Introducing New Academic Voabulary

Part of my day includes running a fifth grade guided reading group with seven students reading at a mid-third grade level.  We are currently reading texts involving traits that good leaders have during our small groups.  Since the texts are above the group's reading level, I identify words that would be difficult for the students before we read, and we review those words for a day or two before we even look at the text.  We do simple vocabulary activities to cover 5-9 vocabulary words for the passage.  Here is an example graphic organizer that we may use on the first day as it involves just the word and students have the option of drawing a picture to describe the word or write the definition. 

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