RPI Day 6 - Vocabulary

Today we focused on Vocabulary and I really enjoyed the content of this day.

It was great to revisit the importance of teaching Vocab to our students and also reflect on my own knowledge of terminology. Lexical bar was something that I didn’t know and …

Thinking of a word in context. Grand piano would make you think of music but once you talk about house moving it will bring totally different feelings and associations.

Today was a great reminder of how important it is to be intentional about teaching vocabulary. Some of the key ideas that stood out were:
- helping students become more aware of words,
- teaching important vocabulary in an interactive and deliberate way,
- giving them tools to figure out unfamiliar words, and
- also weaving in morphology, especially in subject-specific contexts.
These approaches have a strong research base and really support deeper, more lasting learning.

Group Roles – Initiator and Builder

I learned that it’s important to introduce group roles in a familiar context first, otherwise, it’s very hard for kids to take part meaningfully. I enjoyed being challenged and put in the learner’s shoes - miserable but a great experience i must admit!! It really made me think about how overwhelming it can feel for a child when they’re asked to manage both new roles and new learning at the same time.

We tried a great activity to build word consciousness aiming at getting students to think more deeply about words, notice parts and connections, and develop logical strategies for tackling unfamiliar words.

 

Teachers need to target Tier II words to support vocabulary development - words that learners are less likely to pick up independently but are still essential for improving reading comprehension. When planning, target words can be identified from any Teacher support material or chosen based on your needs (essential for your current topic learning).

In this activity, students get to think about/ experiment with word endings and see how they change the meaning. It’s an easy but super effective way to help them figure out how words work and build confidence with reading and spelling.

I really enjoyed the morphology session, where we explored how teaching word parts (like prefixes, roots and suffixes) and helping students break down tricky words can significantly boost their reading, spelling and overall literacy skills. I was especially interested in how morphology (understanding how words are built) can be introduced early using simple strategies and fun tools like Matrix Makers, and how it’s now explicitly part of the NZC. This really resonated with me because it’s exactly how I used to teach, and how I was taught myself. I still remember how frustrated I felt when my own child started school and I ended up doing this kind of work with him at home because it wasn’t happening in class…although, to be fair, it was also a special time for us to sit together and explore words! It reminded me again how important it is to be intentional with vocabulary and give learners the tools to make meaning through word structure.

Final thoughts: What really stood out to me is how these key concepts come together to make vocabulary teaching both effective and meaningful. Helping students become curious about words and notice language all around them (words are everywhere - just like maths, oh sorry, Naomi… couldn’t resist mentioning maths again, lol!) Being deliberate and hands-on means we’re not just hoping they pick up new words but actually guiding them to understand deeply. Giving them tools to tackle tricky words empowers them to be more independent and confident learners. And focusing on morphology definitely helps connect words to their meanings, boosting reading and writing across the board. Thanks for another productive learning day, team - fantastic PLD!