Vocabulary Development

These are the definitions
we can up with together

In preparation for our work at the Mustard Seed, we are working on some vocabulary development to deepen our understanding of some of the words we're coming across frequently.

Each day over the past week, students listened to a story that relates to one (and often many or all) of our vocabulary words. They were asked to discuss in groups, as a class, and sometimes do a written response to explain which word they felt the story connected with.

Here were the books and the words:

Citizenship:
"You're a citizen of any group, etc that you're in. You're going to belong no matter who you are." ~ Desiree
"You're part of a community (neighbourhood, school). Any body can be a citizen." ~ Priya
"Even animals can be citizens." ~ Abigail
"There are representations of how you can help people to help people get back up again (the turtle that's flipped over)." ~ Desiree

Compassion:
"There was a girl and a man with a monkey. The man didn't have a home. She invited him to a play and party and he came. She showed compassion by inviting him." ~ Charlotte
"The man relied on the monkey to get money. The citizen experiencing homelessness showed compassion for his monkey to help him survive. The girl showed compassion to the man. So it's like a big compassion food chain." ~ Jaxton
"This shows compassion because she was worried about the man and she was wondering if he had a home. She invited him to her performance so he could be warm." ~ Priya

Dignity:

"He called them citizens, not homeless person, and guests. This shows dignity because you want to feel respected." ~ Sophia .  "Uncle Willie called the Can Man by his name, which was Frank." ~ D

Equity: "Sofia was giving Maddi food because Maddi needed food and Sofia had too much." ~ Nikita     "This book also shows compassion because they're helping each other by giving each other food because they need it." ~ Jaxton

Resiliency: "When the girl got hurt at school, she showed resiliency by waiting for her mom. The police showed compassion for the girl." ~ Sophia
"The little girl in the story kept getting bullied at school so the bullies scared her. She fell and the police showed up. The police showed a lot of compassion and asked where her mother is. Her mother showed up but one of the bullies said 'take that dumb flag off the car' and that her mom's car is 'junky.' The bullies were not showing kindness." ~ Desiree
"When she fell and got the scratch, she tried to get her mother's attention when she was driving away but she couldn't. This shows resiliency." ~ Isana

Today, students began creating a Visual Journal page to show their understanding of one of these words. They must clearly show the vocabulary word and its definition in words and pictures. Students are encouraged to make the page interactive.

All classes in the school are doing the same task. Each teacher has chosen the 5 words they want their students to know about a chosen content area.