Vocabulary

Today I subbed an upper grade class. This teacher had her students make a vocabulary poster once they were done with their vocabulary worksheet.  I liked how excited the students were for making one and how easy it was. I also liked how it seemed like a reward for them for finishing their worksheet. 

Each student received a blank piece of white paper.  Her instructions were this:

1.  Write the word
2.  Definition
3.  Part of Speech
4.  Sentence
5.  Picture

They then shared what they made.  I noticed one student who was shy and unsure of himself the whole day, but was so confident when he shared his vocabulary poster.  He was an amazing artist.

I love how effective this idea is and how easy it is to do. 

It made me think of what I used to do when I taught second grade.  I was constantly creating new things to try to help them.  So here are some things I had from different years of teaching.

Here are two worksheets that are similar to what the teacher that I subbed for had her students do.

Full Page Version

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B76c3KOhVlsKTWdSSmg1RWRnMlE/edit

Smaller Version
I actually copied this worksheet front and back several times and bound it into a vocabulary book.  It was one of their centers.  I didn't love the book idea because it was hard to check their work.  I like leaving it as a worksheet and having them turn it in.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B76c3KOhVlsKTmYtQUFEMmtlMVU/edit

My first year of teaching was tough.  Our school district got a new reading program and the math program was still fairly new.  I thought that I would come in as a new teacher and the teachers around me would have a lot of items for me to help guide me.  They did have a ton of ideas, but because the reading program was new to them too, we were all in the same boat.  So when I looked through the reading program, I knew I needed to create PowerPoints for the vocabulary words.  By my third year, my district finally created PowerPoints for all of the words.  I wished they would have had it when we first got the program.  I'm sure there are a ton of teachers out there who spent their own time creating PowerPoints.  

Here's one of my vocabulary PowerPoints.
1.  If I knew the sign language for the words, I would teach it to them.  If not, we would create an action together.
2.  Then we would create a "7Up" sentence.  I had an empty bottle of 7Up to help remind them that they needed to create a sentence that had seven words or up for each word.  I would assign them partners and they would take turns sharing their sentences.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B76c3KOhVlsKVEpQc2pXcjR3bFU/edit

I also created this game for my students.  It had each word, definition, and picture for a game of Memory for a center.  

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B76c3KOhVlsKQTRZZDhZek00T1E/edit

Vocabulary is HARD to teach.  If you have any amazing ideas on how to teach your students vocabulary, I would love to hear them.