Notetaking

In this variation of Vocabulary A-Z, each student has his/her own blank A-Z graphic organizer with line spacing adjusted for the age level of the student.  

The teacher provides the BIG IDEA (ESSENTIAL QUESTION) for the topic being researched, as it meets the requirements of the standards being addressed.

The student then proceeds to research the topic, keeping notes in words or phrases only, on the A-Z taxonomy.  

Note:  This is a wonderful deterrent to plagiarism as it is necessary for the students to compose new sentences from the A-Z chart, much as they do for Touch and Name. 

A-Z topic books:  These may be created as a class project or by individual students.  An A-Z topic book will address a BIG IDEA (ESSENTIAL QUESTION) which will serve as the title—i.e., What do I know about Japan?  What do I know about baseball?  What do I know about Ohio?  

Each letter will have its own page with a sentence that begins with that letter.  The page will also contain an illustration of the sentence with the emphasized element being the word/object beginning with the letter of the page.  For example in a book, “What do I know about Japan?”, the “K” page might read, “Kimonos are a ceremonial dress worn by Japanese women.”  The illustration would show a Japanese woman in a kimono.”  

See “Samples of Student Work” on the A-Z Strategy page on www.thehow2doc.com.