Vocabulary games are one way to promote engagement and motivation for students while they practice their standards‐based literacy skills. Vocabulary games require purpose and thoughtful planning to be

Vocabulary games are one way to promote engagement and motivation for students while they practice their standards‐based literacy skills. Vocabulary games require purpose and thoughtful planning to be 1

Case Study: Jacob

Student: Jacob

Age: 9.9

Grade: 4th

Jacob is an active boy who enjoys coming to school and participates in sports after school. Jacob does well in most classes but has difficulty with new vocabulary words. This difficulty with new vocabulary is not only seen during reading class but also during content area classes such as science and social studies. Jacob’s mother indicated that he has always had difficulty understanding new vocabulary but that it has not affected his comprehension until this year. Jacob is willing to adopt new strategies that will assist him in learning and remembering new vocabulary words as well as help him better comprehend texts as a whole. With the support of his mother, Jacob’s teacher wrote the following goal for Jacob:

Given a text with new vocabulary, Jacob will use context clues and other strategies, such as consulting a dictionary, to help determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Adapted from Paulsen, K. & The IRIS Center. (2004). Comprehension and vocabulary: Grades 3-5.