Reading is the foundation for learning, and in today’s rapidly changing world, helping students become confident, capable readers is more important than ever. To support this, a group of Apple Professional Learning Specialists (APLS) explored research-based reading strategies and how Apple technology can strengthen reading proficiency. This collaboration resulted in 30 Evidence-Informed Reading Activities.
We’re excited to spotlight another activity from the series — this time focusing on vocabulary in action. Like the other templates, this task encourages students to explore language creatively using iPad and Mac, expressing their understanding through multimedia.
Vocabulary Activity Overview
How it aligns with 30 Evidence-Informed Reading Activities.
- Encourages imaginative language exploration through multimedia tools
- Includes a Keynote template with clear instructions, visual scaffolds, and space for student voice
- Provides multimodal options — audio, visuals, drawing, and creative tools
What makes it unique
- Strong focus on applying vocabulary in meaningful context
- Helps students build and strengthen word knowledge through hands-on creation
Flexible for teachers
Perfect for whole-class teaching, small-group workshops, or targeted support — and easy to share via AirDrop, Classroom, or Classwork.
Example Lesson Idea: Word of the Day
This activity lends itself across the curriculum — perfect for introducing new vocabulary in maths, science, social sciences, or literacy. By exploring a new word each day, students build stronger vocabulary and deepen comprehension. Using Keynote, they can animate meaning, record pronunciation, and create visuals that reinforce understanding. This multimodal approach helps every learner engage, create, and succeed.
Learning Outcomes
By using the Word of the Day template, students will be able to:
- reinforce vocabulary knowledge by exploring definitions and spelling patterns
- use a scaffolded Keynote template to record and investigate a daily word
- represent the word’s meaning using text, drawing, animation, images, and audio
- apply the word in their own writing by creating a sentence and adding visuals that support meaning
In this lesson, our class explored interesting language from our shared novel, Matilda by Roald Dahl. As we read through the chapter, we highlighted examples of rich and powerful vocabulary. Working in pairs, students then selected one word to investigate more deeply.
Using the audio tool was a perfect way to ensure every child could contribute their ideas, and the animation feature provided an excellent extension activity—bringing an element of computational thinking into the lesson.
Keen to get started with one of the activities?
We’ve provided the three activity templates in Chantelle's forum post, along with another template in this post. If you'd like to explore all our activities, follow us on Linked In and be the first to find out more, including PLD opportunities coming soon in 2026 to support teachers who are keen to use our resource with their students!
We'd love to hear your thoughts on our resources or how you use Apple technology to enhance reading instruction in your classroom. Please add to the comments.
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