| | Summer is such a great time for reading! Not only reading thrillers in a hammock or on the beach, but also for catching up on reading skills in the classroom. You can really take the time for extensive reading.
And while you're doing that extensive reading, build in some vocabulary study with popcorn words.
Popcorn words are those unfamiliar words that pop up in reading. There they are, forcing themselves on your attention, so it's natural to study them a bit, and easy to add them to your students' vocabulary.
You can give the whole room a popcorn theme while you're doing this. It's an easy and fun theme for a summer classroom.
Here are some fun ways to work with popcorn words:
- When an unfamiliar word pops up, write it on a popcorn kernel cutout and pin it on the board. As the class fully learns the new words, move them from their random floating spots on the board to a bowl of popcorn for a visual record of how many new words you've learned!
- Give a popcorn box to each student, and let him write "My Popcorn Words" on the cover. Cut sheets of paper to fit, use the popcorn box for a cover, and each student can have her own booklet of words to learn. Depending on grade level, have students add illustrations, dictionary entries, and example sentences for each word.
- Give a popcorn sticker every time a student uses one of the popcorn words correctly.
- Celebrate the 100th new word (or the end of the unit, whichever comes first) with real popcorn and a movie version of one of the books you've read.
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| | Posted 6/15/2009 7:45 AM - 413 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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