vocabulary instruction

I keep this poster up all year as a reference for the kids. What do you do when you don't know the meaning of a word?It is really just a list of strategies. At the beginning of the year I use it in whole group/small group instruction with specific words we come across. Later on I have them show evidence that they applied the strategy. You can see this with my post on Titanicat by Marty Crisp, The column on the right of the poster asks the question: What helped you? Sometimes while reading, meaning breaks down because they don't know a word that is crucial to comprehension of the text. These strategies are tools that give them some idea of where to start. P.S. Notice that ask the teacher is at the bottom of the list! Christine