Building associations between words reinforces meaning and gives students a chance to work with each word in a low-stakes environment. Working in pairs, students make authentic connections between two words from the word wall. Essentially, there is never a wrong answer. The open-ended and creative nature of the matchmaking activity makes it a favorite for students. Placing the words in context creates relevance and cements meaning, making it an ideal practice activity for learning new words. Keep it simple, and require students to use each word in a sentence. Sticking to a set number of clues for each word adds urgency and avoids boredom. After students have a clear understanding of the game, they can play on their own in pairs or teams. In order to teach students how to play, start off by giving them clues and let them be the mind readers. The essence of this game is for students to guess the word based on a series of verbal clues. If students are not comfortable speaking in front of the class, or if you don’t want to put students on the spot, you can transform the spelling bee into an oral spelling test. Splitting the class into teams and making it a friendly competition will increase engagement and participation. Hosting a classroom spelling bee is another activity that will reinforce the correct spelling of each word on the word wall. This is a great activity for reviewing the use and function of the eight parts of speech. If students are still learning the different parts of speech, you can provide them with a dictionary to check their work. Students sort each word from the wall according to its part of speech. Reinforce grammar skills with a parts of speech sorting activity. Who has (insert definition).” Game play continues until all words and definitions have been read. Choose a student to read the first definition in the following format, “Who has (insert definition)?” The student who has the word for that definition responds with, “I have (insert word). Once all of the cards have been passed out, the game begins. To start game play, pass out a word card and definition card to each student. The format for creating the word and definition cards is up to you. In other words, you will give each student a word card and a definition card. Before playing the game, write each word and definition (separately) on a card to pass out to students. Playing I Have, Who Has with students requires some prep work on your part, but the pay-off is worth it. Similar to the use of a graphic organizer, sorting the words into categories will allow students to clarify patterns and relationships between words. In order to allow students to form their own sorting patterns, categories are not predetermined. Students sort the words from the word wall into categories. Also, dramatizing the words will assist students in remembering the individual word meanings. This activity works well because students need to have a clear understanding of each word’s meaning before effectively including it in their narrative. Students write a story using all (or a set number) of words from the word wall. As you progress through the unit or chapter of study, students should be able to move words from the “Want to Know” column to the “Learned” column. Next, have students sort the word wall words into the “Know” and “Want to Know” columns. First, instruct students to split their paper into three columns: Know, Want to Know, and Learned. It will also allow students to track their vocabulary knowledge as the unit or chapter progresses. Completing an individual KWL chart when the word wall is first introduced will give you an idea of how much students know about each word. Most of the words that make up your classroom word wall will be new to your students, but there is a chance that a few will be familiar. Sound familiar? The activities listed below will help you to transform your word wall into an interactive tool for students to utilize on a regular basis. Now what? You’ve spent a ton of time researching and compiling words for your word wall, and you don’t want it to become a passive reference point, fading into the background of daily instruction. You’ve created, printed, and hung your beautiful new word wall.
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