The
language that children hear on a daily basis associated with their experiences
forms the foundation for their listening, reading, speaking, reading, and
writing vocabularies. The more that children are in contact and use new and
different words the more that they will have to bring to all of their literary
experiences. This section is a lot like the activities that we do in class with
our Word Wall Words or before we read stories.
1.
ABC Action-
What
do the words run, skip, climb, eat,
plant, fly, and sing have in common? They are action words, or verbs. Make
a list of action words together, then ask the child to choose a word from the
list to pantomime. Invite the child to illustrate the action by writing a word
on a piece of paper, making the first letter perform the action. For example, a
child may write the word sing in
which the s is singing, or write the
word run in which the r appears to be running.
2.
Stickups-
This
is a twist on the Making Words activity that we do in class and for homework.
Select an interesting word from a favorite book or story, and collect magnetic
letters to make that word. Use a safe working surface to display the letters,
such as a magnetic board, a refrigerator door, the front of a washing machine,
or a metal file cabinet. Then scramble the letters. Next invite the child to
unscramble the letters to create the known word. You may want to provide clues
to help the child guess the word. Try with other words.
3.
Tic-Tac-Toe a Word
Make
two tic-tac-toe boards, one for each player by drawing three rows of three
squares on a piece of paper. The squares should be relatively large. Next the
players should decide on nine words, perhaps theme-related or from our Word
Wall Words, and write them in random order in the squares on each of the
tic-tac-toe boards. The game is played as in regular tic-tac-toe, except that
each player must say the word and use it in a sentence before it can be covered
with sticky a note. The first player to cover three words in a row wins.
4.
Shape Words-
This
is the beginning of an activity that children do in the older grades to make a
shape poem. This is the first grade version. Have the child choose vocabulary
words that name objects, insects, or animals. Encourage creative thinking as
the child writes so that the letters conform to the shape of the object. For
example, the letters c-a-t-e-r-p-i-l-l-a-r may be written to take on the curved
shape of the insect and turned into a caterpillar.
5.
Category Challenge-
Have
the child draw a grid on a piece of paper, six squares across and four squares
down. Next choose four consonants and one vowel, and write them in boxes two
through six across the top. Think of categories, and list them down the left
side. Then invite the child to try to complete the game board within a
designated time period (1-3minutes). The object is to come up with a word that
begins with each letter in the top row and is part of the category listed.
6.
Jingle Jangle-
Have
the child write the first letter of his or her name. Then invite the child to
write as many verbs, or action words, as he or she can think of that begin with
the same letter. As a follow-up to the activity, see how many nouns- names of
people, places, or things- the child can list.
7.
Simple as a Simile-
Have
the child read poems that use similes. Point out the similes, and explain that
these phrases use the words as or like to compare two things. Next place
several small objects in a bag. Let the child remove one object at a time from
the bag and use a simile to describe or compare its size to another object. Use
the following format to get the child thinking.
____________
is as big as ____________________
____________
is as strong as ________________
____________
is as wide as ___________________
____________
is as round as __________________