UDL principles already in first draft of this lesson:

● Provide multiple means of representation

● Provide multiple means of action and expression
● Provide multiple means for engagement

UDL principles added to second draft of this lesson:

● Provide multiple means of representation
● Provide multiple means of action and expression
● Provide multiple means for engagement

Vocabulary Acquisition Lesson Plan

Grade Level:
● First Grade
● Fourth Grade
● Fifth Grade

Standards Addressed Within This Lesson:

Expanded Core Curriculum for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Comprehension:
● Student participates in experiences that increase vocabulary and background knowledge
to improve comprehension.

Concept Development:
● Student selects appropriate resource to complete assignments (encyclopedia, dictionary,
internet, etc.)
● Student uses problem solving to meet personal needs, resolve conflicts, and make
decisions.

IEP Goals:
1st Grade:
● In 36 instructional weeks, when given five vocabulary words taken from the first grade
reading series, the student will be able to match the vocabulary words to their definitions
with 100% accuracy in 3 out of 4 consecutive trials.

4th Grade:
● In 36 instructional weeks, when given oral and/or written vocabulary tests over 12 words
chosen from grade level general education materials, the student will score 92% or
higher in 4 out of 5 consecutive data points.

5th Grade:
● In 36 instructional weeks, when given a list of ten vocabulary words from the first grade
reading series, the student will use sign language to define the words presented to her
with 90% accuracy in three consecutive data points.
 State of Iowa Core Content Standards and Grade Level Benchmarks:

1st Grade:
Standard
● Language

Benchmark
● Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

4th Grade:
Reading Standard for Informational Text: Craft and Structure
● Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a
text relevant to a grade four topic or subject area.

Reading Standard for Literature: Craft and Structure

● Benchmark: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology.

5th Grade:
Standard
● Language

Benchmark
● Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

District Standard and Grade Level Benchmarks:

1st Grade:
● Standard: Students listen, view, and speak for a variety of purposes and in a variety of
contexts
● Benchmark: Listen for a variety of purposes using effective techniques
● Benchmark: Speak for a variety of purposes using effective techniques

4th Grade:
● Standard: Students read and interpret a wide range of print and non-print texts to build
understanding and achieve personal fulfillment.
● Benchmark: Apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and
appreciate texts.

5th Grade:
● Standard: Students read and interpret a wide range of print and non-print texts to build
understanding and achieve personal fulfillment.
● Benchmark: Apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and
appreciate texts.
Lesson Plan:
● This will be the second lesson in a series of two lessons. The first lesson will involve
teacher modeling, discussion, and guided practice teaching students how to figure out
when they don’t understand a word that they come across either through speech, sign,
or reading.
● 1st and 5th grade students will document words that they don't understand as
they come across them within their reading series.
● 4th grade students will write down content vocabulary words that they don't
understand as they come across them within the context of their general
education classroom.
● Students will choose one word to work on at a time.
● Using their own student page on our classroom vocabulary web site, each student will
document what they think they know about a particular word that they didn't understand
when they came across it in class. (This may be done in the form of a bulleted list or
documented on a concept map using Popplet.)
● Students will use whatever tools they find most useful to figure out the meaning of that
word. (some such tools may be ASLpro.com, an online sign language dictionary, our
classroom sign language software, picsearch.com, a dictionary, a google search, etc.
Picsearch.com is a search engine that provides safe images for children. We will use
this instead of google images because it is difficult to ensure that students will have
appropriate pictures show up during their searches when using google images. Students
may also use the sign language dictionary app for the ipad which will allow children to
look up not only word for word translations of a sign, but also signed definitions of a
word.)
● Have a discussion with students about which tools would be most useful to them and
why. Supports that students choose to use should be based on their their language
preference and reading level. For example, my fourth grade student would benefit most
from reading about words and looking up definitions because many of the words that he
will be researching will not have pictures to go with them. Sign language references will
not be helpful to him because he does not sign. However my first and fifth grade
students, who are just learning to read would benefit more from picture dictionaries and
sign language representations of a word. Also I will encourage students to cross
reference more than one tool in case the first tool is not helpful or doesn’t give them a
full understanding of the word.
● Students will make one product that displays their new understanding of the word. This
may include one or more of the following: examples and nonexamples of a word, a
definition in their own words, a visual representation of the word, synonyms and
antonyms for the word. The more creative the better. It is not acceptable to simply copy
down the definition of the word from the dictionary.
● These products may be created using Wordle, Photovisi, VoiceThread, or Popplet.
These will be websites that students are already familiar with. If students choose to use
VoiceThread, they will be able to explain their vocabulary words auditorily or they may
choose to sign an explanation of their vocabulary words in addition to inserting pictures
or videos that describe that vocabulary word.
● As we introduce more websites to the classroom, such as Animoto, Voki, GoAnimate,
etc. students will be able to use these websites as choices for their representations as
well.
● If students need to reference the directions for this assignment, they can look at our
classroom vocabulary website where directions will be written in very simple language
and pictorial cues will be attached to the directions.
 ● If students would like to see an example of how to create a visual representation of a
vocabulary word, they can view a handful of examples on our classroom web page.
They can also look at other students’ vocabulary pages to see how their classmates
have chosen to create visual representations of their vocabulary words.
● When students have finished their representation, they will provide a short description of
their finished product. They may choose to write their explanation or I can videotape or
audiotape them explaining their representation. I will then translate that explanation into
whichever language necessary in order to make the explanation accessible for all.
● This will be an ongoing project that students will add to throughout the year.
● Once students become comfortable creating their own representations, we will come up
with a word as a class that we all want to explore. We will then create a collaborative
page on our classroom vocabulary website where all students will be adding their own
representations of that word. They will then comment on each other’s work via
videotaping, audiotaping, or writing, depending upon which method each student feels
more comfortable using to share information. I will then translate any information
necessary so that the feedback that students provide is accessible to all students.

Additional Information:
For information on how this lesson addresses students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions,
teaches metacognition, and uses inquiry, please visit:
http://missewendsclassroomvocabulary.weebly.com/justification.html.