Category: Vocabulary

Crossword Puzzle
3-5, 5-8, Language Arts, Vocabulary

Crypt-O-Words

Terri Eichholz

Many of you may also follow my friend, Donna Lasher, at Big Ideas 4 Little Scholars. She also has a Facebook group, and sends out a newsletter. If so, you may have seen her recent blog post in which she announced some new puzzle books she has just released: Crypt-O-Words (Grades 4-7) and Crypt-O-Words Jr (Grades 2-5). You can currently purchase the e-book or paperback versions of each of these here.

These books are designed to teach advanced vocabulary through the use of riddles, puzzles, and games. Click on the link for each individual book to preview some sample pages on the website for Critical Thinking Co. As you work through the books, there are “call-backs” to previous words, so that students continue to review the vocabulary and using it in different contexts even as they are adding new words to their repertoire.

With 30 lessons in the Crypt-O-Words book for Grades 4-7, students will have the opportunity to learn and practice using higher level words that were gleaned from recommended PSAT and SAT word lists. Even better, the students will have fun discovering the words and applying them as they solve a wide variety of puzzles that will challenge their logic and critical thinking skills as well.

The books begin with short explanations and general suggestions for integrating the books into your class. One unique feature of the book, however, is that it continues to give specific teaching tips for each lesson, along with suggestions for extending learning.

While most students doing these activities will not be learning a new language, the process for acquiring unfamiliar vocabulary should include the steps outlined in this article from Babbel: Selection, Association, Review, Storage, and Use. In Donna Lasher’s Crypt-O-Words series, students perform these actions consistently without it seeming repetitive — due to the incredible assortment of different types of puzzles. Each exercise begins with a riddle that hints at the word being introduced so students can make predictions, a puzzle to help students “discover” the word so they can find out if they were correct, and multiple challenges to help them practice the words in context.

Whether you are a parent who has noticed your child has an affinity for language, or a teacher who is searching for an enrichment resource for children who would benefit from some extra challenges in language arts, the Crypt-O-Words books are engaging and worthwhile purchases that make learning vocabulary fun instead of a chore.

By the way, I’ll be adding this to my Brainteasers and Puzzles collection. Check it out if you are hunting for some diverting challenges for your students!

Purchase Crypt-O-Words here!

Critical Thinking, Depth and Complexity, Education, K-12, Student Products, Vocabulary

Reflecting with Hexagons

Terri Eichholz

I think that the deepest discussions I ever hear in my classroom happen when we do Hexagonal Thinking.  If you haven’t heard of this strategy, I explain how I use it with my 4th graders in this blog post.  Last year, I did a post on using Hexagonal Thinking to reflect on the school year.  In the past, my 3rd-5th graders have used Hexagonal Thinking.  This year, on a whim, I decided to try it with my 2nd graders.

My 2nd graders have never done an activity like this before.  It was our last day of class together, and I wanted to help them sum up the things they have learned in our Gifted and Talented class this year.  Because they were new to Hexagonal Thinking, I conducted the activity in a slightly different way.

First, I went to this awesome Hexagon Generator, and asked the class to help me brainstorm words that represented things they have learned in GT.  Here is what they came up with:

Photo May 30, 1 35 37 PM

I did this right before their recess time, so I could make some quick copies for everyone while they played.

When we got back to the classroom, I paired up the students and gave them the paper.  Now this is where I really departed from my traditional lesson.  Instead of asking them to cut up the hexagons and place them where they wanted on a new sheet of paper, I asked them to make connections between words that were already sharing sides.  We went over a couple of examples so they could understand that I didn’t want them to say things that used the words in the explanation, (such as creativity goes with problem solving because you need to be creative to problem solve) but to think about the qualities that each word shared.

You know how you sometimes come up with an idea right before class and you start executing the idea and realize about 3/4 of the way through explaining it that it was the dumbest idea ever and now you need to figure out how to get through the next 45-minutes without anyone crying – including you?

That’s how I felt as I started monitoring the partner discussions.  Expecting 2nd graders to “go deep” on the last day of class was not a brilliant decision on my part.  There were comments like, “Well, bridges goes with stability because they need to stay up or they will fall down.”  True, but not what I was going for.

And then something kind of magical happened.  I heard partners saying, “No, no, that’s not what she wants.”  And I started reading some of their notes.  And I realized that these kids can think deeper than I can when given the opportunity.

A few of their comments:

  • Stability and Support – “You have to be strong and stand up for your friends.”
  • Creativity and Perspective – “You have to think the way others think to make them happy.”
  • Perseverance and Adaptations – “They both don’t give up trying to survive.”
  • Perseverance and Adaptations – “Sometimes you need to change to work together.”
  • Ethics and Perspectives – “When you don’t look at different points of view, sometimes you get in a fight.”

You can see the working drafts one pair used below.

The great thing about this activity was hearing the students use the vocabulary, like “ethics” and “perspectives” correctly, and being able to tell from their comments if they really understood these topics.

If you still have some time with your students before closing out the year, I definitely recommend this activity!

Photo May 30, 1 36 41 PM

Photo May 30, 1 36 51 PM

 

 

6-12, Art, Creative Thinking, Education, Vocabulary

Common Ground

Terri Eichholz

According to its website, ” ‘Common Ground‘ is a collaborative kinetic art installation about connecting America through creativity and problem solving.”

