A Week of Words

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Archive : 2007 : August : 2

A Week of Words
By shasha

Well, maybe just M-Th... I have a narrow bulletin board in my room dedicated to "Wonderful Words". I choose one for each day M-Th.
The students receive a worksheet on Monday.
Each day they add the day's word, find
and write a synonym and create an original sentence using the new word. I only post each word one day at a time usually with a sticky note and id'd the day of the week.
I collect these worksheets on Friday and use them as an English grade...Ah ha - sometimes when I need some more grades within the English umbrella ( you know, Grammar or Spelling) I use the grade of the Word Wall for

that. Otherwise, it's a Vocab grade.
They are free to use a dictionary or a thesaurus. However, they are penalized (big time!) if they copy a sentence from the helpful thesaurus or from one of their buddies.
My 7th Graders have never really complained about the work. And it's all worth it when they discover one of those same words in their independent reading. BTW I just put words that I've come across that I think they should know, might encounter, or ones that are new to me. I invented this idea - use it or any portion of it...Have fun.