Return to: In Coal Country

Return to: Children's Literature

Link to: In Coal Country_Vocabulary Activities

Link to: In Coal Country_Lesson Plans

To learn vocabulary is to learn the basics.  In order for students to make connections between the big picture and the details it is essential to give them multiple exposures to vocabulary for the content you are teaching. As Robert Marzano, educator/author says,  "Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions." Robert Marzano. We need to take vocabulary further. See Robert Marzano’s Six Step Process for vocabulary instruction

Tier One Vocabulary Words:

Furnace – An enclosed structure in which heat is produced 

Whistle – The act of signaling by whistling or blowing a whistle

Iron Stove – Used to cook or heat things or areas

Chimney – A brick structure used for smoke from a indoor fire to go up and outside.  

Tier Two Vocabulary Words:

Mine - A pit in the earth that coal, minerals, or precious stones are taken by digging

Miner- One whose work or business it is to extract ore or minerals from the earth

Engineer - The operator of a train car

Coal  - A solid, hard black substance that burns and gives off heat. It is formed from partly decayed vegetable matter under great pressure and heat in the earth.

Soot - Black powder in smoke

Grime – Being covered in unclean things

Power Plants - An electric utility generating station

Steel Mills - Is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel

Washboard - A board used to scrub or launder clothes. Used before washing machines for laundry.

Tier Three Vocabulary Words:

Tipple - An apparatus for unloading freight cars by tipping them

Picking Table - A flat or slightly inclined platform on which the coal or ore is run to be picked free from slate or gangue

Brakeman - A railroad employee responsible for a train's brakes