The result is a video that shows 5 Rube Goldberg reactions created in 5 different locations across the country.  Each one “triggers” the one that follows.  (I particularly liked the “Women in Stem” portion from  New Hampshire.) The projects reflect major issues representative of the artists’ regions, so the video is probably best for older students who can discuss the message delivered by each one.  The final segment of the video returns to its starting place, Oakland, and addresses the issue of excessive force used by police officers.

image from Common Ground
image from Common Ground

If you find the idea of doing a collaborative Rube Goldberg video intriguing, you may want to sign up your class to participate in this global one that is being produced by Brad Gustafson.  As Brad says, “This will require higher-level thinking, teamwork, and a bunch of other stuff that might not immediately lead to perfect ACT scores.  However, it will model risk-taking, digital-age collaboration, transformative technology use…and maybe even some asynchronous communication.”

3-12, Education, Language Arts, Teaching Tools, Vocabulary, Websites

Word Sift

Terri Eichholz

Larry Ferlazzo recently published a post on his blog about a site called Word Sift.  I decided to try it out with a text that I am reading to my 5th grade students, hoping to give it more meaning.

We just finished reading The Giver together, and Lois Lowry’s Newbery Acceptance speech for the honor received by this book is included in my edition only.  It is an amazing speech, and the students always become excited as the revelations are made that connect all of the pieces in the book to Lowry’s life.  However, I am regularly seeking ways to add some more interactivity to this oral reading and discussion.  This year, the students created mind maps with the book’s recurring themes (which we analyzed using LitCharts) as different nodes.  They are adding the relevant examples from Lowry’s speech to the nodes as I read. Word Sift might add another layer to this analysis with its visual representations.

I copied and pasted the text of Lowry’s speech into Word Sift to see the results.  Word Sift will not only give you word clouds, which can be modified in several ways, but you can also select words from the cloud to see them in context and images from the web that represent them.  There is also a connection to a visual thesaurus.

With the word cloud, you can highlight certain vocabulary, such as Marzano & Pickering words from the 4 core subjects.  You can also sort the words alphabetically or by how rare each word is in our language.

This tool would certainly be an asset for ELL’s, but it is a great resource for anyone who would like to examine a text more deeply, and to learn more about the words used to compose it.

Word Swift example using the text from Lois Lowry's Newbery acceptance speech for The Giver
Word Swift example using the text from Lois Lowry’s Newbery acceptance speech for The Giver

 

Books, Education, Reading, Science, Vocabulary, Writing

Thing Explainer

Terri Eichholz

Randall Munroe was first brought to my attention when a parent directed to me to his fun website, xkcd.com.  One of my favorite Randall Munroe comics is “Up Goer Five,” a diagram of the Saturn V explained in simple language.  The best part, in my opinion, is at the bottom where it says, “This end should point toward the ground if you want to go to space.  If it starts pointing toward space, you are having a bad problem and you will not go to space today.”  I feel like this is the perfect metaphor for some of my lessons 😉

To my delight, I noticed on one of my “Lists That Can’t Be Missed,” that the author of The Kid Should See This, has recommended Munroe’s new book, Thing Explainer, as a great gift.  I’m one of those geeky teachers who asks for things for her classroom as gifts, and my husband kindly indulged me by putting it under the tree.

The book’s Table of Contents is called, “Things in this Book by Page.” Munroe is kind enough to put the more formal names of each explained thing underneath the titles, which you may find more necessary in some cases than others.  For example, “Boat that goes under the sea,” is a submarine.

Of course.  What do you think “The pieces everything is made of,” refers to?

Periodic table.  Maybe you got that one, but I have a feeling that, “Shape checker” won’t come so easily to you.

You’ll have to buy the book to find the answer to that one 😉

I see a lot of uses for this book in the classroom.  Have students pick a page and do research to find the actual names for each part on the diagram, for example.  Or, don’t show them a picture at first, and have them try to guess what it is as you read the descriptions. Another idea is to, once the students see some examples, have them create their own “Thing Explainer” diagram for something that is not in the book.  (Challenge them to use only the words on Munroe’s list of the “Ten Hundred Words People Use the Most.”  They can check sentences with his simplewriter tool online.)

Included in the book is a nice poster of a “Sky Toucher” which I intend to laminate for my classroom.  If you’re interested in other xkcd merchandise, here is a link to the store (which includes a poster of the Up Goer Five).

thingexplainer
Buy Thing Explainer here!

Apps, Education, Games, Gamification, K-5, Language Arts, Math, Parenting, Science, Social Studies, Teaching Tools, Videos, Vocabulary

My Brainpop

Terri Eichholz

One of the booths I visited at the massive ISTE expo this week was the Brainpop booth.  I got my picture taken with Moby, the famous Brainpop “mascot”, but, trust me, you don’t want to see it.  This one is much better (Moby is on your right):

BrainPOP_Product_Sheet

I haven’t shared a lot about Brainpop on this blog because most of its resources are based on purchasing a subscription.  There is a free app with featured videos that can be viewed, though, and you can get a free 30-day trial.  It also has a fabulous and free “GameUp” section which I have mentioned on this blog, and I still highly recommend it.  The games tie very well into school curriculum.

I think the subscription ($1200/yr. for school-wide access) is well worth it, and I rarely say that about subscriptions.  If you can convince your school, district, or PTA to fund one, I think you will find that it is money well spent.  There is a treasure trove of animated videos that are very engaging for kids, quizzes, accompanying worksheets and activities, and lesson plans for teachers.

The reason I am mentioning all of this today, however, is that Brainpop has an exciting new feature, called My Brainpop,  coming down the pipe later this year  (in time for the 2013-2014 school year), which will allow you to really utilize it for differentiation.  You will be able to add classes, track your students’ progress on quizzes and games, and even personalize your own quizzes.  This is a huge benefit.  Although it does not sound like they will be offering the ability to assign specific videos to different students, I am hoping this feature will be added in the future.

If you have never tried Brainpop, I urge you to check out the free trial.  And, if your school does have a full subscription, you might want to think about how you can use this new feature to your advantage during this upcoming school year!