Just to add to what you said, I have each of my students keep a "word wall" in their book baggies (gallon bags that hold their books and journals). What I did was I cut a full sized file folder in half (so they would fit in their bags). On the front of the folder they wrote "Expand Vocabulary: Tune into Interesting Words" As they are reading and find one, they add it to their personal word wall folder.
It has been really helpful for my students because the struggling readers are able to add new sight words to their word walls and they get really excited. For my higher students they have to write the word, what they think it means, and use it in a sentence (next they will add - look up the word in a dictionary). I usually have them do this on a sticky note and then stick it inside their word wall folder.
Do your students have their own word walls already? If not, this may help 
