Vocabulary

[mopar]

This is a simple activity to work with vocabulary words in an upcoming story. I typed up the vocabulary words and then had my students tape them to poker chips. Then the students take a handful of words (I keep the words all year long) and play flip with the words.
The rules to flip: The students put their vocabulary poker chips in a bag or container. The students take a turn choosing a chip out of the bag. They flip the chip and have to give a definition or sentence using the word correctly. If they can, they get to keep the chip. Then the next student goes. If a students get the wrong answer, then another student can give the correct answer and take the chip. Otherwise the chip goes back into the container.
I give my students about 10 minutes to play. In ten minutes, I expect my students to have 5 or more chips. I give them a score out of 5 in my grade book. One for each chip that the students have. If they have more than 5, they get a little extra credit. Less then 5, they get that score. It is simple and they are constantly reviewing their vocabulary words.
When I notice that the students are getting more than 5 words, I up the ante. Now I want 6 or 7 words as their grade.

[klkatz]

thanks for sharing mopar. i like that idea a lot. kids love doing anything that has them out of their seats. and to them it's more of a game then a learning experience... but they will learn.