HIT: Dictionary Lessons LONG

[Robin Boltz <FUTUREMLSECU@AOL.COM>]

Thanks, folks.  These plans are just great. I have had some problems in the
past with AOL and html coding.  If you can't read this, and you want a copy,
please let me know and I'll send you one.

Instead  of having students look yup a list of words and write def. or use
in a sentence.  try giving them three words and ask which does not
belong.  For example during a unit on shelters I used words for different
kinds of living places stretching the class's vocabulary with unussual
terms I locasted using the thesarus.  I gave them three words such as
castle, chateau, hospice.  They had to interpret the meanings to identify
the misfit and tell why they chose the word they chose as not belonging.
Another aci\tivity had to do with a "family" in which members had a word
for their name and only if teh kids knew the meaning of the words did teh
story make sense.  I can't remember the words at the moment but as I
recall they all ended with "ate" and related character traits.  Like Aunt
Falicitate was always trying to help others.  May be a lesson that is
available somewhere.  I also used a set of fractured phrases that were
rewritten in $64,000 words such as don't cry over spilt milk with synonyms
for key words like spilt and milk and cry.  Object was to use the
dictionary to look up key words and identify teh phrase.  Othere phrases
were birds of a feather with plumage for feather etc.  Add a bit of fun to
straight skills.
I use a 2 step method to teaching dictionaries.  First, I take the
children on a "tour" of their dictionary, pointing out special features such
as guide words, pronunciation guides, word histories, etc., then I "model"
for them looking up a couple words that illustrate several of the features.
Next, I have a set of cards that I've made up that are sort of matched to
the grade level with questions that they can answer by using the
dictionaries.  I have the students use their own paper to answer the
questions.
    I am attaching a sample set for third grade that are made using the
Scholastic dictionaries.  I copy these on bright colored card stock and cut
them up so that the students can answer the questions on their paper (they
don't need to answer in sequence, but just write the answer and the page
number on which they find the answer).  Students get a real kick out of
answering these questions, and they frequently ask the teacher to be able to
answer more dictionary questions on their own.
    Good luck.  I'd appreciate your sharing any ideas and variations you
come up with.  I think this is a very important skill for us to be teaching
the kids.
****************************************************************************
We had fun learning how to use dictionaries quickly last year by playing a
game that I think was copied from Balderdash. After showing the students
sample dictionary entries and explaining what information can be found there,
I showed them a word on the overhead, followed by three definitions.  These
words were unfamiliar, but could be found in a student dictionary.  One
definition was correct, the others just sounded right, and each student had
to vote, on paper, for the correct definition.  After votes were tallied,
each student looked up the word, and those who voted correctly were awarded a
point.  The student(s) with the most points at the end of the class were
rewarded with a choice of prizes from our classroom prize jar.

I managed to stump most students, and no one guessed all the words correctly.
 Fourth and fifth graders got to see about 6 or 7 words each class; third
graders saw 4 or 5.  The hardest part was finding obscure words that could
still be found in a student dictionary, especially since we were working with
8 different dictionaries!
I also have a set of the Scholastic Children's Dictionary.  I think it's the
clearest for beginning users, and my kids love finding their way around that
big book!  Maybe that's not so impressive to the older ones.  I do an
introduction with the whole group to go over the alphabetical arrangement of
the dictionary.  I have them think about  the alphabet in chunks (is the
first letter of the word towards the beginning, middle or end of the
dictionary) to get them used to opening the dictionary somewhat near the
letter they are looking for.  It helps to have an alphabet strip (like you
can buy for a bulletin board) somewhere in view.  We talk about the kinds of
information you can find in a dictionary: meaning, pronunciation, part of
speech, sample sentence, pictures sometimes.  I also introduce the concept
of guide words.

