[LIT] vocabulary activities

[shighley at aol.com]

Linda's post reminds me of something my students really enjoy
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Have you read the book Bringing Words to Life by isabel Beck?  It
changed how I view vocab instruction.  Isabel really stresses active
engagement of learners and deep processing of vocab.  She offers many
strategies that are easy to adopt and that help students really think
about words, rather than just regurgitate meanings.  For example, if
2 of the words for the week were fraudulent and mundane, the students
might be asked:  Would you rather participate in a mundane or a
fraudulent activity?  Please explain your reasons.
Hope this helps,
Linda
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My students really enjoy playing Apple to Apples, and they actually 
learn some vocabulary while they do it.  For those of you who haven't 
played it, a green card that is an adjective is placed in the middle of 
the table. Each person holds 7 common or proper nouns (red cards) in 
their hand, and places one card face down that they think best fits 
that adjective. One person each round is the "chooser", and doesn't put 
a card down, but rather turns over the cards and selects the one they 
think best fits. It is hilarious but educational!  You could simply 
take the red cards from the regular deck and substitute your vocabulary 
words ( or put them into adjective form if they are nouns, adverbs, 
verbs, etc).  I think this would really reinforce the words in a useful 
way.  It is so fun to hear the kids debate the merits of various 
choices.  The cards each have definitions on them, and it is not 
unusual to hear students read them aloud.

Susie
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