Thursday, January 17, 2013

Top Ten Word List!

What are your top ten favorite words? Have you ever thought about this? If you are a reading and writing fanatic like myself, this is actually a tough question. I sat down to try to create my list and caught myself erasing and replacing words over and over again.

As a PLC my fourth grade team decided to create a smart goal on vocabulary usage in writing. We started by gathering baseline data using a standardized assessment. We then brainstormed ways to boost up student vocabulary usage in our classrooms. A colleague suggested an idea in "6+1 Traits of Writing" that sounded interesting. We then adapted the idea to fit our needs and came up with an on-going interactive bulletin board. That's my board below, but it is still a work in progress.



That's my Top Ten Word List bulletin board, but it is still a work in progress.
A student sample word list.

Another student sample.





















The point of the board is for the students to have a place to display their top ten word lists. It is interactive because we constantly encourage the students to change their words based on the books they are reading, what they are learning about in other subjects, and words they hear from other student's word lists. I have my word list on the top, along with the principal's word list. We then talked about how our lists change based on our jobs and interests. The students couldn't wait to share their words with the class and each student tried to out do the next with multi-syllable words. Before the class even finished sharing their lists, kids already wanted to go and change their words. We make it a point a few times a week to have students share out any new words they added to their list and where they came from. We encourage the kids to add these words into their writing and use them in their everyday vocabulary.

So far our class loves the word preposterous. We found this word in a poem about a rhinoceros that we used for a lesson in class. Since then, I hear this world multiple times a day. It always makes me smile. :) Hopefully my word-loving geeky self is rubbing off on my students!

You can download my pretty version of the "Top Ten Word List" for free.

What do you do in your classroom to promote vocabulary usage? 





2 comments:

  1. I LOVE words too! When I was little, I memorized all of the 2 letter words in the Scrabble Dictionary! =) I love to use Donovan's Word Jar with my kiddos. Thank you for this fun *freebie*.

    I am happy to be your newest follower. I would love for you to hop over and visit me when you get the chance. =)

    Heather
    Heather's Heart

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  2. Hi Heather, Thanks for stopping by! I'm so happy I'm not the only word geek! That's awesome you memorized the words as a little kid, you must be a pro at the game "Words With Friends!" Hope you enjoy the word list with your students.

    I never heard of Donovan's Word Jar, but just looked it up. It looks adorable. I think it will be perfect as a read aloud too. Thanks for the suggestion! I am going over to check out your blog now.

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