Then I ask them a couple of questions that require them to look up a word
with a partner.  eg.  Would you like a loofah for lunch?  or Would you like
to share your bedroom with a slovenly person?  Of course, when they look up
the unfamiliar word, they find the question funny, and I play on that by
having them simply raise their hand when they find the answer and not spoil
it for those who are still looking.  Once they have the hang of this, I pass
out a sheet of a dozen questions like the ones above and they go to it.  You
can use the questions to highlight whatever you want to emphasize: meaning,
part of speech, referring to labeled illustrations.  The trick is to pick
words that kids won't recognize! To support kids who have trouble keeping
track of where they are, I give out packets of index cards with one question
at the top of each card.  This allows them to place the card on the
dictionary page and slide it down the page till they find the word that
matches what they are looking for. (I made these by printing the questions
out on self-adhesive labels.)

Most kids really enjoy this activity.  The humor keeps them motivated, and
they feel very proud of their successes.  I have them for an hour, so if
there's time left over, we play a game I read about on LMNET. I have all the
kids find a word that is new to them and write it secretly on the back of
their paper.  Then I write an unfamiliar word on the board and everybody
tries to be the first to find it in the dictionary.  First to raise a hand
gives the definition then comes up and writes their word on the board, and
we start another round.  Who would have thought dictionaries could cause
such excitement?!
*******************************************************************
Robin - I have a set of those and I love them.  I do 2 major things with
them.  One is that I use them and do a reference question of the week.  I
post a question on my bulletin board each week that students may answer and
win a prize. I find a topic that is holiday or curriculum related and in
dictionary. Students have to look it up and answer on scrap paper and put in
box.   End of week I have student helpers who come to library, pick a
correct answer from box and announce winner's name and correct answer on
announcements. Then they can come and choose a prize out of my prize box.  I
use dictionary for grades 1-3, and encyclopedias for the 4-6 kids.
Another lesson is a game, student sit at tables of 4 with 2 to a side.  Each
table is a team and gets to pick a name for themselves, (they love this
part). Each 2 students share a dictionary (I only have 13), I go over how to
use guidewords and how to play.  I have gone through and written words from
dict. on cards (old catalog cards), and I pass out 1 to each team face down.
I say go and 1st team to find word gets a point for their team (table).
They read word and definition and anyone who can repeat definition gets a
point for their team, (so they all get a chance for points).  I try to team
weaker and stronger students.  I'm anxious to hear what others are doing.
I also have these dictionaries.  After my students have some knowledge of
the dictionary, I play a game with them called "Dictionary Detective," which
I purchased from Evan-Moor Co.  It consists of a set of cards with questions
that must be answered using a dictionary.  Some of the questions, however,
are beyond the scope of the Scholastic, so you need to have some collegiate
or unabridged dictionaries available, too.  I divide them into teams of 3,
and they grab a card, find the answer, and bring the dictionary up to have
the answer verified by me or my parapro.  The team with the most points wins
2 jolly ranchers or bookmarks; the other teams  win 1 jolly rancher or
bookmark.  It works for me; I do it with gifted/talented 3/4 graders and
5/6th graders.  BTW, laminate the cards before using them.  The game gets
pretty wild, and the cards will get destroyed.
**************************************************************************
We're working on the Pledge of Allegiance right now (4th grade).  I
made a worksheet with all the words they probably don't know and
they looked them up.

On the back of the sheet, I wrote the pledge out, leaving blanks for
those words.  They had to condense their definitions to one or two
words that they could substitue for the actual words of the pledge.

Example, I promise support to the flag of the United States of
America, and to the government which it represents....

Then, we made construction paper posters to share with all the
other classes so they'd know what they were saying, too!
*******************************************************************
Using Sources of Information
Webster's New World Children's Dictionary

Literacy Standard 1.  The student who is information literate accesses
information efficiently and effectively.
Benchmark 4.  Identifies a variety of potential sources of information.
Benchmark 5.  Develops and uses successful strategies for locating
information.

