List-Group-Label is both a vocabulary and a comprehension strategy and there's really three steps:
Brainstorm a list of related words. Group those words into subcategories and then label the groupings with descriptive titles.
This strategy Is an excellent way to help kids develop
categorizing skills, build background knowledge
activate critical thinking skills and grow vocabulary.
Let's watch as Kathy Doyle uses the strategy with her second-grade class
Okay, so, we're going to learn a new strategy called List-Group-Label and you've had a bunch of practice
grouping words together and seeing how words connect to each other in order to use this strategy effectively
It's necessary to first select a concept to explore it can be from something that has been read or from a unit of study
The last Monday we read a story called The Gardener and it was full of
garden words so I'm going to think about gardening words for a minute...
When I think of gardening I think of...
The first step was to brainstorm a list of words related to the topic.
I think of... seeds.
I think of... lettuce
I want you to think about gardening words and I want you to raise your hand and help me brainstorm
some other words that come to your mind when you think about gardens
Bella? Leaves? Leaves.
Savion?
Minerals.
Mineral. Once there is a nice long list of words it's time for step 2: Grouping.
Now it's time to group these, words I'm going to think about these words and think about how I might put them
together if I wanted to cluster them so the first
one I'm going to put on this list is soil. I'm going to put it here. Soil
and...
Let me think of some other words that go with the words soil.
I'm going to put sunshine because I'm thinking about things that plants
need soil and sunshine let me look at the list and see what else plants need water
I'm] going to put water over there too
There's no right or wrong answer I'm just kind of thinking about it as long as I can explain why
I put those words together then they go together. [Who can think of another word that they might want to group together
Virginia?
I think tomatoes and lettuce and roses should go together.
Tell me why?
because they all come out of the ground.
The third and final step is labeling the groupings with headers.
These titles should be related to the reasoning behind each cluster of words
I'm gonna write a little head here that says... what?
What should I say? You just said it pretty perfectly. What should I write?
Things that come out of the ground. Now that the entire strategy has been modeled it's time to let the kids take the wheel.
Kathy has decided to have the whole class work on the brainstorming together before the students move into their small groups.
okay,
now I want you to get a chance to think up some words and move the words around
and connect words and this is going to be fun. So I'm going to write insects here and now you need to do some brainstorming
raise your hand and let me know of any word you can think of that relates to insects
Margeaux?
Bees? Bees. I'm going to add the word "sting"
Tonasia, what are you going to add? I'm going to, add
"butterfly" because they have six legs. oh I'm gonna put antennae... I also heard you say the word legs
Yeah. I'm gonna put legs and butterfly
Okay, I want you to stop for a minute. I know you're so excited
But you're going to get a chance now to group these words together and if you have more
insect words you can throw them in your groups. You can write them right down in your groups.
So now here's the fun part
You are going to get a piece of paper that looks like this - a big chart paper and you will get a chance to try
grouping these words together. Just remember that as long as you can explain to your partner why it goes in a certain group
then it fits there. There's no right or wrong answer for this. It's just an
opportunity to connect words to each other and help your vocabulary grow.
As the kids work in small groups t's important to both guide them and let them work independently
[sound of many children talking]
Can I give you guys a suggestions? It's looks like you've already started naming the headers
Why don't you play with the words first and see what you come up with look up there and find two words that go together.
Wings...
Legs... Eyes...
Wings legs and eyes. Think about those.
What would you...? Where would you put those words? Wings legs and eyes?
Part of this strategy
requires you to talk together
before you write to talk and explain why and if you're all in agreement give a
thumbs up and then go and add it to the list, okay?
After the groups have finished labeling give them a chance
to share their work with the whole class. I want to talk about
some of the groups and the names of the group's headers
will you guys read your categories and tell me what your groups are?
The first one is insects
and here's another one: where insects live.
Kanisha, can I ask you to read what did you put in that group "Where insects live"?
We put like some insects live in the forest
Or like the bees and the bees live in the a hive.
Thank you for sharing. So we started out with a couple words
like this big word Insects and then ladybugs and look at how our
words grew and grew. You even added so many to your poster. why do we think about words why?
What's the point? Why do we spend so much time thinking about words?
Savion?
So when we get older, we can use the words to know what they mean.
To use the words.
We want to use words and we'll know what the words mean so it'll make sense and we'll be smarter, right?
Does anyone else have an idea? Why do we think so much about words?
Maya?
when we're reading a book and um we see the word in the book
we will say like
I remember that word we studied it.
Yes, Maya. That's exactly it. Because you'll come across words in books and as you get older and older
there's even more words in books and you'll know what those words mean
because you'll be connecting those words to words you learned
in 2nd grade and words you already knew up here.
List-Group-Label is a strategy that can be used
across grade levels and across content areas. In using List-Group-Label the
categories can be defined ahead of time by the teacher or as you saw Miss Dyle use she let her kids
discover the categories. If you're working with non readers or second language learners you can
Also have students sort pictures into groups. It needn't be words.
List-Group-Label is a really versatile strategy that I think can find a way into your classroom.