At Dean Field we are having a big push on vocabulary as this is one of our school improvement priorities this year. Each class has their own ‘Word of the Week’ display which is used to develop ‘tier 2’ vocabulary. Children are encouraged to use the ‘Word of the Week’ in the right context both in class and at home. Research has shown us (Beck, 2002) that there is a rise in the word gap in young children. Naturally, children develop tier 1 vocabulary easily and when taught various subjects they absorb tier 3 words well. However, tier 2 words are less common in spoken language therefore children don’t have a great understanding when it comes to reading them in different texts which slows down their reading pace. The ‘Word of the Week’ was introduced to close this gap.
Dean Field Tier 2 Vocab