Creative Vocabulary Strategies to Engage Students

Some words feel wonderful in your mouth: benevolent, pashmina, Constantinople. They roll right off one’s tongue and into one’s imagination.  Words hold meaning and are the building blocks of all human thought. I marvel at students’ curiosity about words and how they often understand and use words far above their age and grade level.  One of my students was so enamored with geology and dinosaurs that his vocabulary in these areas far surpassed mine, allowing him to be my teacher, and I, his attentive student!  I believe that spark of curiosity and imagination in learning vocabulary ignites the power to explore a universe of ideas and concepts.   I’ve taken this first week of my summer vacation to reflect on the techniques I’ve used to support students’ vocabulary development.

Word Journals 

Many students have reading, writing, and math journals to help them process and organize all the new ideas they are learning. Word journals are an interactive way to learn and remember new vocabulary.  It is much more dynamic than vocabulary workbooks, which tend to make students passive rather than engaged learners.  The word journals I’ve created with students consist of the students building their own four-square Frayer Model for each vocabulary word we are studying.  This graphic organizer asks the student to write the word, its definition, find an antonym and a synonym, draw a picture, and write a sentence.  This visual representation helps students to remember the word, and by adding synonyms and antonyms, students build their vocabulary knowledge with each new word they encounter.

A modification of the Frayer Model can be used with K-2 students.  Young children are often inquisitive about the new words they encounter.  To build on this natural curiosity, students can be encouraged to keep a word journal that includes the focus word, its definition, a picture of the word, and, as young writers develop, a sentence.  Often these sentences grow into imaginative stories.

Frayer Model Graphic Organizer Samples for K-2 and 3-5

A New Look at Word Walls.   

Word walls are traditional ways in which to document vocabulary study.  There are many types and styles of word walls.  Recently, sound walls have been introduced, and there is debate about which are more effective.  I think incorporating both types of walls is beneficial.  Sound walls help students learn words by their phonemic features, and word walls allow students to develop a strong vocabulary across the curriculum. Word walls are most effective when they are socially constructed with students actively engaged in their construction and reconstruction across the school year.  In this way, vocabulary becomes paramount, and words come alive and are a living part of the class community.  

Wonder Words 

Another idea I’ve used in my classroom and also with the whole school community is the Wonder Word program. Each week of the school year, we feature a new word for the students to learn and think about.  Many of the Wonder Words coincide with a current theme such as “community” in September to begin the year, “gratitude” in November to acknowledge Thanksgiving, or “absurd” in March to celebrate the work of Dr. Seuss. These connections allow students to associate and visualize, helping them put new words into their long-term memory. At the end of the year, older students work together to create a vocabulary quiz show that incorporates some of their favorite words, and the whole school participates during our final school assembly. In this way, all students celebrate the wonder of the words they’ve learned throughout the year. At the core of vocabulary learning is the love of words, the pure joy of expressing yourself with wondrous words that roll off your tongue!

Charlotte’s Corner

To highlight vocabulary from the literature we read throughout the year, I have created a word web in the corner of my reading area where the students and I post words from the books we are reading.  This idea came from one of my favorite books, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.  Charlotte was the consummate logophile (word lover).  She solved many a problem using her vocabulary skills.  I want to instill that kind of love and power of words in my students.  They are excited to add words to the web and enjoy sharing their words with classmates.

Celebrate with a Vocabulary Parade

This idea came from the book, Miss Alaineus by Debra Fraiser.  Sage, the young protagonist,  tells the story of her class’s 10^th Annual Vocabulary Parade.  Throughout her telling, Sage describes and defines the words she encounters.  However, one word has her confused, and she declares that Miss Alaineus (miscellaneous) is the woman on the green box of pasta with wild spaghetti hair because her mother said she was getting miscellaneous things in the grocery store and came back with that green pasta box.  This misunderstanding leads to both conflict and humor as student prepare for the 10^th Annual Vocabulary Parade. I have facilitated vocabulary parades at the end of the school year with my classes to celebrate all the wonderful words we have learned.  Students choose a word and dress up as that word. They have chosen some very interesting words to portray, from their favorite vegetable, color, or sport to more technical words like photosynthesis, quotient, and archaeology. Students have also chosen words in their native language. This is definitely an activity that makes word learning memorable.

Vocabulary Resources:

Vocabulary Building Books for Teachers

• Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck
• Choice Words by Peter Johnson
• Opening Minds by Peter Johnson
• Wondrous Words by Katie Wood Ray
• Word Nerds by Brenda J. Overturf

Picture Books that Encourage Vocabulary Development

• All the Water in the World by Ella George Lyon
• Alphabetter
• Amelia Bedelia (series)  by Peggy Parish
• Chyrsanthemum by Kevin Henkes 
• Fancy Nancy (series) by Jane O’Connor
• Lexie the Word Wrangler by Rebecca Van Slyke
• Max’s Words by Kate Banks
• Miss Alaineus by Debra Fraiser
• One Word From Sophia by Jim Averbeck
• Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig
• Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier
• Theasuarus Rex by Laya Steinberg
• The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter
• The Day Saida Arrived by Susana Gomez Redondo
• The Great Dictionary Caper by Judy Sierra
• The Keeper of Wild Words by Brooke Smith
• The King Who Rained by Fed Gwynne
• The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds
• Wild Berries by Julie Flett book

Nonfiction Vocabulary Books for Kids

• 101 Collective Nouns by Jennifer Cossins
• Stroll and Walk, Babble and Talk: More about Synonyms by Brian P. Cleary
• The Lost Words by Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane
• Water Land: Land and Water Forms Around the World by Christy Hale
• What a Wonderful Word by Nicola Edwards
• Yakety Yak: Animal Names that are also Action Words by Kathy Broderick

Vocabulary Board Games

• Banagrams – anagram tile game – ages 7 and up
• Blurt! – ages 7 and up
• Boggle – short word game – ages 8 and up
• Buzz Word – ages 10 and up
• Lexigo – ages 10 and up
• Password  – ages 8 and up
• Quiddler – short word card game – ages 8 and up
• Scrabble Slam – card game – ages 8 and up
• Spell it! – alphabet dice game – ages 8 and up
• Spelloker – word building – scores like poker – ages 8 and up
• The Origin or Expressions – idiom game – ages 12 and up
• Word on the Street – (category word game) – ages 12 and up
• Word Thief  – ages 9 and up
• You’ve Been Sentenced – sentence building game – ages 8 and up