Technology Standard 5.  Technology research tools.
Benchmark 1.  Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect
information from a variety of sources.
Benchmark 3.  Students evaluate and select new information resources and
technological innovations based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

Goal:  Students will learn what the dictionary is and when to use it.

Objectives:

1.    Students will learn when to select the dictionary as a resource.
2.    Students will learn how the dictionary is arranged.
3.    Students will practice using the dictionary to find definitions.
4.    Students will learn about guidewords and will record the guidewords
from a page of the dictionary.
5.    Students will learn how to use the pronunciation keys.

Guided Practice:

Introduction to the dictionary, how it is organized, and when to use it.

A dictionary is a book about words.  It tells you what words mean.  It tells
you how to spell and pronounce words.  A dictionary tells you other
interesting facts about words, too.
Knowing about words is important.  It helps you understand the things you
hear and read.  It also helps you say and write things that other people can
understand.
The words we use make up our language.  Our language is English.  It is
hundreds of years old, but it changes all the time.  People make up new words
when they invent or discover new things.  People also find new ways to use
old words.  Many words have more than one meaning.  It's fun to see the
different ways you can use a single word.
The English language has many words.  Not all of them are in this dictionary.
 If you cannot find a word, look in a bigger dictionary like the unabridged
dictionary over here.


Independent practice:

    Worksheet

Materials needed:

Webster's New World Children's Dictionary
Worksheet and pencils

Assessment:

    Worksheets will be corrected.

Closure -  Checking for understanding questions:

1.    When would you use a dictionary?
2.    What are the differences between a dictionary and an almanac?
3.    What are the differences between a dictionary and an encyclopedia?
4.    Where are the guidewords located?
***************************************************************************
I'd like to share the first lesson I always do with the classes with the
Scholastic Dictionaries.
I give each child a dictionary and a bookmark.
We talk about what dictionaries do a little--there are words, definitions,
how to pronounce the word, etc.
Then, I tell them they are going to be explorers.  I give them 5-10 minutes
to just explore in the dictionary.  I tell them to look for cool or
interesting things.  When they find something interesting, they bookmark it,
but keep exploring.  If they find something better, they move their
bookmark.
At the end of the exploring time, we share what we have found.  I pick one
child at at time to share, and have them tell us the page number where their
cool thing is.  We all turn to that page (and with second grade this is a
challenge at first, with 600+ pages!) and then the child tells what he/she
found.  Sometimes we read a definition, sometimes I point out the picture
labels, sometimes we just see the word or picture and go on.

I find that if I don't do this lesson, they spend time looking at the
pictures anyway, and this gets them familiar with the book in a fun way.

The second time, we practice using the colored half-circles on the edges of
the pages to find a letter, and look up a few words together.
I usually give them one letter at a time--I tell them they can get to the
right page without even knowing the whole word.  We look at how we can use
the guide words to narrow our search, step by step.

With fourth grade, I often do "dictionary races" after we have had a lesson
or two.  Each table is a team.  Every person at the table must have the
right page and be able to point to the word for the table to get a point for
being first in the race.  I won't let them tell each other the page numbers,
but do allow them to give hints (go back, go forward, you are on the right
page...that kind of hint.)  They enjoy the races.

I have also put a word on the board and counted seconds aloud.  Each person
races against him/her self--can you better your time each time?
I teach dictionary skills to fourth grade here.  I think the most important
part of using a dictionary is efficient use of the guide words.  I always
tell the kids that the time they spend looking something up in the
dictionary is time they could be doing something else like playing or
watching TV.  Most people don't pick up a dictionary for fun, but because
they don't know something, and need to learn it.  So I tell them that being
able to use guide words effectively will save them time.

I start very slow with my lessons.  The first one is to ask them if they
know the alphabet.  Of course they all assure me they do.  But, when I
divide the alphabet in to Beginning A-E; Middle F-P; and End Q-Z; and ask
them as a group where certain letters fall, they realize they can recite the
alphabet, but they are a little rusty on exact location of most of the
letters.

