E++Play


 * Strategy E: Play**

Loosen up with language. Use your word walls interactively, challenging students to sort and resort words by category throughout the year. Hand out fly swatters or flashlights and lead SWAT competitions, or invite students to uncover words at work in the real world--for prizes. The opportunities for play are endless, and rest assured that good play leads to great learning.

[|Tennessee Department of Education: Academic Vocabulary Games] part of Tennessee's response to Robert Marzano's research [|Vocabulary Games] geared for the young [|Superkids: Education for the Future]: PSAT and SAT words and more! [|Free Rice]: NEW: This highly addictive game is set to go multilingual and cross-curricular. [|Read about it here.] [|VocabularyU.] fun for all ages [|Powerpoint Games] for you to project or create centers around. Why not have your KIDS make the games? [|ClassTools flash games for education]. You can embed this in other resources online, like blogs or wikis. [|Larry Ferlazzo] hosts links to hundreds of different games on his site. These are word games, but check out the others as well!
 * Resources on the Web:**


 * Other Ideas from Teachers I've Worked With:**
 * Apples to Apples: Ask students to find common relationships between words for prizes.
 * Present groups two cards: one with a single letter and another with a category. Challenge groups to brainstorm out vocabulary words that fit (use your word walls here too)!
 * Play charades with vocabulary words.
 * Whip around the group, asking each child to name vocabulary words that are associated with topics you define.
 * Password: students can provide "clues" while others try to guess the secret vocabulary word.
 * [|Vocabulary costume parade:] given a list of target vocabulary words, students will design and wear a simple costume to represent their word.
 * Use [|Google Images t]o locate pictures that represent vocabulary words. Challenge students to match up words with pictures accurately.
 * [|Wordo (]Mrs. Mitchell, my daughter's teacher at Lindbergh Elementary plays this, so I had to smile when I heard another teacher share it): Create a BINGO board, ask students to fill in spaces with new vocabulary terms. Read the definitions, and ask them to find correct terms.