Hop on the cloud!

 

Cut out planes and clouds from cardboards. On each plane write a word and, on each cloud, write another word that rhymes with a word on a plane. Use CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. Spread the clouds on the floor and give a plane to each student. Ask children to read the word on their plane and hop (land) on the word cloud that rhymes with it. After they finish, practice reading aloud the rhyming pairs.

Words in pots - A vocabulary class game

 

Cut out flowers and pots from cardboards. On each flower write the beginning sound/s (onset) of a word and on the pots the ending (rhyme). Use CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. Ask children to match the flowers to the correct pots to create words. After they finish, practice spelling out the words they made.

Bees on trees-A vocabulary class game

 

Print out 5 bees and 5 trees. Laminate and cut them out. On each bee write a word e.g., “log” and, on each tree, stick a picture e.g., “dog” that rhymes with “log”. Ask children to match the bees with the correct tree to form rhyming pairs.

Haunted pillows! - A vocabulary class game

Print and cut out the faces of different Halloween characters from a haunted house; zombie, Dracula, skeleton, etc. Stick these faces in popsicles and place them underneath some pillows in the classroom. Ask the students to take turns picking up the haunted pillows to reveal who is hiding underneath. Prompt the students to say out loud the name of the character they reveal. 

10 Ways to Use Technology to Build Vocabulary

Source: Bridget Dalton, Dana L. Grisham, www.readingrockets.org

                                                       

Drawing on research-based principles of vocabulary instruction and multimedia learning, this article presents 10 strategies that use free digital tools and Internet resources to engage students in vocabulary learning. The strategies are designed to support the teaching of words and word learning strategies, promote students' strategic use of on-demand web-based vocabulary tools, and increase students' volume of reading and incidental word learning.

Save the polar animals! - A vocabulary class game

Watch the video “Go Diego Go Game – Diegos Arctic Rescue” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8VJSjAgSJE). Place on the floor light blue pieces of paper to demonstrate the ice. Underneath each paper place 1 flashcard of a polar animal. Students need to rescue the animals like Diego on the video. Pupils run around the ice while the song “Five little penguins” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etAzWdYufkE) is playing. When you stop the music, pupils have to step on the ice, lift up the paper and say which animal they rescued.

Talk to my back! - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. A pupil from each team sits on a chair facing the board having his/her back turned to the rest of the class. On a big piece of paper write the meaning of a new English word and stick the paper on the student’s back, sited on the chair. On the board write 3 sentences containing the new word and corresponding to the word’s meaning you have written on the paper. Each one of the teams has to help their members figure out the meaning of the word. The student on the chair looks only at the sentences written on the board and he/she can ask further questions to his/her classmates. The teams have to talk only in English. For each correct answer, the teams will get 2 points. If the students do not talk in English, they lose 1 point. The team with the most points wins the game and earns stickers.

Spymasters - A vocabulary class game

Divide the class in two teams. Give to each team 5 small different color cards. On each card, write a new English word. Underneath each word write 3 clues which will help students to figure out the meaning of the words, written on the cards. Each one of the teams takes turns at describing to the other the words using the clues. Apart from the clues, each team can ask as many questions as they want to the other. Students have 10’ at their disposal to find the meaning of the word. For each meaning of the words they find, the team gets 2 points. If they cannot find the meaning, they do not lose points. They lose 1 point if they do not talk in English. The team with the most points wins the game and earns stickers.

Little painters! - A vocabulary class game

   

Divide the students into two teams; Team A and Team B. Write on the board the new words; island, eye, mouth, nose, hand, arm, ear, leg, wave, swim. Give to Team A small colorful cards and on each one of them write the words; island, eye, mouth, nose, hand with their Greek meaning underneath. Give to Team B another set of cards and on each one write the words; arm, ear, leg, wave, swim with their Greek meaning. Give to the Teams 2 seconds to have a look at their cards. Then, give them a blank piece of paper and ask them to draw the pictures of the words written on their cards. The time they have at their disposal is 2 minutes! After the time is up, Team A shows to Team B the paper. Team B looks at the words on the board and shouts out the words that they believe they fit to each picture. Afterwards, the other team takes turn at guessing which words match with the pictures. For each correct answer, the Teams get 1 point! If their answer is incorrect, they do not lose points! The Team with the most points wins the game and earns 2 stickers! Give 1 sticker to the other team to reward them for their try!

Caterpillar - A vocabulary class game

In a box place small colorful cardboard’s circles. On each of the circles, write a letter of the alphabet. Divide the students into two teams. Give to each team a piece of paper and a circle which will depict the face of a caterpillar. The pupils take turns in picking up ten circles from the box, while having their eyes covered. The teams stick the face of the caterpillar on the paper and they have 10’ at their disposal in order to put the circles in the correct order to form a word. Thus, they construct a caterpillar. For each correct word that students formulate, give them 2 points! The team with the most points, earns 3 stickers!

Words' search - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. Place cards in a box, each one of them will refer to a different category; cities, food, clothes, sport, objects, colors etc. Each team takes turns in picking cards. The students have 5’ at their disposal to think of relevant words for the categories they have chosen. For each word, give 1 point to the teams. The team with the most points earns 2 stickers!

Fun Ways to Get Children to Remember Vocabulary Words

Source : Kimberly Turtenwald , ehow.com 

If you can make learning fun for children, they are more likely to experience success and develop a love of learning that lasts a lifetime. Vocabulary words are often difficult for children to learn well. Some of the words can be intimidating, but they are important for reading comprehension as children progress through school. If you use techniques that are fun for the children, they are more likely to absorb the information and remember it in the future.

Spelling cat - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. Write on the board words that pupils already know. Give to each team the following two cards; 

On the first card write “Yes!” and on the second write “No!” Each team takes turns in spelling the words. Whenever a team spells the words correctly, the other team raises the first card and the team gets 2 points. However, whenever a team doesn't spell the words correctly, loses 2 points and the other team raises the second card. The team with the most points earns 3 stickers! 

Class Scrabble! - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. Within a box, place letters from the alphabet. Each one of the teams has to pick 12 letters from the box. The students have 15’ at their disposal to form as many valid words (nouns, adverbs, adjectives, verbs etc.) as they can, using the letters they chose. The team which makes use of the most letters earns 4 stickers!

What Does it Mean? - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students into small groups. Each group will consist of 2 pupils. Give to each group a piece of paper. On it write 10 sentences which will contain words from their vocabulary. In each of these sentences, underline a word. The students have 10’ to write down the meaning of the underlined words. When the time is up, the groups in turns shout out their answers. The group with the most correct answers earns 2 stickers!