Every
subject in school has academic vocabulary that students are going to need to
learn, so why not make it fun? In this
post I’ll show you 3 common games I’ve adapted to making learning new
vocabulary engaging for almost any subject area or grade level.
To
start with, when you teach a new unit of study there is usually a set of
academic vocabulary that goes along with it that students need to know to help
them understand the content. When you’re
planning a unit, make a list of the most important vocabulary words along with
their definitions, sentences, and a picture if possible, to help students
understand the word. This is especially
helpful for ELL students.
Once
you have your list made, write all your vocabulary words on a set of index
cards with the word (and picture if you can) on one side and the definition on
the other. Once you do this you’ll be
ready to play any of these games.
In
my class I made all of my vocabulary cards look like tradingcards to
increase the engagement with my students.
I’ve made these trading cards for over 80 topics and you can check them
out in my TPTstore.
This
is a Kagan
cooperative learning game that many teachers use with task cards and it works
perfectly for sets of vocabulary words with definitions. The object of the game is for students to
quiz each other by giving the definition of the word or using it correctly in a
sentence. Here’s how to play:
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1.Give
each student a vocabulary card.
2.Have
your students pair up.
3.Partner
A tells Partner B the vocabulary word on the card. Partner B tells Partner A the definition or
uses the word in a sentence (or admits they don’t know it). Partner A then acknowledges the correct
definition or gives it if needed.
Partner A can also give Partner B a clue if needed by showing them the
picture on the front of their card.
4.Partners
then switch roles with Partner B sharing their vocabulary word.
5.After
both partners have had a turn, they switch cards, find a new partner and play
again.
This
game will especially appeal to your visual learners! Here’s how to play:
•Split
your students into 2 (or more) teams and place a set of the vocabulary
cards face
down in the front of the room.
•Have
a student from Team A come up to the white board (or SMART board), take a card
from the bottom of the deck and read it silently, and try drawing it.
•Students
from
both teams guess the vocabulary word being drawn and whichever team guesses
correctly first gets a point.
•Then
a player from Team B comes up and the process starts over.
•Whichever
team has the most points when all of the cards have been used wins.
This
game will especially appeal to your kinesthetic learners! Follow the same steps as above for the
Drawing Game but instead of having students draw the picture on the card have
them act it out while teams guess what word they are acting!
It
takes a bit of time to make a set of vocabulary cards for a subject, but once
they’re made you can use them for these games year after year. If you’d like to save yourself some time
check out the trading cards in my
TPTstore. I’ve already gone through the trouble of
picking out the key vocabulary for almost 80 different topics, and finding
pictures, definitions, sentences, and more to go with them. The trading cards come in sheets of 8 that
just need to be printed out, cut up and they’re ready to go.
I
hope you enjoy using these games in your classroom. If you want to find out more ways to use
trading cards in your classroom check out my site TeachingWithTradingCards.com. You can also connect with me on my blog
at MrElementary.com .
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