BVEF SPOTLIGHT SERIES: Bay Vocabulary Initiative, Part 2

As a continuation of last edition’s BVEF Spotlight, Bay Village Schools Director of Curriculum and Instruction Char Shryock shared the following regarding the Bay Vocabulary Initiative:

Through the funding provided by the Bay Village Education Foundation, the Bay Vocabulary Team was able to target the families of incoming third-graders, helping them to see the importance of building a broad vocabulary base for their students. With the new Third Grade Reading Guarantee legislation, all of our third-graders need to be reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade. 

Reading comprehension is one of the building blocks of successful reading and one of the keys to increased reading comprehension is the ability to understand vocabulary in context and the ability of the reader to pull from a vast word bank to help understand what is being read. On May 13, members of the Bay Vocabulary Team presented an overview of the importance of increasing vocabulary to the parents attending the Third Grade Parent info night at Westerly School. 

Through the grant, the team developed a “Parent’s Guide to The Magical Power of Words” that included parent info, ideas for games and activities for the summer and some activity pages for students. Also, the team researched, then purchased, a number of vocabulary and word-themed games appropriate for students in grades 3 and up that will be available for students to check out from the Westerly school library.  

The Bay Vocabulary Team also reached out to local pre-schools and community partners that work with our youngest learners in Bay Village. We hosted a Magical Power of Words workshop on May 17 at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center. Participants from area pre-schools, the Bay Pre-School PTA, the Bay Village Branch Library and the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center met to develop a plan for sharing common vocabulary building strategies throughout our community and how to reach out to parents to share the importance of vocabulary.  

The group received copies of "Bringing Words To Life" by Isabel Beck, a leading researcher in vocabulary development. Time was spent talking about the difference between common vocabulary and academic vocabulary. They also had the opportunity to share successful lesson strategies used to focus on word and vocabulary skills. Finally, the team began to build talking cards for parents and childcare providers to use when they are at locations in Bay and beyond. 

In addition to the Isabel Beck book, the grant funds also helped to purchase other materials for the workshop, including Fundations Alphabet charts, A Classroom Curriculum for Phonemic Awareness in Young Children, Instructor’s Manual for Improving Phonemic Awareness Skills, ABC Foundations for Young Children, The Fluent Reader, Everything Kids Travel Activity Book and Vocabulary Games For the Classroom.

In November 2012, Ms. Shryock, along with educators Kelli McMaugh, Ali Volkman, Gail Hartman, Meredith Myatt, Barb Marsh and Darci Sanders, received $1,500 in funding from BVEF for this district-wide initiative.