Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areas
Acquire and use accurately academic and domain-specific vocabulary relevant to grade-level topics, including words that signal precise meaning in informational texts across subject areas
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify and define academic vocabulary (e.g., compare, contrast, summarise, evidence, interpret) used across multiple subject areas and use these words accurately in discussion and writing
- Determine the meaning of domain-specific words encountered in science, social studies, or maths texts (e.g., ecosystem, democracy, numerator) using context, glossaries, and prior knowledge
- Use newly acquired academic and domain-specific vocabulary in sentences that demonstrate understanding of precise meaning and appropriate context
1 · Read
Every subject has words that carry an exact meaning. Some words, like compare, contrast, summarize, evidence, and interpret, show up in science, social studies, and math alike. They help you think clearly no matter what you are studying.
Your science book says: 'A pond ecosystem includes the fish, plants, water, and rocks that all depend on each other.' You may not know the word ecosystem, but the sentence lists fish, plants, water, and rocks working together. That context tells you an ecosystem is a group of living and nonliving things connected in one place.
Each subject has its own key words too. Science uses words like habitat and ecosystem. Social studies uses words like democracy and government. Math uses words like numerator and denominator. Learning these words helps you understand the ideas behind them.
After you learn a new word, use it in your own sentence right away. Writing 'The desert habitat has very little water' locks in the meaning better than just reading a definition.
Subject words carry exact meanings, so use context clues to figure them out, then use the word yourself.
More to read
Vocabulary list 1
These are words you will see in your 4th grade books, in every subject! Some you will know already, and some may be new. Take a little time to look at each word and its example sentence. Look at how each word breaks into parts you know.
Here is the kind of word you will find on this list:
ability (noun) a-bil-i-ty (uh-BIHL-uh-tee): being able to do something
Words like this show up in science, social studies, and maths texts, not just in reading class.
Vocabulary list 2
Here come more words you will see in 4th grade texts, in all subject areas. You will know some already, and some may be brand new. Read each word and its example sentence carefully, and look at each word's history and word parts.
Here is a taste of what is on this list:
device (noun) de-vice (dih-VICE): an object or machine that is made for a special job
A word like device might appear in a science text about machines or a social studies text about inventions.
Vocabulary list 3
Ready for more? These are words you will see in 4th grade texts in all subject areas. Some you will know, and some may be new. Read each word and its example sentence to see how it is used, and look at each word's history and word parts.
One word from this list:
diverse (adjective) di-verse (dih-VERSE): made up of a lot of different things or people
You might meet this word in a geography text about many kinds of places, or in a story about a group of different friends.
Vocabulary list 1
These are words you will see in 5th grade texts in all subject areas. You probably know some of them already, and some may be new. Read the words and their example sentences, and look at each word's history and word parts.
A word from this list:
achieve (verb) a-chieve (uh-CHEEV): to do something successfully
This word could appear in a text about a scientist who achieves a goal, or a sports story about winning a big game.
Spotlight on Discipline-Specific and Technical Language
Have you noticed that a science book, a history book, and a maths book all sound a little different? That is because each subject has its own special words, and strong writers learn to use them.
In this spotlight you will:
- Learn why subjects like science, history, and maths have their own special words. - See when to use everyday words and when to use the exact technical word, like calling a part of a plant a stem instead of just a stick. - Practice choosing words that fit the subject you are writing or talking about.
Every subject area has its own toolkit of words. A science text might talk about an ecosystem. A social studies text might talk about a democracy. A maths text might talk about a numerator.
2 · Watch
En anglaisTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Optional connections
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.