Volcanic vocabulary creates a flow of knowledge and eruption of excitement
The challenge
Read2Succeed tutor Melissa Sprangler was met with a challenge upon tutoring first grade student Shedly. Shedly was often disinterested in the lesson, opting not to engage. And he wasn’t very talkative, sometimes using as little as one or two words with his classroom teacher.
However, all that changed when Sprangler introduced Shedly to the Dive, Dolphin! vocabulary book. One of the words in the book was “rivers,” and when Shedly heard that, his eyes lit up.
“Right away, Shedly brought up the word lava, as it reminded him of a flowing river,” Sprangler recounted. “I knew right then that I could tie in this prior knowledge to help him with the rest of the lesson.”
The solution
From then on, Sprangler used Shedly’s passion for lava and volcanoes to bring vocabulary words to life. Along with each lesson, the pair would pretend that a volcano was going to erupt, spilling out all of the vocabulary words and their meanings.
“We would lift our hands in the air and wave them around, signifying that lava was bursting out,” Sprangler described. “And as that happened, Shedly repeated the vocabulary words and definitions that I gave him.”
As Shedly continued this volcanic vocabulary lesson in each Read2Succeed tutoring session, he made headway in other areas. He began to internalize the meanings of the vocabulary words he was taught. He read more accurately, learned new words, and even spoke to and with other students more frequently. Because of the Read2Succeed program, funded in part by Coaching for Literacy through a special #Fight4Literacy campaign hosted by NBA player, Jonathan Isaac, and presented by International Paper, Shedly’s teacher noticed that he became more outgoing and talkative as the year went on. This creative approach ignited within him an excitement and passion for learning literacy skills.
The testimony
“Seeing how far Shedly came this year with his ability to confidently and more accurately communicate is why I chose to work with Read2Succeed,” Sprangler explained. “I knew that being able to work with him one-on-one gave him the confidence and relational skills he needed.”
Read2Succeed is an initiative of Florida’s Foundation for Orange County Public Schools, Inc. It is designed to help students in kindergarten through second grades develop the reading skills necessary to achieve long-term academic success. Coaching for Literacy’s generous investment in Read2Succeed focuses on building vocabulary and reading fluency and provides funds to purchase books for students to build their home libraries, fostering a lifelong love for reading.
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