The next lesson I have a work sheet with about 25 words listed at the top,
and three columns with Beginnin, Middle, etc. at the bottom.  The kids then
have to put the words in the proper column by first letter, but not
necessarily alpha order.

The third lesson I only use the word BALL as a guide word.  I have a
worksheet with a list of 8 "bal" words on it at the top.  In the middle I
made  a grid with 9 lines  on it like graph paper, only big boxes. In the
first line I have written BALL, one letter per box. At the bottom of the
page I have 2 columns labelled "before BALL" and "after BALL". Together we
write the first word from the top of the list (balloon) in the boxes under
ball.  I emphasize that the "B's" match, the "A's", the "L's", the "L's".
But, when we get to the "o" and the "nothing" they don't match up.  This is
where we make the decision as to whether balloon goes before or after ball.
Of course I teach them the rule about "nothing before something", and we
write balloon in the column labelled "after BALL". We do most of this paper
together.

The fourth lesson I have another worksheet I made with words that would be
before, between or after ball/bat.  I use all "ba" words, because I want the
kids to get used to going inside a word to determine order. I also give the
kids another whole sheet with a grid on I made.  It is divided by a BOLD
black line into two halves sideways.  In the first column at the top I have
written BALL.  In the second column I have written BAT.  Now the fun begins.
  I have a visual for this, as I do for the previous lesson.  I have the
kids write the first word "ban" under BALL, and we determine by the third
letters that "N" comes after "L" so the whole word comes after BALL. Then I
have them write it in the second column under BAT.  We determine that it
comes before BAT, so, since it comes after BALL and before BAT, it comes
between them and goes in the between column and would be on that page in the
dictionary. I then have them cross BAN out, because I don't want them to mix
up and use that word as a guide word.  We then go on the badger, batter,
etc. I have 15 words in this exercise.  Sometimes it takes us two sessions
to get done, but my goal is to have everyone understand the process, not
have a few get really fast, and leave the rest behind. I walk around and
check to see that the kids have them in the right column, and tell them they
might want to check one if it is in the wrong place.  I can tell by the
number of mistakes if I need to reteach the concept, or if I just need to
help an individual or two.

I have ever expanding words I use as exercises.  I use FLANK/FLIGHTY,
SHORTHAND/SHOWED, ETC.  The last week I give them the hardest one.  They
have three sets of guidewords KEEN-KETTLEDRUM;KEY-KIDNAP;KIDNEY-KINFOLK to
decide among.  I don't progress to this sheet until all the kids really know
what they are doing.

As a wrap up I have relay races.  I divide the class into teams, different
each week. I emphasize they are fun, and there will be no bad sports or we
will quit. I make a list of words and each student has to look up the word
from a closed dictionary and write the page number down, close the book, and
return to his line. This really helps their speed skill, which is, after
all, what guide words are for. I do not give prizes, and really sit on the
kids if someone is slow, and they pick on him.  I also check to see that all
pages are written down correctly, and announce which team was first, etc.
after checking.  I get a lot of reversed numbers or page 102, not 103, so,
oftentimes, the first team done is not declared the winner.

I have developed this set of lessons over the years, and it works pretty
well for me.  The proof of this was one boy a couple years ago.  He really
struggled with the BALL/BAT lessons, and all the others, but finally got the
hang of it.  When I gave the KEEN/KINFOLK sheet out, he had been working on
it awhile, then told me it was the easiest sheet of all.  I told him it was
actually the hardest, but he was having an easy time, because he knew what
he was doing!  For this it was all worth it!

Robin Boltz, MLS Student
East Carolina University, Franklinton, NC
futuremlsecu@aol.com

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST, etc.) send email to:
listserv@listserv.syr.edu   In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
4) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv.
For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml
 See also EL-Announce for announcements from library media vendors:
    http://www.mindspring.com/~el-announce/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=