Learner-Centered Activities
Graffiti Board: A fun revisit or closing activity that helps students learn new content area vocabulary words. The bulletin board can be kept up for the duration of the unit.
- Students write the key vocabulary words in a unique graffiti style on construction paper
- They sign their designs and place on the bulletin board
- Example of math content area vocabulary: Classify, compute, simplify, re-group, estimate, calculate
Sample standard: Grade 6: Students use their knowledge of word origins and word relationships, as well as historical and literary context clues, to determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the precise meaning of grade-level-appropriate words.
If “graffiti” has a negative connotation in your community, consider changing the name of this activity to “Word Art” or “Fabulous Fonts”.
FOUND IT!
Help teach students about vocabulary words and glossaries and indexes. This can be done in small groups or as an individual activity as a revisit activity or as a way to preview new vocabulary in a new unit:
- Give students one vocabulary word at a time.
- In their small groups or individually, students must find the word in their text book AND in the glossary or index.
- The person or team who finds it first yells out “FOUND IT!”
- The page number and sentence from the text is read and the page in the glossary or index is shared.
- A score keeper keeps total of points.
- New word is given.
Sample standard: Grade 3: Use titles, tables of contents, chapter headings, glossaries, and indexes to locate information in text.
These ideas were submitted by Priscilla Shumway, a former teacher and training consultant with the Bob Pike Group.
