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IDEAS
"Words of the Week" Vocabulary Building
Activity
Submitted by: Nancy Manos
We incorporate this activity into our daily school
routine to help our girls build their vocabulary and learn to
use the new words they are learning.
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
- Large jar or container
- 100 + slips of paper, each with a different word written on
it.
- Notebook for each child
- Dictionary
PREPARATION:
We created our "Words of the Week" jar using a large
plastic container with a twist-on lid. I drew a sign on brightly
colored paper that says "Words of the Week" and taped
it to the outside of the jar.
I used the book "The Words You Should Know" by David
Olsen to select our words. A regular dictionary would work well
too. I skimmed through the book and selected a bunch of words
that started with "A", then "B" and so on.
I wrote each word on a separate slip of colored paper (approx.
1.5" x 3.5")
HOW TO USE:
About 3 days a week, I have the girls each choose a word from
the jar (doesn't have the be the same word for each child). They
must do the following with the word they have selected:
- Write the word in their "Vocabulary" notebook
- Look up the word in the dictionary
- Write the part of speech to the right of the word (noun, verb,
adjective, etc.)
- Write the definition (indented below the vocabulary word)
- Write their own sentence using the word *
- Write their name on the back of the slip of paper and put
it back in the jar **
* If they are having trouble coming up with a sentence, I have
them read the sample sentence in "The Words You Should Know"
and a couple of different dictionaries to give them some ideas.
We also talk about it and I give them some ideas of my own. If
they run into a particularly difficult word, I may let them copy
the sentence used in the dictionary, but that is rare. I would
rather they create their own sentence to show that they understand
the meaning of the word and how to use it.
** I have our girls write their name on the back of the slip
of paper for the word they drew so that they can see easily which
ones they''ve already done and if their sister has done this word
yet. Once both girls have selected a particular word and have
done the steps above, we discard the slip.
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