Saying goodbye to vocabulary flash cards

If you are like me you are always looking for more exciting ways to help your students learn their vocabulary words.  I find it even more difficult to help them learn their vocabulary in Science and Social Studies than in reading.  One fun game we have begun playing to practice vocabulary in the content  areas is vocab charades.  I give one student an index card with the vocab word on it and he or she has to act out the word without talking.  This game can actually get silly and the kids love it.  You will really see who knows the words and who doesn’t.

  Another way I’ve developed for students to practice their vocabulary is through vocabulary puzzles.  I use these puzzles for early finishers, in centers, and as formative assessments to see where each student is in their vocabulary mastery.  Students will match each vocabulary word puzzle piece to its matching definition puzzle piece.  So far I created vocabulary puzzles for all of our 4^th grade Science units.  You can get a free download of my Water Cycle Vocabulary Puzzles HERE  to try them out and see how you like them. 

                                                                                                                    

   

I plan to make some puzzles for our Social Studies units over the summer and I promise that as soon as I get those up I will include a freebie and let you know. 

Since I’m always looking for new ideas I would love your input.  What strategies are you using to help your students with their vocabulary?

Workstation FREEBIE!

I am excited to share with you the 100^th activity that I upload on my Teachers Pay Teacher store! I hope you find it useful in your class.

It has been two years since I started my little store and it has been growing steadily thanks to you. As a thank you, this is a forever freebie. If there are things you need in your classroom but you don’t have the time to create, please e-mail me and let me know. I would love to know what you need/want in your classroom, and will try my best to create or direct you to the right resource. 

Here are two free resources for your young readers:

How to make independent reading meaningful?

How often do your students say: “I’m done reading” while reading independently? You really want to ask them comprehension questions, tell them to read it one more time before taking a test on the computer, but how do you really know they have consciously read the book? This story map is a great way to get students thinking about what they read.

Click here or on the picture to download

How to integrate reading and writing?

What activities do you use to practice the letter and/or color of the week? How about the high frequency words and/or vocabulary words? Integrate reading and writing by using this activity where students have to find all this information while reading a book. Download to read how you can differentiate this activity for your students.

Click here or on the picture to download