Vocabulary: a building block for learning
Vocabulary is the first step to learning any subject—if students don't know the words, they can't master the material. At Immaculate Conception School, frontloading vocabulary with Vocabulary.com has led to smoother lessons and more meaningful classroom discussions.
Immaculate Conception School
About the school
- Location:
- Tuckahoe, NY
- Grades:
- PreK-8
- Number of students:
- 250
- Characteristics:
- Private Catholic
How they use Vocabulary.com
- Grades:
- 3-8
- Subjects:
- All
The challenges
Immaculate Conception draws a diverse student body from Westchester County, the north Bronx, and Yonkers. While most students have at least basic English proficiency, many speak other languages at home, with families from Latin America, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Albania, and several African countries. While many families are specifically looking for a Catholic education, others choose Immaculate Conception for its high academic standards and supportive learning environment.
Teachers at Immaculate Conception found that a lack of subject-specific vocabulary knowledge was a common barrier to student learning across subjects. In Alexis D'Angelo's middle school Social Studies classrooms, primary source documents were a particular challenge due to the advanced or uncommon vocabulary terms used in older texts. English teachers faced similar problems with literary texts. And the specialized vocabulary used in math, science, and religion classes proved to be challenging for many students.
Immaculate Conception School in Tuckahoe, NY
The solution
Immaculate Conception started using Vocabulary.com in 2019, right before the COVID pandemic hit. During remote learning, the program was mainly used for spelling. But as students came back to the physical classroom, teachers discovered new ways to use it, including aligning vocabulary learning to specific lessons. Now, it is used for most subjects in grades 3-8, including social studies, science, math, English language arts, and religion.
Teachers appreciate the ability to search for vocabulary lists aligned with their lesson plans. Vocabulary.com includes over 15,000 searchable lists, including lists correlated to textbooks or literary works. Teachers can also create their own custom lists or browse seasonal and thematic lists. Teachers love how easy it is to incorporate vocabulary instruction with Vocabulary.com, since grading and progress monitoring is automatic.
In Ms. D'Angelo's Social Studies class, every unit starts with a word list from Vocabulary.com. She creates her own lists based on the concepts she is teaching and the primary sources she is using. Students have one week to complete Practice activities and master words on the list. They can work during dedicated time in class or at home. Students especially love the Vocabulary Jams, which allow them to compete in teams.
With Vocabulary.com, students are exposed to words in several different ways, including dictionary definitions, synonyms and antonyms, and in context using real-world sources. The program is mastery-based, so students can take as much or as little time as needed to demonstrate proficiency. Students can also work on their own vocabulary development through the VocabTrainer, which is personalized for each student.
Here's how Immaculate Conception is using Vocabulary.com:
- Teachers frontload vocabulary before a unit to familiarize students and improve comprehension throughout the lesson. They use curated Vocabulary.com word lists aligned to their textbook, unit of study, or particular topic area. They can also make their own.
- Students can also use the VocabTrainer to work on general vocabulary development at their own level outside of formal class assignments.
- 8th grade teachers use Vocabulary.com to prepare students for the Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools (TACHS).
The results
Students at Immaculate Conception love using Vocabulary.com and often ask to use it on their own. In fact, it is the most requested program when students have free learning periods. Learning new words with Vocabulary.com is more fun and more effective than traditional memorization or rote learning activities. Gamification elements—including a badge system that rewards accomplishments and a point system for tracking progress—keep students motivated and on track. Since the program adapts to each student's mastery level, all students can celebrate their progress, whether they are working at a 2nd-grade level or a college level.
Starting lessons with vocabulary instruction leads to better learning outcomes and more meaningful classroom experiences. Ms. D'Angelo says, "Lessons go much smoother, especially with primary sources. Instead of stumbling over vocabulary, students can get right to reading, contextualizing, and analyzing text."
Since implementing Vocabulary.com, Immaculate Conception has seen a measurable increase in scores on the vocabulary portion of the MAP benchmark assessment. Teachers have also noted better comprehension of academic texts. Understanding the words makes all the difference.