Blog Archives

Word Storm - Vocabulary Graphic Organizer

3/31/2012

In this vocabulary graphic organizer, students will start by putting their vocabulary word in the cloud on the right. They will write synonyms of their word in the raindrops. The definition goes on the lighting bolt and antonyms go under the umbrella.

Hope everyone enjoys this freebie! Find more great ideas for teaching vocabulary and more vocabulary graphic organizers on the Vocabulary activities page. You can download this vocabulary graphic organizer by clicking on the link below.

Word Storm
File Size:	365 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Morpheme Analysis - Graphic Organizers

3/30/2012

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I've just finished a new e-book called Word Investigation. This book is full of graphic organizers that you can use to analysis morphemes in words. Doing this activity will help your students to recognize patterns in words, which in turn will help them to build their vocabularies, become better spellers and decode big words.

These graphic organizers are based on the idea of Morphemic Triangles by Rod Winters. To learn more about them I suggest you read the article he wrote for the Reading Teacher.

Winters, R.. (2009). Interactive Frames for Vocabulary Growth and Word Consciousness. The Reading Teacher, 62(8), 685-690.

The free giveaway is over, but you can purchase these graphic organizers buy clicking the buy now button below. You can also find many other great ideas for teaching vocabulary by visiting my Vocabulary Activities page.

You can get these worksheets now on the new websites shop.

Vocabulary Graphic Organizers

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Using cootie catchers to teach vocabulary - Plus a freebie

3/28/2012

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Lately I've been seeing lots of different ways to use cootie catchers in the classroom, from math facts to reading. So I thought, why not vocabulary? Now I've created 12 different cootie catchers to help students expand their vocabulary. These Cootie catchers are designed help students practice their synonyms and antonyms. You can get these worksheets now on the new websites shop.

Directions

Player 1: Choose a word and count the number of letters in the word.

Player 2: Open and close the cootie catcher that many times.

Player 1: Choose a number inside the cootie catcher.

Player 2: Lift the chosen flap and read the directions.

Player 1: Complete the action inside the flap.

Actions
S - Chose a synonym of the word
A- Choose an antonym of the word

Lose a turn - Your turn is over it's the next players turn. Say it in a Sentence - Say the synonym or antonym of the word you picked in a sentence.

Double Trouble – You must think of two synonyms or antonyms.

Battle Round – Players take turns saying synonyms or antonyms of the chosen word the player who runs out of words the soonest looses.

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Award Spotlight: Big Word Collector

3/27/2012

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To continue with my series on vocabulary development, I've decided to tackle a common problem that readers face when they've learned to decode small words but are stumped when they come across longer and more complex words. A great vocabulary learning activity that you can use to help overcome this hurdle is a activity that I first learned about from the book Phonics they use by Patricia M. Cunningham called Big Word Collector.

To motivate your students to start they're own word collections I found this book to be great. In this picture book by Kate Banks, Max is envious of his brothers collections so he decides to start a collection of his own; a collection of words.

You can encourage your students to do what Max did and create big word collections. This activity can help students as they build their vocabulary, increase their writing ability, and learn to easily decode big words.

To encourage my students to increase their word collections I've created these great reading awards.

You can get these four awards plus 50 more awards in my e-book Award, Certificates, Achievements and more.

You can also visit my Vocabulary Games or Vocabulary Activities pages for more great ideas on increasing students vocabulary knowledge.

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Your words, my story- Vocabulary Activity

3/26/2012

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This is activity is based on a vocabulary strategy developed by Magaret Richek. In it a teacher picks vocabulary words from a story that is going to be read. Then before the story is read students will compose their own writings either together as a class or individually. When writing the stories students must:

Introduce words in order, they cannot use a word in the list until the previous one has been used.
Once a word has been introduced it can be used again.
Various forms of the word can be used, for example (frightened, frightening, frightful)
The story needs to make sense with a beginning, middle, and end.

Margaret Ann Richek. (2005). Words are wonderful: Interactive, time-efficient strategies to teach meaning vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 58(5), 414-423.

The word bank in this pdf is editable so you can insert the vocabulary words that you are currently working on. You can't however save the edited version you will have to print it out.

