Word Building Game

Games are a vital part of learning and can support learning in a myriad of ways. This image below is my screen from a recent Zoom session with one of my rising middle school students. We were ending a session playing the asked-for-over-again word building game.

WHAT IS IT?

This is a word building game I play frequently with my students. They love that they’re playing a game, and I love that they are building their vocabulary, spelling, and organization skills.

Screen Shot 2020-08-16 at 7.38.03 PM.png

HOW DO YOU PLAY?

It’s pretty simple. Choose a word and create 4 columns: one column each for 2-letter, 3-letter, 4-letter, and 5+ letter words. When playing virtually, I create a chart like this on my screen, and my students either a) creates a similar chart on paper or b) creates a document on their devices that they can screen share with me. Once the word is revealed and the grid is created, it’s go time. I allot approximately three minutes for students to build as many words as possible using the letters in the given word. Letters cannot be used more than once, but they can be used in any order.

You’ll notice that I have a FOCUS ON section. I do not use this with every student, but I will if my goal is to target particular spelling patterns, or if I have a student who has particular difficulty with task initiation and / or finding words, particular more complex ones.

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE A WORD?

When choosing a word, I typically choose one that is seasonal, relevant to a current events issue, or related to a student’s interest. The word in this example above is from a recent session after Hurricane Isais wrecked havoc through our area and knocked out power, resulting in weeklong (and longer) power outages for many. My family is thankful that when we bought our house, there was already a generator installed. Unfortunately, the generator broke down after day 4 of working as back up. Hence, generator seemed like an appropriate word for many reasons that week: it was relevant, it targeted vocabulary and parts of speech (i.e. What are other forms of the word?: generate, generation, generated, etc…), and it honed particular spelling skills I wanted to focus on with this specific student.

This game can be differentiated for many different learning levels and needs. For extension work, ask students to pick a word to use in a well-written and descriptive sentence.

Happy Playing!

STAY CONNECTED

Summer Words from A to Z

Summer is HERE. School has finished for the year, camp is getting started, pants have been swapped for shorts, and no matter what effort I put into cleaning my car, there will be a reliable trace of sand until the fall - at the earliest. That means it’s time for my post on summer vocabulary.

This post is a compilation of summer words. Here are a few ideas on how to use them:

  1. Choose several words to alphabetize. This is a skill that ALWAYS needs some practice. For younger students that need extra support, choose only a few words that begin with different letters. With students that need less support and are up for more of a challenge, choose words that begin with the same letter, encouraging students to alphabetize by second and third letters.

  2. Choose a few nouns from the list and ask students to list as many adjectives as they can think of to describe each noun.

  3. Pick 8-10 words and ask student to write a short autumn story using all of the chosen words. For students needing more support, they can write a descriptive sentence for each word.

  4. Choose several words and write each one on a separate scrap of paper. Fold the papers and put them into a bag or container. Students take turns choosing a paper and describing the word on the paper for others to guess.

  5. What words may students not know? Choose a handful of words that might be new. Discuss the meaning of the word and have them use it in a sentence, and illustrate it. Have them discuss with a partner how each word relates to summer.

A: adventure; air conditioning; amusement park; anchor; August

B: barbecue; barefoot; bathing suit; beach; bee; bicycles; birds; blackberries; blistering; blueberries; boardwalk; boating; boats; bonfire; bucket; buoy; butterfly

C: campfire; camping; canoe; cap; capris; carnival; cooler

D: dew; diving; diving board; dragonfly

E: explore; enjoy

F: fair; farm; fireworks; flashlight; flip flops; flowers; Frisbee; fruit

G: garden; gardening; goggles; golf; grass; grasshopper

H: hat; heat; hike; hot; humid; hummingbird

I: ice cream; iced tea; Independence Day; insects

J: jellyfish; July; jump rope; June

K: kayak; kick board

L: Labor Day; lake; lawn; lawnmower; lemonade; life jacket; lifeguard; life vest; lightening

M: mosquito; mower; muggy

N: nap; nest; nostalgic

O: oar; ocean

P: paddle; paddle board; pail; peaches; picnic; plums; pool; popsicles; postcard

Q: quench

R: raft; rash guard; raspberries; rays; reading; repellent; roller blades

S: sailing; sand; sandals; sandcastle; sandpiper; scorching; seagull; September; shade; shorts; shovel; sleeping bag; s’mores; spade; starfish; stargazing; sting; strawberries; summertime; sunblock; sunburn; sundress; sunflower; sunhat; sunny; sun rays; sunshine; sun shower; suntan; surf; surfboard; sweltering; swim camp; swimsuit; swimming

T: t-shirt; tank top; tennis; tent; thunder; thunderstorm; tomatoes; towel

U: umbrella; underwater

V: vacation; vegetable garden

W: wading; wasp; water; water bottle; water slide; watermelon; waves; wildflowers; wheelbarrow

X: eXplore

Y: yacht

Z: zap; zinc oxide

Are there any other words you’d add to this list?