-based vocabulary programs Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck Elements of Reading by Isabel Beck

STUDY Spring 2006 How could we begin to implement a vocabulary program for Kindergarten and first graders in the fall of 2006?

ACT Spring 2006 Decided to utilize childrens literature selections in Bringing Words to Life

PLAN Fall 2006 To develop a receptive assessment tool

DO Fall 2006 For each story at each grade level: Collected 9 storybooks Created and displayed 3 Boardmaker pictures

STUDY Fall 2006 How to make vocabulary instruction consistent

STUDY Fall 2006 Were 3 words enough? WOW Assessment – 1 st Trimester

ACT Fall 2006 Focused on 1 book and 3 targeted words each week Shared teaching ideas

PLAN Winter 2007 To increase from 3 to 10 targeted words To make WOW books more accessible

DO Winter 2007 Made 10 Boardmaker pictures for each story Purchased classroom sets of books

STUDY Winter 2007 Studied weekly random assessments Collected feedback from teachers

STUDY Fall 2007

STUDY Winter 2007

ACT Winter 2007 Brainstormed reasons why teaching more words was not effective

ACT

PLAN Spring 2007 To decrease from 10 to 6 words per week To make completed WOW books available to students

DO Spring 2007 Adjusted number of Boardmaker pictures to 6 per book

DO Created a teacher survey for feedback Spring 2007

STUDY Spring 2007 Continued weekly random assessments and feedback from teachers

STUDY Spring 2007 Studied data collected throughout the 3 trimesters.

STUDY Spring 2007

STUDY Spring 2007

STUDY Spring 2007

ACT Spring 2007 Decided to make a WOW notebook for each teacher

ACT Spring 2007 Discussed developing an expressive vocabulary assessment

PLAN Summer 2007 To create WOW notebooks: –Vocabulary schedules –Story maps –Examples of teaching activities

DO Summer 2007 Added an implementation log to the data collection component

DO Summer 2007 Developed an expressive assessment tool to be used by each teacher

DO Summer 2007 Created common, uniform, kid-friendly definitions

STUDY Summer 2007 Began to study explicit instruction models and techniques

ACT Summer 2007 Finished notebooks and presented them to teachers in August

PLAN Fall 2007 To begin explicit instruction in a more systematic and building-wide format

DO Fall 2007 Asked teachers to follow the daily vocabulary schedule

DO Fall 2007 Collected data from random assessments Sent home weekly word list

STUDY Fall 2007 Studied expressive assessment, PPVT, and weekly implementation logs

STUDY Fall 2007 PPVT Gains - Fall 2006 to Fall year, 7 months 1 year, 5 months 1 year, 4 months

STUDY Fall 2007 Vocabulary Percent of Words Correct Test Date

ACT Fall 2007 Piloted an explicit instruction model and activities to reinforce learning

ACT Fall 2007 Provided on-going staff development

PLAN Winter 2008 Refined weekly schedule Established daily teaching plan

PLAN Winter 2008 Created story summaries and graphic organizers In-serviced staff

WOW is now part of Grants school culture with building-wide teacher/staff/student buy-in

Continue to implement the PDSA cycle Where do we go from here?

Words Of the Week Vocabulary Project Cedar Rapids, Iowa Grant Early Childhood Center