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A World of New Words
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Guess-the-Meaning Game For this fun vocabulary game, I ask my students to work in pairs and assign each pair a part of speech, such as adjective or noun. Each team studies the dictionary to find an interesting word they think classmates will not know. They write the word, the part of speech, the definition, and use it in a sentence.
Then we play Guess the Meaning. Each pair comes up and writes their word on the board. They pronounce the word and use it in a sentence for the rest of the class. The class is asked to guess the meaning of the word. Up to three students can try to give a definition. If no one guesses the meaning, the pair reads aloud the definition they have written down from the dictionary. You would be surprised how well they like this game and how well they remember the words and their meanings! It is a great way to motivate children to expand their vocabularies.
Carol J. Pawlitz, Immanuel Lutheran School, Macomb, MI Context Clues Here is a simple and fun method I use to teach my students how to use context clues to decipher un-familiar vocabulary. First, I give my students a page of text that has the last word in each line removed. I challenge my students to identify the missing words using context clues. After the students identify the words, we talk about how they were able to figure out the meanings. Then, the class works at incorporating this strategy when they encounter unfamiliar words in their daily reading assignments. My class is amazed at how easy it is to figure out new words. Sue Lorey, Grove Avenue School, Barrington, IL Positive Word of the Week Each week I display a different positive word of the week such as "magnificent," "fabulous," "wondrous," or "stupendous." When I return papers to students, any papers with a grade of satisfactory or above are given the positive word of the week at the top. After the first few weeks, I will ask my students for suggestions for the next week's word. I choose a student who can use a boost. The next week, I write the positive word suggested by the student and write "courtesy of (child's name)." Maryland Germroth, Chase Elementary, Baltimore County, M Vocabulary Bookmarks As my students read their guided literature books, they use a laminated bookmark as an organizational tool to help them learn new words. I ask all my students to write down on their bookmarks new and unusual words they discover. Once a week, we review these words. They record the sentence where each vocabulary word was found, and at least one synonym and antonym for each word. When the book is finished, the student can wipe off the bookmark to use it agaih. Vocabulary development is made meaningful and fun as students choose the words from the books they are reading! (See reproducible on the next page.) Michelle Kelley, Red Bug Elementary, Casselberry, FL |
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