By: Jessica Majerus

1.  I pull words out of what we're reading. I make a hypothesis sheet with the sentence the word is being used in. Students then have 4 minutes to use the clues in the sentence to make a hypothesis about what the word means. I usually introduce 4-6 words twice a week.

2.  Then we copy notes in a notebook. The notes consist of our agreed upon, user-friendly definition (usually a list of synonyms). Usually this is student generated, unless the context and word are so challenging to stump everyone, in which case I provide the start and kids build on what I'm saying.

3.  Next we make up a sample sentence (or rather the kid whose popsicle stick I draw does). This take 10-15 minutes depending on how challenging the words are, how many there are, and how obnoxious the kids are. Then we play a game for 3 minutes. The game consists of students throwing a ball to one another and using one or more vocabulary words in a sentence. I score them as they go. 1 = good try, but not exactly a correct usage. 2 = perfectly good usage and 3 = good usage and the context of the sentence tells us what the word means. This allows me to correct usage issues and allows students to hear about 20-25 sentences really rapidly. Students can also use old vocab words, which reinforces those and the idea that even when they've been quizzed on a word, they shouldn't stop using it.

4.  I give them a worksheet that night that asks them to think about the usage (i.e. for "rubble" -- When might you see rubble on your street?). The next morning they have a 5-6 minute Do Now with a chart where they fill in what types of rubble different people might see (I use Lil' Wayne and Barack Obama and Bart Simpson and our principal to increase engagement).

And that's it. I don't do any other fancy games. I don't make a list for them to study at home. I don't make them look 'em up in a dictionary. I find that I can teach a lot of words quickly, with high test scores (averages in the 90s) and have time for the rest of my curriculum this way.
 

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