Station Rotations

The Station Rotations Model is essentially the secondary version of Learning Centers, which are commonly used in elementary classrooms. Almost any lesson in any content area can be turned into a stations activity. Stations do require more prep than a lot of other activities, but once you’re set up, the lesson takes care of itself…

Thin Slides EduProtocol

In this EduProtocol, students are provided a word and asked to create a slide with the word, a definition, and a picture in 3 minutes or less. Students are given about 5-10 seconds to share and “whip around” the classroom.

Frayer-a-Thing EduProtocol

In the Frayer EduProtocol, students use a collaborative slide deck to define target vocabulary and apply their knowledge by generating examples and non-examples, giving characteristics, and/or drawing a picture to illustrate the meaning of the word.

Word Splash Worksheet

A word splash presents several new (and perhaps unfamiliar) vocabulary words and phrases randomly across the page. A “question box” appears at the bottom of the page. As a pre-assessment, you can ask “What do you now know about…? Answer this question using some or all of these words, making connections among them.

Vocab Magic Spells

Vocab Magic Spells Like the Tattoo Design activity, I think magic spell vocabulary has the potential to grab the attention of students who are really tapped out when it comes to studying vocab. If your class loves Harry Potter, try having them create magic spells that involve the words they’ve been assigned. Rowling does this with spells like […]

Vocab Post-It Stations

Vocab Post-It Stations Stations are a great way for you to get your kids up and moving around. Try posting words around the room on the walls, then having students move from place to play and put up sentences using the words on post-its. As they circulate, they’ll get to see lots of others’ sentences […]

Vocab Tattoo Design

If you’re really struggling to get kids interested in the power of words, try an activity where you assign each student a word and ask them to create the tattoo image for someone who wanted this word as part of a tattoo.

Vocab Review Games

Online Review Games By now, Kahoot and Quizlet are much loved tools for the teachers of a gamer generation. But have you ever tried Quizziz? I discovered this free tool through Jennifer Gonzalez’s info-rich Teacher’s Guide to Tech for 2019. You create quizzes students can play alone or live in your class. Then Quizziz grades them for you so you can […]

Vocab Word Wall Posters

Vocab Word Wall Posters Have you heard of a word wall? Basically you put vocabulary you’re studying up on your wall, in a visually striking, memorable way (if at all possible). When I’m doing these, I like to assign each student a word and have them create a regular paper-sized poster with their word on […]

Vocab Postcards

Vocab Postcards I’ve got a weakness for buying postcards, but I’ve turned it into a fun classroom tool. It’s easy to pick up cheap and unique postcards in thrift stores, boutiques, and of course, while traveling. If you can build up a small collection, they make a really fun vocabulary tool. You can invite students […]

Vocab Video Journals

Vocab Video Journals You know how you sometimes stumble upon AMAZING Youtube videos and you just wish that somehow, someway they were applicable to your classroom?  Well, vocabulary video journals are the perfect way to work them in. Each week, once your students have their vocabulary list, turn their attention to whatever video you’ve discovered […]

Vocab One-Pagers

Vocab One-Pagers Another great way to get students thinking carefully about their words is to have them create vocabulary one-pagers. If you’ve used one-pagers with novels, podcasts, films, or as a getting-to-know you activity, students already know the concept of connecting key imagery and words to distill concepts into a one-pager. It’s easy to do it […]