Threads related to teaching and reinforcing vocabulary! Games and activities shared.
Vocabulary Games
Posted by: mamahawk #129638
I've been using Making Words for my 3/4 combo and they've enjoyed this activity but I'm seeing a slowing of the interest. Any suggestions for 15-20 minute vocabulary/spelling activities for this age group?
what are some good ideas for me to teach context clues? (we use Houghton Mifflin by the way) That's one of the standards I am supposed to be focusing on.
I've been using Making Words for my 3/4 combo and they've enjoyed this activity but I'm seeing a slowing of the interest. Any suggestions for 15-20 minute vocabulary/spelling activities for this age group?
Isabel Beck's work-vocabulary development
Posted by: Risa #129888
LindaR and 'teach & learn'... As you might guess, a week long training held waaaaaay too much information to briefly put into words. As a matter of fact, I came out with my head swimming with information. Even now, I'm struggling to encapsulate a few of the ideas I'm implementing.
(1) Isabel Beck (along with her co-writers) tells how vocabulary words can be categorized into three tiers. I found these web pages that give a more thorough explanation of Tiers. Some of them duplicate the information to a greater or lesser extent, but look through these to see what you can take from them: Choosing Words to Teach (Excerpt from Beck's Book-Ch. 2) http://www.fcoe.net/ela/pdf/beck8.pdf
What kinds of words are most important to teach? http://www.ltl.appstate.edu/reading_r...
My class loves and is very successful with vocabulary-we also have about 6-8 new words each week. On Fridays after their reading test they copy the new words and definitions (they look up the meaning) into a small vocabulary notebook that I provide at the beginning of the year. On the following Mon.-Thurs. I spend about 10-20 mins doing vocabulary review. It may be a game I call "popcorn" where I give a clue to a word and they pop up and say it when I snap. Or, give out words or put them on the board and have the children write sentences with blanks and trade with a partner. At this time we have about 50 words in our vocabulary to use since I keep adding words and any past word can be used too. On Thursdays I give a vocabulary test and the parents know it is every Thursda...
I am a firm believer that kids will learn vocab if they see/hear it everyday, so we do vocab activities everyday for that story's words. Here are a few activities that have worked great for me.
Around the Room--I hang up the definitions on cards on different objects in the room and the studnets make a list of the vocab words. They silently walk around the room and write down WHERE the definition is for the word. I tell them that they shouldn't stop and write it down because everyone will come running--they love this one!
Pass the Ladybug (or whatever you have)-I start a stuffed ladybug with a student and they say a word and pass the bug to someone else who says the definition--then they pass to a new person for a word and so on--good for active learners.
When I'm introducing new vocabulary words, I play a game called "Rivit". I found it in a book recommended by Susan Close. It is a modified version of hangman. Have the students mark lines on their papers that correspond to the number of letters in a word. For example, if the word is 'social', they would make 6 lines on their paper. Then you give them the first letter - "s" and invite them to call out possible answers. Everyone writes down the letter on the first line. Encourage all guesses. After a very brief time, give them the next letter - "o" and everyone writes it on the second line (It should look like this s o_ _ _ _) Invite them to guess again. Continue on, adding a letter and having them guess until someone comes up with the right word. Give lots of praise for good gu...
I think those ideas are great and have used some of them successfully too. Here are a few more. I play a concentration game with words and definitions. I put the words and definitions on separate index cards as we do new words. I add magnetic tape to both sides of card so that it can stick to my chalk board. ( I have a colleague who uses a peg board she made to hang her cards and flip them over. You can also try a large pocket chart.) Then I set up my cards in a coodinate grid with letters along the top and numbers down the side. Students take turns calling our coordinates (another skill to review and reinforce) like A-4 and E-7. They try to find the matches. Sometimes I have them work in teams. As we turn over words before a student calls out the second set of coordinates I'll ask the cla...
how do you all introduce vocabulary to your class? for me, it's always at the beginning of a new story. i introduce the word, look at it in context (usually from the overhead from the book) and then we give examples in real life. The kids will put it in a sentence. That's all I do with the 6-8 words we have. It's soooooooo boring!!!!! I have great vocabulary centers, but it's my introductino to the vocabulary that seems to be lacking or just extremely boring.
