Vocabulary lesson for

The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

See video of story reading at: https://youtu.be/3l53bQyoJP0

I chose this book to read with one of my grade 2 classes to teach about the importance of water and
social justice. This will also connect with learning in science about the water cycle.

The book includes words in Ojibway as well as English words which I will teach in vocabulary lessons
with all students, including ELLs. Some may wonder whether this could be too much or confusing for
ELLs, but I feel that embracing and learning a few words in Ojibway along with the English words models
for my students the valuing of languages and cultures other than mainstream Canadian English-speaking
culture. This extends to the way we value students’ home languages and cultures in our classroom.

Ojibway vocabulary to teach

gichi miigwech (gih-chih mee-gwetch) thank you very much

Nibi (nih-bih) water

niichii (knee-chee) friend

nokomis (no-kuh-miss) grandmother

English vocabulary to teach

 Respect  Responsibility  Devastating

 Disrespect  Protect  Gratitude
 Waste  Urgency

I’ve chosen these words for the whole class because they are Tier 2 words which are key to the message
I am trying to get across in my lesson which is focused on the responsibility of global citizens to protect
the environment. I want my students to be able to use this vocabulary when describing the actions of
those in the book, as well as others in the world around them and themselves. We will work to answer
the question posed in the book “What will you do for water?”

If I have a beginner or developing ELL student in my class, I will take a closer look for any Tier 1
vocabulary words that may be new for them and which would impede comprehension of the text. I
might choose to go over a few of these words privately with that student and a friend before reading
the text. And I could pause while reading to allow students, including these two friends, to discuss and
rephrase what was just read. It might be fun to ask a couple of students to act out the story while I read
it, in order to enhance comprehension for all, as well as providing some extra entertainment 😉
Introducing the words

Ojibway words – I will introduce these words before reading the story. Before showing them how they
are written, we will first listen and try pronouncing them together. Sometimes I find it easier to copy
someone else’s pronunciation without getting too hung up on the actual letters and how it is written.
Then I will show students the words printed on cardstock and we will pronounce them again and talk
about their meaning. I will ask students to share related words, either synonyms in English or words that
they use at home. For example, the various terms for “grandmother” that are used in homes. The
students will add their words around the Ojibway word on the cardstock. After the lesson, we will add
these cardstock words to our Water bulletin board to be re-used and revisited throughout our water
unit.

English words – Because we already spent time before the story talking about the Ojibway words, I
won’t get into the English words before our first reading. I want students to first hear them in context.

After the first reading, I will introduce the top 3 English words I want students to know: respect, protect
and responsibility. They will be written on chart paper and we will break them into syllables and practice
pronouncing each of them together. We will look at similarities and differences between how these
words sound (eg. proTECT and reSPECT have the same -ect sound at the end; RESponsibility and RESpect
both have the same beginning sound). We will talk about what they mean (child-friendly definition) I will
share and then generate examples together using multiple repetitions so that children are hearing and
saying the word many times to really remember it, similar to Anita Archer in her video. (Archer, n.d.)

Next, as a group we will make Frayer models on large chart paper. Here’s an example that I was able to
make on this website: https://www.kapwing.com/videos/60bcf00390440c004b2e54cc

We will only cover two or three new vocabulary words in one lesson, but we will come back and do
other terms when we re-read or work with the book and this subject again in the following lesson later
in the week. The Frayer model charts will be posted up in the classroom for students to reference in
their conversations and written assignments.

Once we’ve talked about the words, I will read them the story again, this time listening for these English
words and stopping to discuss what those words mean in the context of the story.

Next, I will do a bit of acting with the children and get them to apply the correct term. For example, I
could act out someone speaking rudely to another person or ignoring them when they are spoken to or
pushing past them in a line-up. That would be an example of disrespect. Then we could look at the
opposite: respect, and what that looks like. After I act out, I would pair up the children to act out the
words together and use them in speaking to each other eg. “That was an example of disrespect./That
was disrespectful. You hurt my feelings.” Or “Thank you for showing me respect. Thank you for being
respectful.”

Finally, students will write in their journals about what they have learned from today’s story. I will ask
them to include at least 2 of the English vocabulary words in their writing. I will provide sentence stems
or cloze sentences for this activity.

Later in the day and throughout the week we will look for opportunities to use our new vocabulary in
both English and Ojibway as we continue our lessons about respect and water, continuing to refer to the
words as we’ve posted them on our bulletin board.

Works Cited

Archer, A. (n.d.). Explicit Instructions: Effective and Efficient Teaching. Explicit Instructions Effective and
Efficient Teaching RSS. https://explicitinstruction.org/video-elementary/elementary-video-4/.

Edugains. (2014). EduGAINS. Adolescent Literacy: Engaging Research & Teaching.

https://onq.queensu.ca/content/enforced/545378-
CONT939002S21/Module_4/VocabularyALERT_8X11.pdf?ou=545378.

Horton, L. (n.d.). The Water Walker: Teacher Guide. Second Story Press Teachers' Guides and Footnotes.
https://secondstorypress.ca/teachers-guides.

Kucan, L. (2012). What Is Most Important to Know About Vocabulary? The Reading Teacher, 65(6), 360–
366. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.01054

Robertson, J., Williams, S. P., & Toulouse, I. (2019). Nibi Emosaawdang = The Water Walker. Second
Story Press.

Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP). (n.d.). Vocabulary Instruction: WordGen Weekly.
Vocabulary Instruction | WordGen Weekly. https://www.serpinstitute.org/wordgen-
weekly/vocabulary-instruction.