In the last few weeks I began training the staff at my school to use Nancy Fetzer Movie Scripts, Word Masters, and Story Blasters. I started off by having staff look at the Three Tiers of Vocabulary from the Common Core Appendix A. Once everyone had a better understanding of the Three Tiers of Vocabulary, I had each team begin looking at choosing 3-4 Tier II Vocabulary words for Kinder - 1st grade and 5-7 Tier II Vocabulary words for 2nd - 5th grades that teams would be using in the next few weeks for their Focus Story.
Once teams had their words decided upon, they would then create a Story Blaster using the vocabulary words that students needed to know for their upcoming story. Students will practice reading the Story Blaster numerous times. The teacher will divide the class into two groups – readers and definers. Readers will read the story blaster and stop when they read a vocabulary word. They will point to the definers. Definers will repeat the word, provide the definition, and act out TPR. Here is a sample from the 3rd grade training.
It started on a sunny winter day at my
house. I was for once ecstatic about taking my math facts test at school,
because I had studied the night before. I knew if I passed my test I would get
to go to a movie that weekend. As I got
ready for school that morning, I kept repeating my math facts to myself. My
older brother started to mock me which really made me mad. My mother hurried
me into our car which she had let idle to warm
up the engine. The car started out of the driveway when it chugged and stopped.
I was worried that I would not get to school on time to take my test, and I was
on the verge of breaking into a cold sweat from being so
nervous. My mother started the car up
and drove me to school. I was on time!! I took my
math facts test and got all the problems right. I guess my mother was right
when she said I had the potential to learn the math facts.
Another component of learning the vocabulary words was to create a Movie Script. Here is a sample Movie Script in which we used in the training. Teams were to create one together, and then incorporate the Tier II Vocabulary words (nature, dim, and humongous) into each part of the story. Here is the sample movie script with vocabulary that teachers would present to their class and then practice saying with TPR each day.
One cloudy day, the
Gingerbread Man was walking through the forest.
As he looked around, he saw all parts of nature--- birds, a stream,
rocks, and the wind blowing through the trees. Suddenly, the clouds completely covered
the sun making it very, very dim. The
Gingerbread Man started running, but he tripped over a humongous rock and
landed on his head.
Another important strategy of the Nancy Fetzer Vocabulary is to have each word posted with a simple definition with a picture of what it means to the students. 2nd - 5th grade students also create their own Word Masters in which they write the vocabulary words with a definition and picture with each Focus Story. In addition students also create their own Story Blaster using the vocabulary words from the Focus Story. There are also homework extension activities that kids can read the words to their families, read the Story Blaster at home, or create another story using the vocabulary words at home.
Once the words have been mastered, they are then moved to a Vocabulary Wall in which the words are sorted according to Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives. This is separate from a word wall, as word wall words are suppose to be a place for kids to look for common words that they may need a reminder of how to spell. The current Movie Script is also posted with the current vocabulary story words. Once the Movie Script has been retired, many teachers move it into a class book and will revisit them throughout the year.
Many of the teachers at my school were eager to begin using the vocabulary strategies, although some of the upper grade teachers were a bit uncomfortable with the idea of using TPR to tell the stories. But then again, the dual language teachers were very impressed and excited to use as much TPR as they could with their ELL kids. As teachers begin to use more of her strategies and we roll out more Nancy Fetzer Strategies to my district I will continue to post more.