You can also find many more ideas for teaching vocabulary on my Vocabulary Activities page and my Vocabulary Games page.

Your words, my story
File Size:	167 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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What word am I? - vocabulary game

3/23/2012

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I've decided to start working on a new page all about teaching vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. So so start the page off I found this great idea on Mrs. Lewis' Learning Library blog. In this vocabulary game students have get up and actively search to figure out what vocabulary word is on their head.

Steps:

Write vocabulary words on sentence strips and staple it to make a ring.
Have your students each wear one of the words without them seeing what the word is.
They then need to go around and ask other kids for clues to help discover what vocabulary word that they have.
They can ask for antonyms, synonyms, examples and sentences to figure out the word.

This idea and photo is fromMrs. Lewis' Learning Library. You can visit her page to get a printable for this vocabulary game.

To visit my new vocabulary pages click on the links below.

Vocabulary Games
Vocabulary Activities

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Frog's ABC's e-book is available for purchase

3/21/2012

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Matching uppercase and lowercase letters

There are six file-folder games in all. These games will help kids with letter recognition, alphabetical order, and learning letter names. You can purchase these file-folder games by clicking on the Buy now button below.

Because the eBook is now for sale. The free giveaway for each of the individual games is over. I release these games for free for a limited time to reward those who're either subscribed to our blog or who've liked us on Facebook. You can do both on the upper right hand of this page.

You can get these worksheets now on the new websites shop.

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Top 5 Podcasts for Education

3/20/2012

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Want to find some great podcasts to use in the classroom or just to stay informed about the education world. I've created a list of my top five Education related podcasts. If you have a favorite that's not in this list why not share it with a comment below.

#1 Ecogeeks: Untamed Science Video Podcast

This podcast is a great way to get your students interested in science. Each podcast also has a link to a page where you can learn more about the topic in the video.

Podcast Description
A science video podcast that explains science topics in a fun and exciting way. Not only is it great for science teachers to download to show in the classroom, but its an ideal podcast for the nature lover.

#2 -Stuff of Genius

This great podcast from HowStuffWorks will let your kids learn about inventors and help inspire them to create themselves.

Podcast Description
Have you ever had an idea that seems crazy, like pocket-sized clocks, the flexible straw or dishwashers? Every invention starts out as an idea, and it only takes a bit of genius to make it a reality. Tune in and learn more in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.

# 3 - The Education Gadfly Podcast

This podcast by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute helps to keep you up to date about news in the Education World. This podcast although its fun to listen to it does have a political slant to it.

Podcast Description
Every Thursday you get funny and thoughtful debates and commentary on the week's education news, all in under 20 minutes. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a non-profit think tank dedicated to advancing educational excellence in America's K-12 schools. Nationally and in our home state of Ohio, we promote education policies that strengthen accountability and expand education options for parents and families, including sponsoring charter schools in Ohio. Our reports examine issues such as No Child Left Behind, school choice and teacher quality.

#4 - The Teacher's Podcast

Mark Gura and Dr. Kathy King bring you this series of podcasts, which cover “news, views, research and resources you can use.”

#5 - Super Why Podcast

Podcast Description
SUPER WHY, the new animated television series on PBS Kids and the interactive website on pbskids.org/superwhy, helps children ages 3-6 learn key reading skills, including alphabet, rhyming, spelling and reading comprehension, through interactive storybook adventures.

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Tattle Monster

3/16/2012

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While reading the Giggles Galore blog I found this idea that I just had to share. Its a tattling monster. Instead of having your students come and interrupt you 20 times a day you can have them write what they need to say to the tattle monster. So you get less interruptions and your students are writing. Go read the post on theGiggles Galore blog, you'll find directions on how to make a tattle monster of your own as well as a cute poem to go along with the monster.

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F. F. Frog, Alphabet Detective

3/16/2012

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This new file-folder game is perfect for kids to practice letter recognition. Students must help frog to determine which letters are missing. The game includes alphabet boards, directions, a pieces pouch, and labels for envelops and the file folder. If you like this game why not like us on Facebook. You might also like some of are other file-folder games. This game will be available free for a limited time only. Get your copy by clicking on the file or the picture below.