Handful of Ideas for Vocabulary

Ideas for 10 minute exercises for 10 vocabulary words. Little to no preparation involved.

99 Problems...

Write a common problem on the board. Challenge the students to use one of the vocabulary words to solve the problem.

Example: Not enought money. Vocabulary word: “wine”. Solution: “Drink wine until you don’t care about money.”

Other example problems: A bad grade, a mean person, a bad driver, bad breath, what to do with your life, a hole in the road

Connect Words:

Use two vocabulary words in one sentence.  If it doesn’t make sense, have the students add more sentences until it does.

Example: coast, bully.  “I am going to bring my bully to the coast and then throw them in the ocean.

Bingo:

Write 10 to 15 words on the board. Have the students pick 5.  Read the example sentences (or definitions to make it hard). Students have a bingo when they have their 5 words read.

Erase:

Write the words on the board Have two students come up. Have the other students in the audience read an example sentence, except they say “blank” instead of the word. First to erase the word wins.

Word Expert:

Each student looks up a separate assigned word, gettingthe definition, parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, and example.  After they have time to look it up, they go around the room and explaining to other students.

Draw it:

Challenge the students to draw the words and then explain their picture.

Pick a card:

Put cards in a hat/box (randomize). Students pull a word. The student gives clues or examples while the class guesses.

20 Questions:

Randomize the words. Have a student pull a word. Everyone takes turns asking yes/no questions until the word is found. (Concrete nouns work well)

Crosswords:

Start with a long word.  Write it vertically on the board.  Add another word to it (like scrabble).  Dicate the day’s vocabulary to the students and see how many they can put together.  Two day option: Turn it into an actual cross word by boxing the letters then erasing the answers.  Use the example sentence (or student sentences, definitions) for clues.

Compare:

Make comparisons between two words with the same part of speech.  Divide the words among the class so that two people have only two words.  Example: A and B are alike in that _____. A and B are not alike in that ______.

Combinations:

Organize the words into groups based on the part of speech.  The task is to see how many different words can be paired together.

Example:

The dumb doctor quickly stared at the black car.  The black doctor marched to his dumb car quickly.  *If it doesn’t make sense, clarify with a sentence explaining afterwards.

Wordle:

Mix the current day’s word with old vocabulary on a list.  Go to wordle.com and create a picture with the words.  The goal is to find all the new words and what they mean.

Tagxedo:

Take the day’s word list and create a picture.  Choose a shape.  Have the students use the words so that they relate to the shape of the picture. http://www.tagxedo.com/

Add your ideas to the list! (or the Google document, in the Miscellaneous Folder)