Vocabulary Words from Making Meaning

Overview

The Making Meaning program is designed to help students build their reading comprehension and social skills. The students hear books read aloud and discuss them with partners and with the class. The following week from the story, 4 new vocabulary words are introduced. In the vocabulary lessons, they learn useful and interesting words selected from those books. Children of all ages enjoy learning new words, and research shows that learning words boosts children's speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Students are also taught strategies for unlocking word meanings when they read independently, such as using context clues and recognizing synonyms, antonyms, words with multiple meanings, and shades of meaning.

Below you will find the words we will be teaching along with the book they come from. If you click on the link on each set of words, you will be able to download picture cards with the meanings of each word. You'll be amazed at how rich your child's vocabulary is already becoming!

Ways to Reinforce Vocabulary at Home

  • Post the words at home for everyone to see and use.
  • Invite your child to act out the words.
  • Have your child draw pictures about the words or write sentences or stories that use the words.
  • Tell each other real or imagined stories that include the words.
  • Talk about the words when you hear them used or see them in storybooks, on signs and posters, or elsewhere.
  • Use the words to play games such as “I’m Thinking of a Word,” in which you give each other clues about a word and then try to guess the word.

Vocabulary Words

Week 1: No new words

Week 2: Quick As Cricket- rapidly, delighted, bold, timid

Week 3: When I Was Little- memory, independent, disgusting, scrumptious

Week 4: People in My Neighborhood & Places in My Neighborhood- neighborhood, neighborly, spot, rush

Week 5: It's Mine!- quarrel, rumble, tremble, peaceful

Week 6: Matthew and Tilly- rescue, crabby, stomp, wonder

Week 7: McDuff and the Baby- arrive, admire, hope, squint

Week 8: Chrysanthemum- miserable, possession, humorous, beam

Week 9: Curious George Goes Camping- curious, wander, odor, odd

Week 10: Angelina and Henry- twirl, moan, howl, flash

Week 11: Peter's Chair- mutter, arrange, collapse, resent

Week 12: Did You See What I Saw? (Poems about School)- glide, thrilling, bob, tug

Week 13: In the Tall, Tall Grass- munch, dart, glow, lunge

Week 14: Sheep Out to Eat- appetite, chomp, commotion, pout

Week 15: The Snowy Day- frigid, pile, firm, adventure

Week 16: An Extraordinary Egg- ordinary, extraordinary, exclaim, astonished

Week 17: George Washington and the General's Dog- hero, track, persevere, respect

Week 18: The Bumblebee Queen- wriggle, snuggle, cooperate, underground

Week 19: Down the Road- wobble, meadow, fond, sob

Week 20: Using Your Senses- audible, inaudible, faint, earsplitting

Week 21: Sleep Well: Why You need to Rest- essential, relax, trust, nervous

Week 22: Dinosaur Babies- evidence, discover, protect, gigantic

Week 23: An Ocean of Animals- habitat, shallow, future, predator

Week 24: Big Blue Whale- gulp, store, feast, journey

Week 25: Chameleons are Cool- ridiculous, surroundings, prey, bad-tempered

Week 26: Birds: Winged and Feathered Animals- migrate, dine, amazing, hover

Week 27: Throw Your Tooth on the Roof- adult, match, powerful, crush

Week 28: Velociraptor- ferocious, pack, disappear, study

Week 29: A Day in the Life of a Garbage Collector- contents, inspect, dump, destination

Week 30: An Elephant Grows Up- popular, gather, vegetation, remain

Week 31: Julius- affectionate, impolite, untidy, tidy