Teaching Day-by-Day: Words

1. Showcase current vocabulary words by creating a "word wall" in your classroom. Reference the word wall as you use the vocabulary terms throughout the day.
2. Post an unfamiliar "word of the day" where students can see it each morning. Allow your students to use reference materials or existing word part knowledge to suggest what they think the word means. Share the real meaning of the word at the end of the day.
3. Introduce a new "word of the day," but keep yesterday's "word of the day" with the correct definition visible to reinforce this new vocabulary.
4. During story time or reading instruction, stop to discuss words that may be new to students. Encourage your students to use context clues to figure out the meaning of the word.

5. Get cooking! Use recipes from around the world to learn the names of foods and their ingredients.
6. Rewrite familiar stories or poems using as many synonyms as possible to replace the traditional words.
7. Explore Spanish vocabulary through online games and stories. Check out Sesame Street's Spanish Word of the Day at www.pbskids.org

8. Get a laugh out of spelling scrambles by playing the online "Alphabet Soup" game at www.pbskids.org Afterwards, ask students to create their own spelling scramble jokes on trading cards.
9. For a fun twist on the traditional spelling bee, try a Baseball Spelling Bee, created by a student in Iowa,
   with directions posted to the PBS ZOOM website: www.pbskids.org/zoom
10. Find out how learning-disabled students wrestle with writing – including grammar and spelling – and what strategies support success. Go to the Misunderstood Minds website at www.pbs.org/misunderstoodminds
11. What are experts saying about spelling's connection to reading ability? Meet Dr. Louisa Moats and hear what she has to say on Reading Rockets: Launching Young Readers at www.pbs.org/launchingreaders
12. Refine spelling skills by exploring homonyms with this interactive game from FunBrain: www.funbrain.com Follow up with a reading of an Amelia Bedelia book by Peggy Parish, famous for funny homonym mix-ups by the main character.

13. What's for dinner in medieval England? Explore the historical text "A Boke of Gode Cookery" to learn how language changes over time at www.godecookery.com
14. A variety of websites offer Mad Libs®-style interactive stories to teach the parts of speech. After visiting one, ask students to compose their own version on paper and trade with classmates. Share stories out loud for sure silliness!
15. Your youngest students will love the bright and friendly cartoons drawn by author Richard Scarry. His Best Word Book Ever (Golden Books, revised, 1999) has hundreds of words to read and learn together.
16. Visit "It's My Life" (www.pbskids.org/itsmylife) where students can play a fun interactive game about storytelling.
17. Ask students to look at a picture of two or three people. Students should look closely at the individuals in the picture and write down three words describing each person. What is their relationship to one another? What can students infer by looking at the facial expressions of the characters?
18. Ask your students to imagine these characters talking to each other and to write a possible conversation, or a "skit," among the characters. Kids can team up and each select a character to play. Ask them to then present their scene to the class.

19. Younger students will enjoy the interactive game at www.pbskids.org/stopandgo about using pictures to tell a story.
20. Involve the whole class in collaborating on a short story. Pick the first group to start the story. Students will then follow in order around the room and write additions to the story. The story should have a beginning, middle and end, and flow as if it were coming from the same voice.
21. What kinds of humor do your students like? Ask your students to write a short story about a real incident in their lives and embellish the story just enough to make it funnier but also believable. Visit www.pbs.org/marktwain to learn about great American satirist Mark Twain's life.
22. Many students love stories about young wizards and magic. Use that excitement to help those who don't know what to write about by suggesting they write new adventures for their favorite characters. With each story, your students will improve their own writing and feel more confident about creating their own characters and situations.
23. Great poets often use metaphor. Help your students learn more about metaphors in creative writing at Purdue University's website owl.english.purdue.edu.
24. Have students go outside to observe an object in the environment: a tree, a playground or even a busy street. Encourage them to use the power of their imagination and observation and describe the objects in their journals using images, metaphors and other descriptive language.

25. Get students engaged (and laughing) by reading Biscuits in the Cupboard by Barbara Nichol (Fitzhenry and Whiteside Limited, 1998), an amusing collection of canine poems written entirely from a dog's point of view.
26. In writing, "Show, don't tell!" is the rule. Discuss with older students how specificity helps readers to understand a poem. Ask your students to read aloud descriptive poems to hear the importance of using the best possible words when writing.

27. "Occasional poems" are poems written for special events, like the first day of school or a birthday. Let your students choose their special day about which they'd like to write.
28. Once your students have chosen their special event to commemorate, work with them to brainstorm ideas. What makes their event unique? What do they want to say about it? What do they want readers to know about it? Ask students to share their drafts together in small groups and then present to the class.
29. There are great poetry resources online. For example, visit www.shelsilverstein.com for fun, interactive games, printables and the poetry of Shel Silverstein, author of Where the Sidewalk Ends (HarperCollins, 1974).
30. To finish off the month, organize a Poetry and Prose Day where your students can read aloud to the class their favorite poems and celebrate reading and words.

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April, 2006, Vol.36, No.7