Guidelines and Forms for Club Meetings

Weekly Vocabulary Routine for Book Clubs

1. Schedule 3-4 hours to read from an independent book or from your Book Club book every week;

2. Collect dozens of vocabulary words from your reading by writing them on some sort of bookmark or index card, citing page numbers, and writing down a guess about your found words’ meanings (see directions below). When collecting your words on a bookmark, be sure you always:

- Spell each word correctly as you copy it down on a bookmark or an index cards;

- Record the page number in case you need to go back and revisit the sentence you found it in.

- Guess at the word’s meaning based on the other words in the sentence you found it in.

3. Select four “best” words every week to “publish” as part of your personal vocabulary collection…your goal will be to creatively/thoughtfully write about your best 25-cent each week using special activities;

4. Publish your final collection each week in your Reader's Notebook. When publishing in your notebook, be sure to:

- Correctly identify the part of speech of the word;

- Paraphrase the word’s definition in your own words;

- Identify which book (and page number) the word comes from;

- Thoughtfully complete one of the eight “meaningful writing activities” available to you through choice; there are eight options and you are encouraged to try new ones in order to learn new skills related to language. See below for the directions and models for each of the vocabulary activity options.

Remember: If you are interesting, and show that you care about learning these new words through your efforts, this will positively influence your weekly/monthly vocabulary grade. I guarantee it!

Vocabulary Option 1: Mr. Stick Cartoons

Vocabulary Bookmarks: